3 Ways a Child’s Chronic Diagnosis Changes Your Life and Your Finances

For most of my years as a mom, my family has been fairly healthy. We’ve had the occasional virus and a few broken bones but for the most part, doctor and hospital visits were rarely required. While we’ve always had insurance, high deductible plans have worked just fine because, truthfully, we rarely needed it. Late last year, we were cruising along thinking this was still the case when we got hit with the unexpected out of the blue. Our oldest son, who has always been very healthy, was rushed to the hospital after having a virus. Thankfully, the doctors quickly checked him for Type 1 Diabetes by testing his blood sugar (it was over 500) and his A1C (it was over 14). What started as a completely normal day ended up with a PICU stay and a complete change of life. Over the past six months, I’ve become as much of an expert as is possible on Type 1 Diabetes. I’ve learned about pumps and continuous glucose monitors and how to treat highs and bring up lows. I’ve learned that when your child has a chronic health condition, life is never the same. Now, that’s not to say that life can’t be good again…because, truthfully most days life is good for us. But it’s a different good because being the mom of a child with a chronic condition changes you, emotionally, physically and perhaps most noticeably financially. Read on to learn how my son’s Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis has changed me and how I recently discovered that the financial burden of prescriptions medications can be reduced with the LifeInCheck™ Prescription Drug Plan.

Having a Child with a Chronic Condition Changes You Emotionally

In truth, I never really took into account how fortunate I was to have healthy children. Please hear me when I say that the diagnosis could have been so much worse. It could have been terminal. It could have been 100 years ago when there were not the treatment options that there are today. I’m thankful that both of those things were not the case. But, still, when you hear those words come out of the doctor’s mouth and it sinks in that your child will fight this battle for the rest of his life, something in you just shifts.

I remember going into auto-pilot of sorts…making notes and contacting friends and relatives and learning our new reality. We walked through those first weeks in a haze, counting carbs and learning when and how to administer insulin before each and every meal. We learned sliding scales to keep blood sugars in range and we discovered what foods sent him up faster than others. Through it all, I kept a smile on my face. I listened intently to the doctors and wrote down each and every question I had like the dutiful mom. And then I got in the shower at night and sobbed. I cried because I no longer knew what the future held. I cried because I wondered if my genetics played a role in him getting this autoimmune disease that currently cannot be cured and requires insulin treatment for the rest of his life. I cried because the carefree life that I had known was gone and in so many ways it didn’t feel fair.

Six months later, I still cry when I watch him prick his finger to test his blood sugar or when we have an unusually difficult pump site or continuous glucose monitor insertion change. I worry each day that something is going to happen and I won’t be there to help. I fear that he’ll drop low at night which prompts me to set alarms for several times during the night so that I can go put my hand on his back and feel his breathing. It’s a process that will break you if you let it. It’s one which tears at your heart every single day. It’s one which I hope you will never know but quite simply, it is life as a Type 1 Mom.

Having a Child with a Chronic Condition Changes Your Physically

I’m thankful in many ways that my son’s condition doesn’t require much physical assistance from me because, well, he’s 6’2″ and that would be rough. But as a Type 1 Mom, there is a physical toll. I’m often so wrapped up in his numbers and his care that I forget to practice self care on me. You quickly find when your child has a chronic condition that everything that used to matter in your life stops and you’re instead on constant standby for the next moment that they need you. You stop eating or you eat too much to try to dull the fears. You mean to go to the gym like you used to but you’re too scared to be further away in case something happens. The simple stress of constantly being responsible for determining the dosage of medicine that keeps your child alive but could also kill them if it’s not right begins to wear on you. There are days when the weight of the disease feels too heavy to carry…but carry it you do because you’ll do anything to take the weight off the shoulders of your child.

You’ll do anything so that they have one less worry through this battle because you know that one day they will have to carry it alone and you want to keep them from that day for as long as possible. It wears on you. It breaks you down. But you do it gladly because it means that for them, life is a little easier.

