#i sometimes wonder if they only brought me to UC bcuz they were afraid of me dying

[pinkydragon01]

CW: Abusive parents, advanced illness, and near child death.

I took a poll recently that harmlessly asked how many treatable- and even preventable- illnesses I've had. Thankfully, not all of them thanks to my biological mother who cared enough to vaccinate me. She was also the one who paid for my medical insurance.

Now, my mom has her own host of negligent problems with me, but I'm here to talk about my biological father and stepmother.

When I was a teenager- don't remember what age because much of that time period is fuzzy- I got sick. Really sick. It was just strep throat, and we all knew it. My dad knew, my stepmom knew, all of my stepbrothers and me too. They quarantined me away and that was it. No doctors visit.

Now, theoretically, strep throat can heal on its own, but mine didn't. I was grossly ill for over a week. Vomiting, poor eating, loss of voice, dizziness, fever, chills, and eventually a full body rash. Which some may know means I had advanced into developing scarlet fever.

My condition deteriorated with zero sign of improvement. Near the 2nd week mark, I was completely bedbound and, from what I can remember, unable to speak and could barely breath.

And this is where I want to stress- I had medical insurance.

My mother paid for it. Not my father or stepmother had not put a single dime into this responsibility, and yet they seemingly were unwilling to find me medical care. When I moved away with my dad into a different state, he never sought a primary care physician for me. Therefore, when I did get sick, he didn't have a fast means for me to see a doctor. Or maybe he did and I'm- to this day- wishfully thinking he had his hands tied and wasn't just... leaving me like this out of neglect.

But it was neglect. I didn't have a family doctor and they made no obvious attempt to help me. Not until they were finally convinced that this was going to kill me.

They eventually gave in and brought me to urgent care. The whole thing is a blur to me, but I do recall the nurse being astounded and the doctor being angry. I remember he lectured my parents about how this was completely preventable and I was far too sick for this to be acceptable. Turns out, I was in the early stages of developing rheumatic fever, which is basically an auto-immune response to untreated strep infections. When rheumatic fever is left untreated, it leads to childhood congestive heart failure and death.

The doctor prescribed me antibiotics and sent me home. The pills were less than $20.

To this day, I think about that cost. I think about how my dad and stepmom never got me a family doctor and never tried to seek care for me until I was quite literally on my death bed. They even had the fucking nerve to complain about how expensive the urgent care visit was. A visit that was completely caused by their own negligence.

They don't pay for my medical insurance, my mom does, and they still wouldn't put forth the small co-pays to give me adequate care.

The pills that saved my life costed $20, and my life was barely worth that to them.