Being the wife of a diabetic is very expensive. They do not tell you about the hidden and huge costs. You learn it as you go along. He works less and less. Your income drops. there are multiple medical appointments and co payments. At least a hundred dollars this month. There is the deductable, several thousand dollars. The medications and testing supplies cost at least $500- 600 a month. Health insurance is a fortune over a thousand a month and you can not shop for something cheaper with his pre existing condition.
Your own earning capacity drops as he eats up more and more of your time caring for him especially with his complications and now his mental health issues.
He is spending more and more time in bed and becoming less mobil. Adapting to that is costly. Selling a home with stairs in this market is going to lose money for you especially if you bought it to downsize becasue he wanted to and you fought against it and lost to his rage.
Healthy food costs more. You try to serve healthy meals but he demands far more and you now buy both healthy and unhealthy. He goes to the market with you when he is terrified of being left alone and needing a shot when you are not there.
He does stupid costly things like buying too large a gas guzzler car and you give in because he rages. The insurance and taxes are higher because the vehicle costs more.
You can not take a second job at night because he will no longer go out at night and that fear and terror translates to you going out at night.
You wind up sick and pay for that due to the stress of your situation. A cold becomes worse because you are up all night while he is sick. He doesn't sleep and gets bad colds. You catch them. He is terrified of being alone in bed and instists that you stay with him and check him all night, every night. Now the co payments for you and the pharmacy bill. Almost $250 for me last week.
He demands, he rages, you give in and it costs. He puts terrible pressure on you to earn more money but is crazy when he suggests spending less on his medications but spending it on un-needed things like watches and more watches. You have dabbled in the stock market your whole adult life and now that is your income plus you are cashing in your accounts hoping to survive.
He becomes hooked on a video game and rages if you interrupt him while he is playing day after day. He wastes time and spends money on video games.
You cut corners to pay for the added costs and you find yourself spending nothing on clothing. You spend nothing on cosmetics any more. You buy the cheap shampoo. You do without many things you need. New towels and sheets are a thing of the past. You stop relacing old or broken items. Who needs a mixer anyway?
Since your income has gone down so much. you can not afford your office. You go to a virtual office to save money. You no longer have any staff. You are fighting to keep your head above water. You want to work, you desperately want to, but there is no work. People know he is sick just by looking at him and no longer want you. He was you partner at work, self employed, now you have very little or no future at work and no pension or disability. He has been sick since he was in his early 20s, not with diabetes but other things and not insurable. Not for life insurance either. Everything you've built up over a life time of work is going.
These are the voodoo economics of diabetes.
Voodoo economics is a great phrase for the cost of diabetes. The only reason my husband and I are not stuck is that my insurance through work is excellent. Still his medication is a couple hundred dollars a month and copays are fifty a month. Help me if he gets sick with the flu and has to go to the ER. That can clear a grand easily. Maybe you should poll all of the diabetic sisterhood and write a book on voodoo economics?
ReplyDelete