Cancer Update

There is a point here at which I’m not sure what I can say, what I should say, and what’s going to get me into trouble. I apologize for the areas in which I must be vague in order to avoid entering legal situations I can’t afford or embarrassing people I care about. There were some interesting messages yesterday before I crashed for the day at 7:30 PM. None of them were positive.

The first involves a former friend who had been a high school classmate of Kat’s. They’ve been around us often. We’ve seen them through some tough times and Kat has even bought groceries for them, diapers for babies, and provided transportation for important appointments. They’ve been having problems for quite a while, but it was still a bit of a shock when Kat sent me the following [redacted] message yesterday.

“Looks like [name] lost the kids to CPS. If [they] show up, do not answer the door and call 911 to have [them] Baker acted.”

Kat’s reason for sending that message was because this person had shown up on the front porch of another friend, scaring the living shit out of their adult daughter with wild claims that were exaggerated, desperate, and paranoid. They know where we live and it would not be out of reason for them to come by and try to push their way into the house as they look for a solution that doesn’t exist outside themselves.

I have sympathy for people with mental illness. I’ve experienced it too deeply with people I’ve loved to turn a blind eye to a situation such as this. There are limits, though. We cannot risk our safety or the safety of our family. I made that mistake once and have vowed to never let it happen again. This person needs deep in-patient help, the kind that they’re not going to go looking for on her own. As I’m typing, no one seems to know exactly where they are. What bothers me about that situation is that police are likely to get involved and, historically speaking, encounters between IMPD and mentally ill individuals rarely end positively.

Meanwhile, the doors are locked and the kids have instructions to not go outside without me.

The second matter involves a work relationship. A few years ago, a good friend took a job managing a strip club on the East side of town. At the time, it seemed to be a good fit. The club needed a website and social media so I took the job primarily to help my friend and because it wasn’t a huge time hit against other activities.

All was going well at first. They added tight security to the bar and eliminated a lot of the illegal activity for which the club was known. Most importantly, they put an end to the almost weekly shootings that had been taking place. Then, the pandemic hit and, like every strip club in town, they took a hit from which they would never recover. None of them have. Amidst the financial struggles, they could no longer afford my full services, so I cut back severely. Then, the whole chemo issue came up and I could no longer provide any service at all.

At about the same time, it was discovered that one of the bartenders at the club was circumventing the law and providing “extra” services with the girls out in the parking lot. There was plenty of skullduggery going on and when the manager and owner found out about it, the bartender was released. Makes sense, right?

But the club still did not recover. Eventually, my friend left, which was a smart move for them. But the part that boggles my mind is that the owner went back and re-hired the bartender who had caused all the legal problems! Almost immediately, the shootings started up again. The club became a dangerous place to be. Before long, the club closed for good. I was told that it would never be a strip club again. Not a bad thing. Over and done, you’d think.

But then, I received a text yesterday from the owner asking me to scrub the club’s website and social media. I was pretty sure I already knew my answer but I double-checked just to be sure: my passwords no longer worked. They shouldn’t. I thought it was interesting that I would be contacted out of the blue like that, but then a headline came across my news feeds. A local TV station was doing a story on the closed club. Ahhh, everything makes sense now. I’m glad to have distanced myself from the club before things got this bad.

Both texts landed within 30 minutes of each other, totally dominating a fair portion of the afternoon. The kids had plenty of questions about the first situation since they are aware of some of the events that have taken place there. I didn’t have good answers for them at the time and had to defer to Kat. Tipper was especially worried that the kids involved were safe. As we wrapped up that conversation, the dogs needed to go out. I checked the mail and there was a single envelope, addressed to me, with what appeared to be a suspicious laser-printed return address on the envelope. My first assumption was that it was a sales thing of some type and I almost threw it away unopened.

Good thing I didn’t follow through on that impulse. It was from Family & Social Services, which manages, among other things, healthcare for Medicare and Medicaid in the state. The enclosed letter began:

This summer, Indiana will launch a new Medicaid program called Indiana PathWays for Aging. You are receiving this letter because you currently receive Medicaid benefits administered by the State of Indiana. Your Medicaid health coverage will automatically transition to Indiana PathWays for Aging starting this summer. This letter will confirm your Medicaid health plan and how to change your Medicaid health plan if needed.

Thrill. Here’s the thing: this will be the third insurance program I’ve been on since the first of the year. I’ve not been to visit a GP, which I had to change on the currently active insurance, since last November. There are issues. Now, it’s all changing again.

Kat kinda has the inside scoop on this since a certain high-ranking member of the state legislature gets their hair cut at the salon. Conversations happen. Apparently, Indiana PathWays for Aging is part of the legislature’s panicked response to everyone getting kicked off Medicare/Medicaid at the first of the year. They’re trying to not blow the rollout, which is why there’s no definitive date for when it will become effective. But it leaves me in a lurch. What do I tell my care providers? Will my former GP be covered again or do I have to go searching (which I hate)? Will this make it any easier to get into a funded Assisted Living facility that doesn’t wreak of bleach and death?

Answers are simply not available. There’s no website, even though one is listed in the literature provided. Kat thinks that this will ultimately be a good thing, but I don’t trust the government to not fuck up everything they touch. The $2,000 asset limit for those receiving SSI would be a good example. You can lose your eligibility if you exceed that limit. The limit hasn’t changed since 1985. Adjusted for inflation, it should be no less than $10,000 and there are social security employees who don’t know what the rules are. This is why I can’t ask for help when there’s only 58 cents left in my checking account. I don’t dare risk going over that limit by even one cent. I need to purchase something close to $400 in groceries, but the damn check still hasn’t arrived.

So, if I’m a little skeptical about there being an upside to yet another government program managing my healthcare, please understand my hesitancy. It’s not like they have a good track record behind them.

There is a moderate chance of light rain later this morning. The air is heavy with moisture. It’s not even 10:00 and I’m ready to go back to bed.