by Bert Williams

Carl Thompson of Marin County, California has been a diabetic for 25 years and has been on kidney dialysis for nearly five years. Doctors have slated him for a double organ transplant. Connected magazine introduced Carl to readers last month (see “Developing Story” posted June 14, 21, and 28).  

While taking his turns on a jet ski, in a paddle boat, and parasailing several hundred feet behind a ski boat on Lake Tahoe, Carl Thompson was also worrying last week about the medical benefits that fund his thrice-weekly kidney dialysis and his daily medications.         

“The dialysis costs $6,000 a month,” he told me on the phone Sunday evening, “and my medications cost maybe fourteen hundred dollars a month for 10 different pills. They say that maybe there will be no check in August.”         

Thompson says the confusion about his medical benefits has come up because he received an insurance settlement after his mother died in 2003. He knew he should report the extra income to the IRS, but he didn’t think about reporting it to the government health insurance programs. Now he is told that, since he has received the additional income, the government benefits may be terminated.         

“Now that’s going to be a big hassle I have to worry about,” he said.         

All last week, Carl was enjoying a vacation with a group of 17 family members and friends at Tahoe Keys. Three times during the week, however, he and his dad spent hours driving to and from the California town of Placerville so Carl’s blood could go through a kidney dialysis machine. It’s a routine he has been following Monday, Wednesday, and Friday back home in Marin County for five years.         

Having been diagnosed 25 years ago with diabetes, Carl’s developing medical problems have led doctors to recommend that he undergo a double organ transplant. As first reported a month ago in Connected, he is awaiting a suitable donor. Carl is now serious about taking care of himself, but he hasn’t always been. Even now, it is sometimes difficult.         

“I was out in a paddle boat with my dad on Wednesday afternoon,” Carl recalled, “and when we got back my girlfriend Kim brought me a bottle of water to drink.”         

What Kim didn’t know was that someone had replaced the water in several water bottles with vodka. They had planned to take it undetected to a nearby beach where alcohol was prohibited.          

“It was straight up vodka,” Carl said. “I hadn’t touched alcohol for six years. As a recovering garbage can, I was instantly sick.”         

He was sick for about three hours, but seemed to suffer no other effects.          

“I can’t believe I used to drink that stuff all the time,” he said, disgusted. “Kim felt really bad.”         

This week Carl is getting back into his regular routine at the dialysis center in Petaluma, California. He will also be having a meeting with his social worker about the government benefits. Otherwise, he says, he won’t be doing much.         

“I’d like to get a job, but if I go back to work, I definitely lose my benefits,” he said. “I am starting to do some volunteer work at the humane society, but other than that I’m just kind of sitting around and hanging out.”         

And waiting for that all-important phone call about an available pancreas and kidney.         

“Keep praying for me,” Carl said as we finished up the phone call.          

“No doubt about it, Carl. I will be.”

Bert Williams is the editor of Connected magazine.