Thread by @broadwaybabyto

When I was in my twenties, I became very sick from adenomyosis and endometriosis.

I needed a hysterectomy and multiple blood transfusions.

I was told that since I was young I would recover quickly.

I was told I would only need 4-6 weeks off work.

Then things went wrong…

I bled too much during surgery and needed extra blood.

I developed c diff and had to spend a week in the hospital.

When I was finally discharged, my lab work and vitals were worse than when I went in.

I tried to advocate for myself but was told I was “fine”

I wasn’t fine.

I had a severe post op complication and was bleeding into my abdomen.

It took four ER visits before they found it because healthcare workers kept telling me my pain and fatigue were “normal”

They gaslit me and sent me home.

Thankfully my then boyfriend took me to the ER the fourth time and caused a scene.

He got loud and demanded care.

They ran tests to shut him up, and the next thing I knew I was being rushed to another hospital for emergency surgery.

I had a 50/50 chance of survival.

What should have been a 4-6 week recovery turned into a month long hospital stay and 11 months off work.

I needed full time care when I was finally discharged.

I wasn’t able to drive, cook or clean for months.

It devastated me emotionally and financially.

Why do I tell this story?

Because I’m seeing a lot of people indicating that being in poverty is a choice.

That it’s the result of bad decisions and people could just try harder.

No one seems willing to acknowledge the fact that most of us are one emergency away from poverty

I was completely broke by the time I got out of the hospital.

I sold everything I owned including my car.

I moved out of my apartment and into a room in a basement with a bunch of other people.

Friends & family fed me.

The debt mounted.

I was in Canada so mercifully there were no medical bills outside the costs of prescription meds.

Had this been in the US my medical debt would have been in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Yet I still barely survived it.

Why? Because being sick is expensive.

Being unable to work while you have increased medical costs is a recipe for financial disaster.

Even if you plan carefully and have savings, they can be wiped out quickly if you have a major medical event.

They’re wiped out even faster in the US.

you are far closer to being homeless and/or impoverished than you are to being rich.

You won’t be the exception if you experience a catastrophic medical event.

A good and caring society ensures healthcare as a basic human right to give people a fighting chance

If I had to pay medical bills on top of spending a year off work and having to hire caregiver support, I would have been bankrupt.

We must stop blaming people for becoming ill.

Stop blaming people for not having support.

Stop blaming people for being homeless.

I’m glad I survived, but I’m also painfully aware that my privilege played a role.

That having universal healthcare and private benefits helped.

That having friends and family to assist me made a difference.

Not everyone is so lucky and no one “deserves” to suffer.