Life Update 4: Thank You Hive!

It has been long overdue, so I have to post this last update about my sister's condition before I can post anything else. I promised to reply to all the comments in my previous posts, but I apologize that I won't do that anymore. It's been ages and I felt like I'll just be spamming your notifications with "thank you".

The photo above was taken last Thursday (December 5) during her first follow-up checkup with her pulmonologist. So far, her lungs is already clear. The doctor said that he was monitoring her left lung because it was still hazy during the last X-ray. Since she's already cleared with her pulmonologist, we were instructed to have her flu and pneumonia vaccine maybe on March next year.

She was discharged last November 27 and we stayed at a hotel nearby for three days because we were still preparing her room. I was supposed to have this update sooner, but I was so sleep deprived that I tried to catch some sleep. Even then, because I was in-charge with her medicines, I can't really have a continuous sleep because I have to wake up early to prepare her medicines to be taken after breakfast.

Regarding the hospital bill, her final bill was Php 704,000. That was after the professional fees of her doctors (Php 209,000) were added. We made a total of Php 207,000 in partial payments, mostly due to medicine refunds and laboratory tests and the Php 100,000 hospital deposit for her to be transferred from ICU to a private room. I also paid around Php 115,000 in medicines when her account was closed. In total, I think her hospitalization expenses amounted to Php 1,028,000.

As to how we settled the Php 704,000 before her discharge, it was mostly due to her insurance and her company. As my funds were already depleted from the Php 207,000 partial payments and Php 115,000 medicines, I was actually worried on how to settle her remaining bill. Her insurance was supposed to be maxed out at Php 190,000, but the final amount covered was Php 268,000. Maybe that was after the negotiations done by her company. My mother is her beneficiary so the company negotiated that she would waive my mother's insurance benefit until July 2025 so that the company can give Php 180,000. From the government assistance, we were able to secure Php 155,000. We were left with Php 101,000 to be settled before she can be discharged. We discussed about having a promissory letter to pay the remaining amount within one year, but I hated the idea of having long negotiations because she really wanted to go out of the hospital that day. In the end, I borrowed @itskareninamoi Php 50,000 and she also borrowed from her friends the same amount.

Her friends gifted her an air conditioner for her room, but it was a split type and at 1.5 hp which is not really ideal for a small room. It's intended for the whole house. My mother decided to just get a small window type air conditioner. In the end, we have two air conditioners. We will just sell the split type because we can't use it.

I'm just grateful that she's getting better everyday. Her colors are slowly going back and the symptoms are slowly going away. We are now preparing for her follow-up checkups. We're done with her X-ray last Monday (December 2) and the visit to her pulmonologist last Thursday (December 5). We will have her CBC and all the other bunch of tests for her kidney this Monday (December 9) and a visit to her cardiologist and nephrologist this Tuesday (December 10). We will then visit her rheumatologist on Wednesday (December 11). She'll have her second cyclophosphamide treatment on December 19 and another follow-up visit with her rheumatologist on December 20. She'll also visit her neurologist on December 20. Aside from the flu and pneumonia vaccines, she will also have another MRI in about 3 or 4 months. So that's what we are dealing with in the near term.

I remember when she was still in ICU that one of the patients there needed to have a minimal surgery to insert an IV line in his neck and they're required to deposit Php 30,000. It took them three days to gather that amount. I thought I am so blessed because I was able to have that the same amount when she needed two bags of blood and during her seizures when her medications amounted to Php 33,000 in just one day. And that's because of you guys! Thank you so much for all the help you extended from donations, upvotes, reblogs, and even personally checking on me. I really appreciate it all!

Thank you for all the support in these posts:

From those three posts I uploaded, here are the people who sent their HIVE and HBD:

Thank you so much @detlev, @lizanomadsoul, @lauramica, @ninaeatshere, @glecerioberto, and the whole @worldmappin team! I just want to put on record that these curators covered for me when I was mostly attending my sister at the ICU. From @worldmappin's post:

Hive never failed me in my community outreach programs and charity works. Now, the support is still so massive when the need is personal. I'm just so grateful to be in this space. Take note that I have no interactions to some of these people. I didn't even know that some of these usernames exist. Some might have negative impressions of me or I might have an unfriendly encounter with some due to the nature of my work here as a curator. But when it comes to helping, it's like Hive's nature.

Thank you also to @itskareninamoi (and bf), @glecerioberto, and @thestrollingmind (and bf) for visiting in the hospital. Huge thank you to @indayclara for being there when I couldn't take it anymore. Thank you for letting me sleep at your apartment for more than a week when I couldn't make myself stay at home without crying. Thank you to @lizanomadsoul for constantly checking on me. Thank you to @queenielee for the support and show of solidarity even if you're miles away. Thank you @ivanafreyp for letting me borrow your HBD savings. Thank you @thestrollingmind for letting me borrow so that my sister can be transferred from the ICU and @itskareninamoi so that she can be discharged. Thank you Bev, @queenmother, @ivanafreyp, @itskareninamoi, @glecerioberto, @patsitivity, @queenielee, @indayclara, and @thestrollingmind and bf for the help!

I know I couldn't repay you all (except for those I explicitly borrowed) and I know you extended your help knowing I needed it more even if you probably allocated those money for something else. So, I'll just promise to pay it forward, just like I always do. As for Hive, I'll continue with my work as a curator and will be always be true to that mandate. Thank you all so much!