Heart surgery

[wooisme]

I just found out that I may have to have heart surgery to repair a hole they found in my heart. Do you think they would let me deferr my payment for 30 or 60 days because of this?

[wayne-o]

I would think so. Especially if you can show there will be a decrease in income during this time.

[lrprn]

Yes, contact your lawyer right away and explain what's happened. Getting permission to skip a Ch 13 payment or two is possible given your circumstances, although there's no guarantee. Also it may take a little while, so ask your lawyer to get started on it right away, especially if you have a surgery date set.

So sorry to hear about the possible surgery, wooisme. But on the bright side, it's so good that you now know about the problem and can get it fixed before serious damage (or worse) happens to your body from the improperly mixing blood across the hole in your heart chambers. Hang in there - this surgery is done often in most large medical centers with an active cardiac surgery department and all should go very smoothly for you.

[Flamingo]

Contact your attorney and provide him with all the details from the doctor as to your surgery, time of surgery, prognosis, etc. The attorney will contact the Trustee to see what can be done. With these circumstances, there should be no issues but you need to ensure you keep them informed and with backup.

[SANRA308]

are you looking at open haert surgery to correct the hole, there are some newer procedure done by cardiologist through catheterization to close various holes such as a cardioseal device, and patients have very little down time. Might not be available in your local, but might be worth looking into.

[wooisme]

this was found in an echocardiogram with a bubble test. I have been having problems with the left side of my face going numb at times and i have extreme fatigue so bad that at times i can't get to the bed fast enough to lay down. When i go to sleep, nothing can wake me up. I also have shortness of breath just walking from one end of the room to the other room. Sometimes when my heart beats, i feel a series of heart beats and then this one delayed larger heart palpitation.

I go to the doctor who ordered the test on Tuesday and then he wants me to see this cardiologist as soon as possible. He said i may have been born with this but that the hole as i have gotten older has just decided to be a little more pronounced. I'll know more when i get there in the morning.

[MajorMike]

Do you get disability payments or any pay at all while you are out? My wife is having a hysterectomy next week. She'll be out of work for 4-6 weeks and our attorney said we CANNOT forgo payments because of surgery.

[wooisme]

You know awhile ago, right after we declared bankruptcy, I tried to get short term disability ins on my own since i'm self employed and they would not give it to me because of declaring bankruptcy...so no i do not have tht kind of ins.

When we declared it my lawyer told us to call him if we had to have surgery and that he could get the payments delayed. i would imagine anything having to with the heart is life threatening, you can't live without a heart

[MajorMike]

And you can't make payments if you're not working. Definitely talk to them. If they deny it, then they don't have a heart and I doubt they would do that. Good luck to you!

[$$only4ever]

Wooisme,

Sorry to hear that you need surgery. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Check with your attorney. If you do not have any disability insurance and are not receiving any income during this period, I would see no reason why you could not have 1 or 2 payments deferred.

When my DH had shoulder surgery in 2006, our attorney advised us to keep making our payments because DH would be receiving disability payments and because of that the trustee would not defer the payments.

[BKOnce]

How much is the procedure?.. Insurance cover all??

[krielly]

Do you get disability payments or any pay at all while you are out? My wife is having a hysterectomy next week. She'll be out of work for 4-6 weeks and our attorney said we CANNOT forgo payments because of surgery.

I think all trustees must be different, then. Perhaps he meant you couldn't forgo payments, but not that you couldn't defer them.

We could have been screwed if this was the case. Two months into our 60 Mos plan, my DH closed his business and checked himself into drug rehab. Believe you me, I was panicked!! I called our attorney and told him the 100% truth. He said "can you send at least $100 per mos and an extra $120/mo to make up the past due until you are all caught up if the trustee allows you to make the $100 payment for 3 mos? I told him I would find a way to do it. He advised the trustee that my DH had a medical issue which was keeping him from working, but that he would be back to work in a few mos, so we needed to send a small payment for about 3 mos.

We THEN ended up having to request an additional month of the reduced payment, which was approved. THANK GOD!!!!!!!

We are back on track, and all caught up on back payments into the plan as of a few mos ago.

I think maybe it helps that we were able to send at least something each month (as a good faith payment) and proposed a plan for how we intended to pay it back.

Good luck to you with your surgery if you need it!!!!! And, of course, with the trustee................