Having a Child with a Chronic Condition Changes You Financially

While the emotional and physical tolls of having a child with a chronic condition are sometimes unseen, one of the biggest shocks to us was and continues to be the financial change. One day you’ve got it all figured out and know exactly how you’ll pay for the yearly physical and occasional sickness with your high deductible insurance plan. The next day, you’re walking out of the hospital with hundreds of dollars worth of medications that are NECESSARY to keep your child alive. Trust me, it’s a shock. You pay that first bill because what else can you do? You can’t take your child home without what he needs. But then, you realize quickly that your child with a chronic condition is going to need that same amount of medication EACH MONTH forever. Let that sink in….FOREVER. So, you redo your monthly budget. You move some things around. And when the numbers are still dauntingly high, you start looking for options that will make battling the beast inside your child’s body more manageable. If you’re like us, with a high deductible plan because we never thought we’d need anything different, or someone who is underinsured or uninsured, LifeInCheck™ Prescription Drug Plan is an option that may help reduce the financial strain and allow you do more with your now changed life. Available for $14.95 per month or $149.95 per year to cover all members of the household LifeInCheck™ Prescription Drug Plan is a NEW prescription drug plan dedicated to making prescriptions more affordable for the whole family. In their quest to support a healthy, enjoyable lifestyle for those who need prescriptions but are uninsured, underinsured or have a high deductible plan, they have created and drug plan that saves 80-90% on generic prescriptions and 14-15% on name brand drugs, with an additional offering of over 175+ prescriptions that are offered at no cost to members.

LifeInCheck™ is brought to you by Inmar, a data and technology analytics company. Over the past 15 years, Inmar has created relationships with brands and retailers to provide consumers with the lowest price on prescribed medications. While the LifeInCheck™ plan is not a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan or insurance, it is a great way to save on prescriptions that is easy and affordable for the whole family. This prescriptions savings plan’s no cost prescriptions include 40 of the 100 most common prescriptions in the US and include certain medications for high blood pressure, antibiotics, mental health and more.

Signing up is so easy and since there are over 54,000 pharmacies that accept the LifeInCheck™ card, chances are pretty good you’ll be able to find one near you. When I signed up, it took less than a minute to enter my information into the site and I was immediately able to print my LifeInCheck™ prescription drug card.

I was then able to search the medications my son and truthfully, my entire family, uses and compare prices to help me find the lowest price at a pharmacy near me. I even had the ability to search my prescription drugs and see if there are any less expensive options that I can talk to my doctor about. Once I had seen which drugs I could save on and where (and there were savings on several of the prescriptions we use in our home), I simple took my card into a participating pharmacy and had our prescriptions filled for less.

While I haven’t refilled all of the prescriptions on list using my LifeInCheck™ card yet, based on the online calculations, I’m expecting to save about $100 a month which is HUGE for my family and makes the financial stress of having a child with a chronic condition a little less. For me, that means I can worry less about filling my family’s prescriptions and instead focus on ensuring that I’m making the most of every day and helping my son learn to not only navigate this new lifestyle but to kick a little butt along the way.

I know that over the years to come, there will be good days and there will be bad days. There will be times when we laugh and times when we cry. There will be moments when things are really hard and moments when they are really good. That’s just the cycle of life when you have a child with a chronic condition. But along the way, I’ll continue to do everything I can to support my son in every way I know how. I’ll help him figure out carbs and change pump sites. I’ll be there when he needs me to carry the weight of his condition for a little while so he can remember what it’s like to just be a kid. And one day, I’ll pass on the information about the LifeInCheck™ prescription drug plan so that when he’s out on his own and trying to navigate life as an adult with a chronic condition, at least he’ll know that he’s got help when it comes to making his prescriptions more affordable.

If you are uninsured, underinsured or have a high deductible insurance plan and are looking for an easy way to make your prescriptions more affordable, I encourage you to head to the LifeInCheck™ prescription drug plan website today and search to see how much you can save on the medications you and your family need. You don’t have to have a chronic condition or have a family member with one to really benefit from this program. You simply need to want to make your prescriptions more affordable in a simple yet effective way. Sign up for your 30 day free trial here today!

Tell me, how could you benefit from saving money on your prescriptions with the LifeInCheck™ prescription drug plan?