#Dr juan solis skin#

The medication keeps valley fever at bay, but Juan now faces a new challenge: skin cancer. Without the Affordable Care Act, he would not be able to afford his medication, which now costs than less than $100 a month. Photo: Casey Christie / The Bakersfield Californian Solis wears a hat and long sleeves when he is out in the sun during the day and during trips to the doctors office due to the sensitive nature of his skin because of the medication he takes for cocci meningitis. David Elbaum’s office, Juan Solis waits in the waiting room for his visit to the dermatologist. While his wife Julie Solis checks in at Dr. Juan, unable to return to work, signed up for social security benefits and got on Medi-Cal, the state insurance plan. They drained $10,000 they had in a certified deposit and sold ATVs, a boat, furniture and, eventually, their home to make bills.

#Dr juan solis full#

Julie and Juan’s insurance initially didn’t cover the full cost of the drugs, and they were paying $900 for Juan’s 800 mg daily dose of Voriconazole. The costs were staggering, both financially and emotionally. Juan’s doctor prescribed Voriconazole, a drug that saved Juan’s life but has been robbing him of his health.įiguring out a drug’s value when it becomes unaffordable “Just a small percentage of patients get something that severe, but they have it for the rest of their lives.” “The majority of people don’t get it in the spinal column, and unfortunately, we don’t have a cure or medication,” said Claudia Jonah, health officer at the Kern County Department of Public Health Services. He pulled through, but the disease progressed to the point where Diflucan, the standard antifungal used to treat valley fever, would not work. That’s a night Juan’s kids and wife still refer to as “the end.” It’s the night Juan was supposed to die. When they got him to San Joaquin Community Hospital (now called Adventist Health Bakersfield), the doctor drew a vial of spinal fluid, diagnosed Juan with coccidioidal meningitis and said he probably wouldn’t make it through the night. Then Julie found her husband passed out and slumped over in his chair. Marisol, Juan’s then-6-year-old daughter, would come home and see her once-energetic father, who had coached her softball team, resting in his recliner, pale, sick.įor six months, nobody thought to diagnose Juan with valley fever.

He would stumble down the hallway to his easy chair in the mornings and lay there until his wife and kids came home in the afternoons. Juan’s fever was rising so high he became delirious. Meanwhile, the cocci fungus was disseminating into Juan’s bloodstream. When Julie asked her own doctor about Juan’s symptoms, she was told he probably had pneumonia. Another one suggested an optometrist, wondering if the pressure Juan felt in his head was from eye strain. One recommended going to the dentist for a root canal. But none of the doctors he saw could give him a diagnosis that explained what he was feeling. His bosses told him to stay home and to come back when his health was in order. Juan had a fever that would not abate, but nobody knew why.Įxtreme fatigue took its toll, so Juan stopped going to his job designing trusses for residential homes. Juan Solis is battling with cocci meningitis that he developed in 2008. And it has severe side effects, including an outbreak of cancerous lesions on Juan’s skin.

The drug can cost more than $900 a month.

The only drug that worked to help control his symptoms was Voriconazole, or VFend, an antifungal drug. It kills about 95 percent of patients in the first two years. The coccidioidal fungus that causes valley fever spread to his bloodstream, causing cocci meningitis, a lethal illness. He contracted the respiratory disease in 2008, but he was misdiagnosed for so long that he developed complications. Juan has extreme light sensitivity, caused by valley fever. If he must go out during the day, he lathers on sunscreen, makes sure his legs and arms are covered, even during the peak of summer in Bakersfield’s blistering heat.

He makes sure he only walks his dogs at night. When Juan Solis shuffles out of his dark bedroom, he’s careful not to get too close to the windows. Kenya Davalos, medical assistant helps Dr. David Elbaum helps his patient, Juan Solis, who contracted cocci meningitis in 2008, his wife Julie is with him during the dermatologists visit in Bakersfield.