What suprized me the most about the whole ordeal was the actual cost of the very thing which is going to help prolong my life.

A bottle of dehydrated antitrypsin (which needs to be reconstituted in a long arduous process) costs the hospital $2000. Which if you asdk me is highway robbery no matter how you look at it. The bottle is only 100 milliliters. Equivilent to a small bottle of aspirin. Now if you want to laugh your ass off....

I require EIGHT BOTTLES for each treatment....

Go ahead grab your calculators.

$16,000 for one weeks treatment. And roughly $832,000 a year.....

I heard you say holy shit too.

Some side effects were discussed. I was warned I "could" contract a virus from the donated plasma. There are risks in all things and I figure I need this, so some risk can be allowed I guess. And no I dont sound that convincing but I have few options here.

Im (almost) a million dollar man.

If I didnt have the VA Hospital id be so screwed. They are paying for all of it. Most insurance companies wouldnt touch me. Pre-existing conditions are usually declined coverage. Unlike chemotherapy this is a lifelong treatment. Its expensive, and I dodged a major bullet by joining the military.

Aside from the cost, seeing only older senior citizens getting chemo reminded me the long road I have. Chances are I will see those people who were sitting there with blankets over them, slowly dying before me. They will come and go, and I will be the only constant in that little room with a needle in my arm.

Here's to living.... wish me luck.