Read that fine print!!

Most of us take Life Insurance policies and other such covers when we are younger, healthier...and then on just pay the premiums and keep them alive.
Given the expenses we had to incur without health insurance coverage, we were forced to take a closer look at all these policies I had.

By accident V found that one of my Life Insurance policies had a rider/add on of critical illness and Kidney Disease was one of the listed illnesses. The only catch was, he read this after the transplant was done. We checked with the provider if we could still claim this and the answer was "yes."

Given how stingy insurance companies are with claims, we were quite sceptical and were fully prepared for our claim to be rejected. With a request of one additional document from the hospital and all my medical reports, to our surprise - lo and behold, they actually approved it and we got the due money. Given it was just a rider, the amount isn't a whole lot. Its just a fraction of the cost, but is better than nothing.

Talk of counting blessings eh?

Lesson learnt: Find some means to remember what each of your policies entitle.

Mirror mirror on the wall

I noticed today that other than the fact that my face is all puffed up there is increased facial hair growth too - something I never had before.
A known side effect of Prednisolone.

Although I will be completing 3 months of my transplant in 12 days, the dosage of this steroid and also my immunosuppressant is quite high.

So I have a bloated belly, puffed up face, more hair on my face than before.
I wish I knew there will be all these things happening to me post transplant - that I will have to deal with it for a long time. Yes, within the big picture these are probably temporary and minor but for a woman these things play a huge role in self esteem, morale and the STRENGTH needed to pull through this.

I hate to look at myself in the mirror.



Old me (Before)



New Me (after transplant and consuming steroids)

 

I have a new kidney

Still sedated, I faintly remember a doctor telling me it all worked out okay and my mom was doing okay too.

As I regained consciousness, I saw I had pipes running all over me - for urine, for blood discharge from the new kidney. I had an intra venal connection on my shoulder and on my fist. My stomach felt twice its size and I weighed 6 kgs extra compared to a day earlier :-O
The amount of urine is closely monitored and is a sign of the functioning of the kidney. The nurses keep checking on this and I was asked to drink as much water as I could.
WOW!! This was overwhelming.
Just two days back I was up and about, and now all this. The thought did cross my mind, 'was I better off before?'

Of course, medically, I was better off now, but I seemed to have lost all control of my body.

I wondered how long this was going to last. More so, how long would it take to come to terms with my new realities. So many thoughts, but no way to share them cos I was kept in isolation - trapped inside a room with just the idiot box for company. Nurses walking in and out...no chance to see the face of a loved one let alone pouring your heart out - one of the lowest moments of my life so far.

Lesson learnt: Never look at a mirror after a surgery - that too a major one like this.