Here or there?

A few people have asked me, considering my illness, whether I would rather be in California or Finland right now. It's a tough question to answer because there are pluses and minuses to both sides. Of course, I miss my family in California and wish that they were closer. On the other hand, there is a lot to be said for the socialized healthcare system in Finland.

I never had any serious health problems during my adult life in the US so I never really put the private insurance system to the test. However, I've heard horror stories of people who didn't have any/sufficient insurance to cover a disease like cancer and who went bankrupt or were in dire straits as a result. Having socialized medical care has eliminated that worry for us and has allowed me to focus my energy on getting well.

Everything required for my treatment is covered, with the exception of small, co-payment fees. Here are some examples:

1. I paid 27.40 euros for my mastectomy surgery and another 27.40 for my overnight stay in the hospital!

2. My breast prosthesis, a special prosthetic bra and my hair prosthesis (wig) were all covered.

3. I'm taking a special drug to boost the production of white blood cells to make up for the ones the chemotherapy kills off. I have to take the shot each time I have a chemo treatment, and each shot costs 1300 euros! However, with a special waiver, I only pay THREE euros per shot.

4. In addition, once we've paid 600 euros out of pocket in a year, anything above and beyond that is fully covered.

What's more, the social welfare system in Finland allows fathers to take 3 weeks of leave when they have a baby and another 6 weeks of leave once the mother's maternity leave ends. So Matti has been helping out at home for the last 5 weeks (this week is his sixth). We actually planned for him to take the leave- just so we could spend some time as a family- before I learned of the diagnosis. During this chaotic, stressful time, it's been invaluable to have him at home. I honestly don't know how I would have made it on my own with the girls all these weeks if we had been in the US.

For all the bad press socialized medicine gets in the US, I haven't had any major complaints with the care here. Every step so far has been swift, efficient, and effective. I'm receiving the same state-of-the-art care here that is being practiced in the US and am paying very little for it. (Yes, of course, we pay for it in taxes. However, the amount of taxes paid for what we get back is well worth it!)

So, if I have to be far from my family there, at least I'm being well taken care of here.

Beginning again

Forgive me, friends. It's been two years (plus) since my last post. Despite my good intentions to keep a running blog since moving to Finland, regular life just kept getting in the way. I even made a 2011 New Year's resolution to restart the blog this year, and it's taken me over six months to manage it. Better late than never, though, right? Plus, this means that I'll have kept at least one of my resolutions this year!

So, on the third anniversary of our move to Finland, I'm beginning again. Although the original intent of the blog was to share my observations and experiences about being a Jenkki in Helsinki, future posts will probably stray from the theme... Most of you already know that I was diagnosed with breast cancer in May. I had mastectomy surgery and am now undergoing chemotherapy. Needless to say, this experience has pretty much eclipsed everything else right now. So I'll probably end up talking about my health a lot, but I'll try to weave in elements of how my treatment experience here might differ from that in the US or other places.

I may also use the blog as a place to vent. I've been sharing my progress via emails and Facebook updates, but I've tried to keep things relatively positive since a lot of people are reading those. Since likely not so many people will take the time to read this, it might end up being an outlet for me to share my unadulterated feelings. If you get bored or can't take it, feel free to stop reading! However, if you really want to know how I'm doing, you'll now have a spot for answers.

I don't know how often I'll manage to post, but I'll try to do it at least weekly. We'll see how that actually pans out in real life. However, as with most things, getting started is the hardest part. Now that I've done that (again), perhaps it will be easier to keep it going!