Still okay…
As I sit here, I can see a pile of EOBs that is easily 2.5 inches thick. I can honestly say that they are not ALL mine, but I do have to claim a large number of them. We are in the process of figuring our taxes and it turns out that our family had over $160,000 in medical costs in 2008. On the one hand that is an extraordinary number (given that prior to 2007, we never even had enough medical expenses to do an itemized deduction. On the other hand, that number is not nearly as high as I had expected when I was first diagnosed with cancer and found out about having surgery.
As I have said elsewhere in this blog, thank goodness for health insurance. I cannot even begin to imagine how we would have dealt with this years medical expenses had we not had good insurance (even if they are screwing with us in terms of paying for my radiation treatments). As we figure our taxes, however, I can say that one “benefit” of having this cancer is that we will be getting a larger than usual refund; even though the insurance paid for most of the medical bills, we did end up spending close to $20k out of pocket. All in all, though, I would rather have not had cancer and dealt with a smaller refund.
One bright spot in all of this is that I am feeling well enough these days to begin thinking about re-starting, in a very limited sense, my photography side business. I am working with a colleague to revise my business website and I am slowly thinking about advertising, again on a limited basis, to do some wedding and portrait photography work. My biggest concern about doing so, though, is the possibility of my committing to a wedding and then getting sick again. With that in mind, I am thinking about starting to go to networking meetings with other wedding professionals (including photographers) in the area, so that IF I were to book a wedding and IF I were to get sick, I would have a network of professionals on which I could call for backup.
With that thought in mind, I leave you with an image I took out in my backyard.
Merle
