Financial problems are not uncommon in our world but I think most of us try to live within our means and get by on what we have. Of course there are those that recklessly spend and amass lots of unecessary matrial stuff. It is a difficult thing to deal with financial issues when also dealing with serious illness. Getting sick can not only take its' toll on your life in a physical and mental way but you can pretty much kiss that good credit score and savings account goodbye. This is what happened to us. It sucks. It really really sucks! But it is so important not to let it become part of the dis-ease...stress and we do this over money....causes and contributes to disease. Money,pieces of paper & metal make us sick if we allow them too. It is easy to put the bills on the backburner when you are trying to live your life in the face of cancer or brain abcess or whatever illness pops up. The last thing we want to turn our focus too is the bills that never stop coming. This is not a good thing to do. It is important to keep communications open & up to date with creditors and those we owe. It is frustrating b/c I did not have credit card problems before I got sick. I had one card and it had a small balance that I could pay. Then I got sick and could not work for 6 months. The hospital bills,doctor's bills, perscriptions, all mounted and for a 1 month hospital stay complete with brain surgery,rehab therapies, several specialists and crazy treatments those were not inexpensive bills. It was/is crazy. I am still paying on them 3 years later and now I am the one working and my husband has an advanced hard to treat canser. Canser is damn expensive. Our credit card debt is not the result of shopping sprees and lavish vacations but rather necessities for living. It can be overwhelming but I am finding that the better on top of it I stay the better off we are and the people we owe are more willing to work with us. I also try very hard not to worry about it and to be grateful that we are able to get by. One of my nieces gave me great advice while I was recovering and worrying about money. She lives with her husband & 2 kids in a small town in the woods. They do not have high paying jobs but they love what they do and have very strong lifestyle beliefs. She said to me "we always make it and we don't know where the money is coming from each month but it comes and we are fine." I think of that when I get stressed about money. It calms my mind and then I say affirmations about money and thank God for what we do have b/c a perfect credit score and a full savings account are not everything in life. To much importance is given to these things and we have allowed it in our society.