Shortly after I was diagnosed with breast cancer and the wheels of the process were already moving (fast), I was speaking with a friend at church who is living with leukemia. I just had a port placed in my chest a few days before that. The port is meant to help with the chemo process. The lab draws and the infusions of chemo drugs are accessed with a needle inserted directly into the port site. This spares the patient from being poked in the arm every time and it spares the stress put on the veins. My friend told me the cost of the port without insurance picking up a good-sized chunk of it. The price was astronomical. She made a statement that I have come back to many, many times in my mind since then. She said quite emphatically, "Cancer is expensive!" I have found that to be very true. Cancer is expensive in many ways and I'll elaborate on a few of the ways I've discovered along this journey so far.
Cancer is expensive financially: Besides the many, many medical bills that come in during this process for chemo treatments, doctor visits, mammograms, ultrasounds, biopsies, genetic testing, echocardiograms, surgical consultations to name a few, there are also the hidden costs of side effects. Each new side effect (and I've experienced several during this process) has brought with it a hidden cost.
There's expensive lotion/ointment I had to buy to counteract the effects of skin sloughing off the bottom of my feet. This ointment had to be applied to my feet, generously two to three times every day for about 6 weeks until they healed. I went through 5 large tubs of this ointment during that process. It worked, but it was expensive.
There are a lot of expensive foods and supplements I've bought along the way as I was instructed to try them in order to stimulate my appetite and in the search for something I could keep down as I was rapidly losing weight. Some worked and some didn't. Some worked temporarily and then they didn't work anymore, and I had to move on to something else.
There are wigs and hats and new clothes. Most of the clothes I wore when I first started this process do not fit me any longer. Too many are the hidden monetary costs of side effects that come with cancer and chemo to name them all here.
Cancer is expensive physically: Either the disease is tearing down your body or the cure is. Spent is definitely a good word for how it makes you feel.
Cancer is expensive emotionally: Between what the physical exhaustion does to your emotions and the amount of emotional energy it takes to make myriad decisions very quickly never knowing if you're making exactly the right one, the cost is high.
Cancer is expensive time wise: Everything takes longer with cancer (and chemo). It takes longer to walk up the stairs. It takes longer to get dressed in the morning. It takes longer to make a decision, and the list goes on.
Cancer is expensive on friendships and family relationships: I think it is probably fair to say that in some ways it is harder to have a front row seat to a family member or friend with cancer than it is being the one with cancer. It is hard to watch others suffer and not know exactly what to do.
I agree with my friend. Cancer is expensive, but everything has some cost to it. I wouldn't have signed up for cancer (and certainly not chemo). I'm grateful for all it is teaching me along the way such as the goodness of God and the kindness and compassion of people in the middle of suffering. It has cost a lot but it has paid out greatly too.
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