I am 51 now but in 2018, while still in my forties, I had to have multiple major emergency heart surgeries. I was hospitalized for a week and bed ridden for about a month altogether. During that time, all I had for entertainment was my PS Vita. I decided to buy and play Persona 4 Golden blind and I spent those weeks drifting in and out of consciousness while making friends, fighting monsters and hanging out with high school students in that make believe world instead of focusing on my near death experience or the possibility of financial ruin thanks to medical bills.
I will never judge anybody that is moved by or comforted by things like anime or JRPGs. I get it.
I will always be grateful to that hospital. I was expecting to owe $300k+, it turns out the total bill over $550k, but the hospital fought with the insurance company and got them to pay for most of it leaving me with a balance due of $10k. When I called to set up a payment plan, the lady on the other end said that they would forgive all but $996. I paid it and as soon as I hung up, I was sobbing. $550,000. What is the point of surviving if you are going to spend the rest of your life slaving away to pay off you’re debt.
This is heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine how awful it must’ve been for you during that time, not knowing if surviving was even worth it (in a broader sense).
Thinking back, if I would’ve had to think about that too during my chemotherapy 8 years ago (was 24 back then) I don’t know if I would’ve survived. That, or I would’ve become a criminal afterwards as I was still fighting with trauma as well; it would’ve probably pushed me over the line of being convinced the world was inherently evil.
It’s good you found something to distract you from all that suffering and happened to be put in such a great, great hospital. Hope you found back to full health.
I am 51 now but in 2018, while still in my forties, I had to have multiple major emergency heart surgeries. I was hospitalized for a week and bed ridden for about a month altogether. During that time, all I had for entertainment was my PS Vita. I decided to buy and play Persona 4 Golden blind and I spent those weeks drifting in and out of consciousness while making friends, fighting monsters and hanging out with high school students in that make believe world instead of focusing on my near death experience or the possibility of financial ruin thanks to medical bills.
I will never judge anybody that is moved by or comforted by things like anime or JRPGs. I get it.
Thanks for sharing and I hope you didn’t experience financial ruin because of it
I will always be grateful to that hospital. I was expecting to owe $300k+, it turns out the total bill over $550k, but the hospital fought with the insurance company and got them to pay for most of it leaving me with a balance due of $10k. When I called to set up a payment plan, the lady on the other end said that they would forgive all but $996. I paid it and as soon as I hung up, I was sobbing. $550,000. What is the point of surviving if you are going to spend the rest of your life slaving away to pay off you’re debt.
This is heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine how awful it must’ve been for you during that time, not knowing if surviving was even worth it (in a broader sense).
Thinking back, if I would’ve had to think about that too during my chemotherapy 8 years ago (was 24 back then) I don’t know if I would’ve survived. That, or I would’ve become a criminal afterwards as I was still fighting with trauma as well; it would’ve probably pushed me over the line of being convinced the world was inherently evil.
It’s good you found something to distract you from all that suffering and happened to be put in such a great, great hospital. Hope you found back to full health.