b'After over a year of fighting insurance and spending thousandsANNETTE SCHMIDof dollars just to try to get treatment, I finally got approved for surgery. My bill was over $400,000!!! Im forever grateful forNashville, TNgetting to where I am but it should not be this hard!! I have been dealing with lymphedema for 17 years due to breast cancer and having lymph nodes removed. Ive been in the hospital twice with cellulitis. The cost of lymphedema therapy, compression JENNIFER FOSTER garments, and pump is so much money every year! Not to mention Johnson City, TN the pain you deal with every day. Swelling goes into my chest, I have lymphedema in both legs and feet. I was diagnosed in 2009.trunk, and legs. We need help! Please, Congress, do the right thing!However, I have had lymphedema since 1998 due to a car accident. The front seat crushed my left leg and I had to have two surgeriesCHERYL SCOLEDGEand a skin graft. After that my left leg continued to swell, so much it was hard to even walk. The doctors I was seeing then told me Jackson, TNto get checked for diabetes, which I did not have at the time.Ive had lipedema at least since puberty, but was only diagnosed They could not figure out why my leg was swelling, so I just when I turned 50. How is it possible to be ignored for that long?dealt with it until I could no longer work standing up and wentI typically spend 1720 hours a day in bed, in order to keep my legs to work at a call center where I could sit.elevated, and my time out of bed is spent trying to maintain my I finally got insurance through my work and went to see Dr.health. Having my legs elevated in bed is a benefit for lipedemaRebekah Cote, who immediately told me I had lymphedema andso that the lymph doesnt need to fight gravity.got me started with physical therapy and MLD at Blue RidgeIts been a blessing that I was able to create a job for myself atPhysical Therapy in Johnson City, TN. I was scared to death buthome. I can just sit up in bed and be at work. But, that also isthey made me feel comfortable and Ive been going there since. an indication of how Ive been able to hide my symptoms too.The only thing is now Im disabled and my insurance (Medicare)Bad day? Well, dont get out of bed, dont take a shower, dont get only covers 80% of my therapy and nothing else. I cant afford thedressed. Just put on a good voice and answer the phone. And when extra 20% so I cant go to physical therapy for my MLD andits REALLY bad dont answer the phone at all. Send an email when wrapping. I also cant afford my wraps and garments to keep itthe issue is fixed. under control so I can have any kind of life outside my home. TheyOne of my favorite parts of my work life was meeting with covered the compression pump but without the wraps, garments,customers and suppliers. I used to enjoy dressing as a professional. MLD, and physical therapy, theres no point in the pump.I had a double mastectomy. A few months later, I was diagnosed with lymphedema in both arms. I cannot dress myself. I need help bathing. I cannot comb my hair. A cure?ZALEE HARRIS Hughesville, MDAN AMERICAN TRAGEDY 38'