u/wtjc

My wife had a gastric emptying scan back in 2015 which confirmed gastroparesis. It was only a 136 minute scan and we can't remember what food she was given. Her gastroparesis has gotten worse and she needs to get another scan which will be the newer 4 hour scan.

The problem is they say she'll have to eat eggs, toast and an 8 oz cup of water. Eggs trigger bad indigestion for her so if she ever eats them she has to take Tums, simethicone gas pills, Beano or Mylanta which I assume are not allowed during the test. I asked if there was an alternative like oatmeal and Kaiser said the only other option would be an egg substitute.

Also, if she has to eat toast, it would have to be extra toasted because any amount of raw bread causes her problems, too. I'm not sure how accommodating they would be about this.

And finally, water is a big problem as well. Her worst symptoms are when she drinks water with food. The water just sits on top, causing her to burp up the food constantly and making her miserable. She's totally avoided drinking water or any other fluids with meals for years because of this. The only fluid she can drink with meals is 1% milk but I assume they wouldn't allow her to substitute that for the water either.

What do people do when they have such problems with the food and water they make you eat for the test?

As I said, we can't remember what she had to eat for the first one 11 years ago. I recall her feeling uncomfortable but her problems weren't as bad back then. We're just worried she won't be able to do the test. She absolutely must get her gastroparesis treated because it's affecting her ability to take an oral chemotherapy medication for a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) she had removed last year. She has to take this drug to keep the cancer from coming back and her slowed stomach emptying is causing problems with how it's being absorbed and possibly contributing to her side effects from it.

So I grew up with dogs and loved them but as a mature adult I've seen the truth and now see dogs as mostly a menace and at best an annoyance.

The biggest problem I have with them is encountering loose, aggressive dogs while walking either through neighborhoods or on hiking trails. My wife and I have always dreamed of living in a rural area where we can just walk outside our front door and take a nice, long walk along the country roads and neighborhood streets in a nature environment.

We've been doing some traveling and checking out some different areas and have sadly discovered that in rural areas, front yard fences are absent and loose dogs growling, barking and even chasing us on walks is the norm.

We consulted Google AI and it explained to us that this was unfortunately the case all throughout the south, midwest and central U.S. with New England being somewhat better and Pennsylvsnia having unique animal control laws enforced by "dog wardens." We have a hard time believing things would really be any better in those areas, though.

Can anyone who lives in a rural area share what their experience is like? Are there any places it's really better? We were focusing on the mid-Atlantic area and Appalachia but we'd like to know about any rural areas throughout the U.S. What about in other countries?

Where can I walk around in a rural community without fearing getting mauled by an aggressive loose dog other than on hiking trails where people probably have them off the leash anyway?

So it appears that motorized camping (car camping, van camping, etc) in PA state forests stopped being free several years ago and now you have to make online reservations for established sites at a cost of $10 for residents and $15 for non-residents plus a mandatory $6.50 reservation fee for both. So we're talking $16.50 - $21.50 a night for primitive sites with no amenities. Is this correct?

From what I've read so far, the only place you can really car camp for FREE is in the Allegheny National Forest? I imagine those sites fill up pretty quickly, no? Are there any other nature areas where you can still find free spots?

Does anyone know if Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia accepts Medicaid plans from other regions in PA? Looking at their accepted health insurance plans page, it says they accept Medicaid from Health Partners Plans and Keystone First which seem to be in the Southeast region. Does this mean you have to live in that region to be covered there under Medicaid or will plans from other regions of PA work, too?

Fox Chase has a department that specializes in a rare form of cancer that my wife has and we are considering relocating to PA and will likely have to apply for Medicaid. If we did move to PA it most likely wouldn't be to the Southeast region and probably closer to Pittsburgh. UPMC has doctors who treat that cancer but the real experts are at Fox Chase and we were hoping to at least have them as an option if a higher level of expertise is needed.

So my wife and I currently live in California and it's become unaffordable. Our dream has been to move to a state with a lower cost of living in a rural area because we prefer small town life and love nature. Just as we were about to set out on our adventure to find a place to relocate to, my wife was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that is treated with oral chemotherapy drugs and requires regular blood tests and CT scans.

We're currently on Medicaid in CA and would need to apply for Medicaid wherever we end up moving to. Our original choice was West Virginia and we were looking for areas with local rural health clinics for most medical needs and hospitals in bigger cities we could travel to if needed. But now reading about the Medicaid budget cuts, I've heard rural clinics will be in danger of shutting down.

Will we not really know the impact of the cuts on rural clinics until all of this starts in 2027? Would it be a bad idea to relocate to a rural area in another part of the country in our situation? With her diagnosis, we're finding it even more urgent to get out of CA and start living the kind of life we want to live where we want to live it. The idea of being stuck here because she has cancer is very upsetting for her and we're looking for any way we can still pursue our original dream.