I need more information about advocating for myself in the American Health Care system

Back from an evening at the clinic. I was the last person in the line that got admitted for care. Everyone behind me had to go home without being seen. The doctor saw me, looked at all my records and said, "Ya. That has to come out soon" He marked my case as urgent and I am being referred to a gynecologist. I will get a call back next week to set up the initial appointment. Still no idea when that will be (or what the cost will come out to, have to have that conversation in the office). From there we schedule surgery. So now my most urgent needs are keeping the pain bearable until consultation. Once I have a surgery date I will focus on figuring out who will care for me in the aftermath. As soon as I am recovered I need to move out of this apartment. A kind mefite has offered to connect me with her husband who can help me brainstorm job ideas in person while he is in town soon. Ex-boyfriend knew about this clinic "a few weeks ago" but had never mentioned it to me. When I told him that's where I was he responded that it's a good one, some doctors from the hospital where he trains run it. The evening hours are completely volunteer. I am relieved that I went and want to give a huge shout out to Cereselle who left work early, picked me up, and rubbed my back while I sobbed in the waiting room tonight. I was a mess and she is a trooper.

Oh yeah, and for the love of all that's holy, on reread, do not, absolutely do not go through surgery while living with your ex boyfriend. It will make you feel horrible and will be terrible for your recovery. If you don't have great insurance, you don't get to spend a lot of recovery time in the hospital, generally, which means you'll be incredibly dependent on whoever you are living with to help care for you for at least a couple days. This can include helping you to the bathroom, helping you shower, etc. You may have to be continuously draining blood from tubing yourself post-surgery - possibly with the aid of a visiting nurse, but most likely not. This is not the kind of thing you want an ex-boyfriend who has proven himself untrustworthy in your time of vulnerability privy to. No matter what his medical experience is, I have no faith in his ability to care for you the way you will need. Do you have any family that would either let you live with them or you could invite to live with you for a while?

1.) Don't go help your friend with the baby. You are in constant pain! Babies do not sleep! This is not a good combination, at all. As a mother and a frequent ovarian pain sufferer I would not recommend it. 2.) Don't sleep on the couch. Sleep in the bed. Do not let your ex make you feel guilty for living in your own home. 3.) Keep calling doctors until you can find one who will see you. Planned Parenthood, as others suggested, may be an option, but hopefully there is someone in town who will help. 4.) Previous posters are right that this may well not be malignant cancer. I once had a cyst on my ovary that was larger than the ovary, and causing torsion. The doctors I saw were very concerned that it may be malignant. I had it removed via emergency surgery and it was not. Since then I have repeatedly had large cysts on that same ovary (I know, fun, right?) and none of them have been malignant. This happens more than many people (even many doctors who are not specialists) know. 5.) You still need to get it removed, though, because ovary issues, as you and I both know, are INCREDIBLY PAINFUL and what's more if left untreated can cause all sorts of serious complications. In my case, that first big cyst ruptured and I developed internal bleeding which was . . . bad. If you can find a doctor anywhere who will take care of this for you I would get it done regardless of the scary bills that may result. In fact I did get the aforementioned surgery on myself done when I had nothing but awful catastrophic student insurance, and the catastrophic insurance refused to recognize this as a catastrophe (even though, as it happened, I was suffering from life-threatening complications that made the surgery immediately necessary). And I got stuck with a $25,000 bill that I spent the next several years negotiating and struggling to repay. And that totally sucked. But you know what? I was alive. Also, later, still fertile, which eventually worked out well for me. (I joke that my kid was a $25,000 baby). I hope you get help for this as soon as possible. You do deserve to get help no matter what any doctor (or your stupid ex) says.

In California, there are social worker type people who get people into Medicare or Medicaid pretty much immediately in certain situations. Or maybe it's that county providers agree to "advance" care, I'm not sure. But at least in the system I know here, you might qualify based on recently unemployed plus medical emergency. Maybe something analogous where you live?

