Medical Exemption

Hey, I got my Medical Exemption card through the post. It means I get free scrips for life now...even if I am OK post-treatment. Not a penny to pay towards anything I need ever the next X-amount of years.

It seems wrong somehow. I mean I know having cancer treatment is expensive for the NHS...must cost tens of thousands. Must. At least. My Gold Standard Domestos costs £162 per 40mg/ml. That's a whole lot of cancer-killing money...but I feel a fraud. I am not poor. I earn money. I should pay for the prescriptions from the GP for my cancer mouthwash and anti-sickness pills. I could at least pay for a Pre-Payment Card (costs just over a 100 big ones for the whole year). I have done this before...

...but for some reason, they think all cancer patients should get all scrips free forever. Even if what is prescribed has nothing to do with cancer.

No wonder the NHS is broke/underfunded. Seems wrong. I don't know.

I don't feel blessed here. I feel like a thief!!!

I am not saying I am not grateful. Thank you. And I know there ar plenty of people out there who can't afford their scrips...cancer has a way of fecking up your life in ways you and I can't comprehend. I don't mean the threat to your life...or the looking and feeling shit bit. I mean some people have large mortgages/pensions to pay into/children/loans/overdrafts. They may work hard for a decent company or be self-employed...but most employers pay Statutory Sick Pay after a certain amount if time poorly. This is less than 80 quid a week. How do you live on that???

According to research, 1 in 17 cancer sufferers lose their homes. 1 in 6 have dificulty in keeping up their mortgage payments. This translates into 45000 people with cancer every year struggling to keep a roof over their heads...

Think about their families. Imagine if you had kids, you're having treatment for a life threatening illness and you don't know how you are going to keep a roof over their heads?

This sucks. Having cancer is more than just looking and feeling shit people. It costs people more than that.

I am a lucky cancer person. I am not in this position. I am very grateful for this...I have a very decent employer! Obviously, many people are not this lucky. And my free-scrips-for-life deal just rubs that in a little...

I am feeling a little 'aggressive' this morning. Not in a 'physical-beat-people-up' way. In the 'this-whole-cancer-thing-sucks' way. And not for me personally, but for my 'fellows-in-wigs-and-scarves' way.

I mean, Peter Cook had it down. If you were God, would you screw up people's lives by inventing cancer??? There have to be better ways of screwing up people's lives my man, surely?

It just makes you think, doesn't it? Forget the physical effects of cancer, have a think about the financial aspects of it. Imagine your situation if it happened to you. Would you lose your home? Could you manage to survive on benefits? (Look, I know lots of people live on benefits...I am being slighly blinkered here...).

I shall put my money-for-having-my-long-hair-cut into the Macmillan Cancer Charity box. It won't be much (less than a week's SSP), but I know this charity helps people who aren't as fortunate as me.

Sorry for the negativity and the rant. Like I said, feeling agressive today and I bet Kylie didn't have to worry about money. See, another thing she and I have in common.