Health Scare

[tongodeon]

A few years ago my brother was diagnosed with a kidney disorder that was damaging his kidneys. A few weeks ago we learned that it was genetic. My other brother got scanned and he came up positive as well, confirming that hypothesis which put the rest of us in danger. It's a dominant trait, which means at least one of my parents had it. I had a 50

Comments

[flwyd]

What record are you trying to be of of? The health insurance preexisting conditions record?

[tongodeon]

Yep. A record of ADPKD means a very high likelihood of kidney transplants and a lifetime of anti-rejection meds. Insurance companies will try to kick my brother out (unless Obamacare prevents that from happening). Also, I've heard that expensive health issues can complicate naturalization in countries with socialized medicine - if I wanted to become a citizen of Canada or the UK for example.

[gaping_asshole]

I'm very glad to hear the issue is limited to Zeke. That's still bad news, but no where near as bad as a wide swath of sick Ragsdales.

It's sad it comes at the cost of Zeke having a serious permanent issue like this, but it's really interesting that you got to see, from the inside, how easily experience can generate an anecdote which would not become data when pluralized. I don't envy people who do public policy on medicine.