I have a cousin on the West Coast who recently got eye cancer and just finished her treatment for it (as a full a recovery as could be hoped, thankfully), so am speaking from that experience. Crowd-sourcing funds is a great idea. She and her husband were both recently unemployed (egads), so they went that route for costs not covered by their insurance, and it ended up working out pretty well. They used Indiegogo. I live in France and had looked into what care for her cancer would cost here, without our insurance since you have to be a resident to get it (I also happen to live a couple of miles from the best cancer clinic in France, woohoo), and with a round-trip plane ticket figured in, it still came out to much less than her original care plan, even with her US insurer. However, she got lucky and was able to get treatment at a university, since her eye cancer was a rare sort that academics were interested in studying. Option 2: crowd source funds to go to another country with less expensive health care. A couple of mefite friends I met are medics in another country and have invited me to visit them. With their help, the kind of pain and my history I would be operated on within a week and just have to pay hospital charges much lower than here. The ovary would likely not be saved. I do not hold a current passport, so I would need to get one. [worst case scenario about $7,000 to be cared for by people who...uh...care] For info (IANAD), my ovary was saved in Finland following a burst torsioned ovarian cyst. That was 12 years ago. It's not necessarily a given that they'll remove it; in any case you'll be consulted about it. They said they don't know if it's viable, but when in doubt and keeping the ovary isn't a health risk, they keep it. I have also heard that getting care outside the US system can complicate things once you're back in the US, so do keep that in mind, weigh the pros and cons. So sorry to hear you're going through this.

Amendment to my previous comment, because as I also told bilabial over PM, I regret saying this: I have also heard that getting care outside the US system can complicate things once you're back in the US, so do keep that in mind, weigh the pros and cons. I've heard this from a lot of people, namely my cousin was told it could complicate things, and it factored into her decision to stay in the US, although the fact that the university care was so much cheaper was the main reason she chose it over coming to France. However. On further reflection, I have never heard concrete examples or evidence of it "complicating things", which brings up another jarring realization: it's a rumor that clearly works in favor of insurance companies. Uninsured foreigners are not turned down in Europe. Heck, when I first arrived and hadn't yet qualified for the national scheme in France (I was a student), there were doctors who went through emergency appointments as if all were normal, and then when I went to pay, they told their secretaries to shoo me out – they didn't want to burden someone without insurance. How to encourage people who want to give but want more control over where the money goes? Amazon wishlist? Something else? My cousin had zero issues with this, although I can certainly understand your concerns given your ex's and his family's heartlessness :-/ Indiegogo let her specify her cost breakdown and end goal, but honestly, since all of us knew that no one chooses health issues, we all put into it without asking for specifics. Even including some people in the family who are usually more iffy about that sort of thing. He said that I have “a lot of projects going on that he doesn’t need to be involved in.” Yes. I suppose finding a job and getting health care is a lot of projects. He's a project himself, yeesh. Health care is a right, not a project. You can choose a car or accommodation; you can't choose your health.

I am a gynaecologist, not your gynaecologist etc etc. I hate commenting in medical threads generally, but I want to clear up one major misconception. Ovarian cancer should not be diagnosed by biopsy. If you do have a malignant tumor, which is unlikely based on your age, the decision to operate is based on scan (MRI and/or ultrasound) appearances, and the blood tumor markers (usually CA-125). That's because a localised malignant tumour would be cured be appropriate surgery, but biopsying it first would spill its malignant contents into the abdomen, raising the staging, and therefore requiring chemotherapy. My impression based on the limited information posted here is that your primary care doctors, and the ER docs/emergency gynae docs, think based on scan appearances that you have a benign tumor, hence their lack of urgency. If your primary care physician is unaware however that you have substantial pain, they need to know, because pain due to ovarian torsion is an emergency anyway.

In our community, we have a network of nonprofits that offer emergency assistance in exactly this type of situation. You said you volunteer teaching adults literacy. Talking to people who run that literacy group might help put you in touch with a network of nonprofits and help you find a group like this. Some churches have emergency funds like this and you don't necessarily have to be part of the church. You could also try Googling "Orlando emergency assistance" -- several organizations are listed. You don't have to have your house burn down to be eligible.

If your primary care physician is unaware however that you have substantial pain, they need to know, because pain due to ovarian torsion is an emergency anyway. roofus, Does this mean the OP should go sit in the ER until they actually examine her? From her previous post she's been to the ER before & they pushed her out the door with a prescription for pain killers. Should she just go in again?