Pamela Gross:
CLASS OF 1980
Dos Pueblos High SchoolClass of 1980
Goleta, CA
Brown UniversityClass of 1984
Providence, RI
Pamela's Story
My life is weird because I got sick and was finally diagnosed at exactly the wrong age, right when I came off of my parents' health insurance. Having an expensive chronic illness in the USA at the wrong age pretty much knocks you off of the middle class life path.
True confession: I have seven pet hermit crabs!
I also have a web site and several blogs but I guess I'm not permitted to post urls here. Bleh. Don't read further unless you are REALLY INTERESTED, lol :) Have a great day, wherever you are.
Ok the life story: I was sick a lot in high school but was still able to work hard and get into a good college. I was a lot sicker in college and couldn't succeed the way I wanted to although I did graduate. Right after college I was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus. I began treatment and tried a lot of different medications, some toxic, some experimental. I also learned I have some other diagnoses to cope with on top of the lupus. Finally I entered a clinical trial and had an experimental chemo that has made the lupus somewhat better. That happened in 2007, and I'm writing this in early 2008, so I haven't had a lot of time to figure out what to do next.
This year I will probably have some surgeries that I have had to wait to do until I was well enough to cope with them (I need new joints in each shoulder and possibly a hiatal hernia repaired). I also have to figure out if there is any way I can work part-time without messing up the disability-based Medicare and Medicare Part D I have now for health coverage.
I guess I'm one of those people who really need the outcome of the 2008 elections to bring people to power who really care about ensuring every US citizen can get the health care they need. I'm writing this as I listen to a Republican Presidential debate and frankly they have all terrified me. The "free market" left a lot of us uninsured and/or ...Expand for more
with terrible insurance...and no one learns this until they get very sick and then have some really nasty surprises. It's too bad this has become so politicized that a lot of folks like me are just stuck while the political parties spend all their time arguing about their ideaologies instead of fixing the mess.
I have found that today's young people are very compassionate. Wonder if I can hang on long enough till they get into power :) I'll write here again if I get great health care in my 90s and am finally allowed to work and keep my health coverage. Do you think I can ask them to pay for my wig and false teeth? I'll need 'em then!
Workplace
I have had some paid work in the past, such as being a sort of translator between techs and non-techs at a summer job at the Dept. of Justice, and after doing some volunteer work being a Health Educator for the Arthritis Foundation and being a Government Affairs Coordinator for the Arthritis Foundation.
Due to many past years of illness, what I would really like to do now is to restart work slowly by trying part-time work at home first, such as writing articles and/or starting a business on the net. However, I am still sick enough to have a genuine concern that I could die if I lose my health coverage, and the coverage I have now is based on my receiving disability benefits from the government. The work incentive programs that exist don't cover my situation well; I fall through some very silly cracks in the system. I wish I could just tell someone with the power to make change how to tweak the programs myself so I could have the professional life I and others really want, but I hardly have the clout to make that happen :) That's the problem with being just one of many obscure citizens. Wealth? Power? Influence? Uh...no.
On the other hand, I managed to get my laundry done today...and I may even make it to the grocery store!
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