The Hidden Costs of Medical Crises....

 Fortunately for us, there should be no true bills for Babygirl's transplant. She is disabled, and has Medicare and Medicaid.  The hospital is taking over her transplant medication at their transplant pharmacy, so I will no longer have to sit for half an hour at CVS until they finally (once again!) figure out that she doesn't have BC/BS and that her co-payment is currently $0.

This post is about the more subtle costs of an 7 nights/8 day medical stay.   

Babygirl's current transplant center is slightly closer to us than CHOP was at 145 miles vs 174 miles away. In the case of CHOP, however, we had family to stay with less than an hour from the hospital. This meant, for the most part, breakfast and dinner with the family and lunch at the hospital, dinner on the way home.

We have friends in Rochester, and could probably, in a pinch, find a couch to crash on, but the hospital has an arrangement with several local hotels to discount stays for patients and family. (Having a private place to decompress (ie bawl your face off) is sanity-saving.) A couple of those are less than 2 miles from the hospital (walking distance for me, weather permitting).  Total hotel costs on this trip came to $476. Most of her appointments in the next few months are at 8 AM.  Deciding whether to drive down the night before or before dawn is a difference of $60-80/trip. We will be going twice weekly for a month or so, and then weekly for a while. 

Last time I was here with Babygirl, we arrived via ambulance in the dead of winter.  I kept meal costs down by using InstaCart for groceries, which I used for breakfast and dinner, and sometime even for a packed lunch.  I made up for it by needing to use Uber to travel all of the time as it was too cold and icy to walk.

This time, I had my car. I didn't pay to travel, but I wasn't as thrifty with food. Meals out became one of the biggest costs at $303.

Miscellaneous costs were also high, as I had to replace a laptop in addition to other incidental costs: $459

I had to shop for clothes for Babygirl.  She packed as if she were going to camp, but by the end of the hospital stay, none of her clothes fit due to the severe fluid retention. This included her sneakers. $80 to Target for two outfits and expandable sandals 2 sizes up from her usual. 

OTC medications and incidentals (which may or may not include nail polish for Citygirl and Babygirl): $67

Parking was odd this time, as apparently they were short staffed at the garage. They only charged if there was someone on duty. Instead of paying $42, I paid $12. Gas was $63. 

We are blessed beyond and beyond by having the means to cover this, even if it tightens the budget a bit.  We are even more blessed that friends and family just keep walking up to us (or to our Venmo or UberEats accounts) to give us money. We have been given a total of $750 in this way.

The total non-medical cost of this trip was just under $1500, half of which has been covered by the kindness of friends. 

I got me some thank-you notes to write.

DeeDee