A TikTok creator named Annie Bond (@theanniebond) has shared a video about the cost of living with stage 4 breast cancer in Texas, telling viewers that she is struggling to keep up with her medical bills. The video has drawn over 83,800 views and more than 1,000 comments. At the start of the clip, Bond films herself in the driver’s seat of her car and asks viewers to stay with her through the whole vlog so the views might help cover what she owes. “I’m a little too poor for my stage 4 breast cancer treatment in Texas right now, so if you could watch this whole vlog of me getting a bone density scan, maybe eventually I can pay these $1,500 in copays. Wouldn’t that be nice?” she says. “The thought of how much debt I have just for having cancer is depressing.” She then explains why she needs the scan in the first place. Bond says she has been in menopause since she was 26 because her breast cancer feeds off estrogen, and that this affects bone density, so she has the scan done every two years. She adds that she started taking Fosamax, also known as alendronate sodium, once a week after her last scan, and hopes it has been helping. Bond says her insurance covers the bone density scan but not the scans that check for recurrence The point that drew the most attention came when Bond described how her insurance treats different tests. “So apparently this one is covered because it’s preventative, but the scans of me being able to tell whether or not I have, you know, any cancer recurring, that’s not preventative,” she says in the video. @theanniebond The phone falling did make a great transition though #bonedensityscan #earlymenopause #osteopenia #stage4breastcancer #texashealthcare ♬ kiss me – 𝑛𝑖𝑖𝑥.𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚𝑠 The rest of the vlog follows a fairly ordinary appointment. Bond mentions she has been to ARA imaging locations in Kyle and Cedar Park, and that this visit was in Dripping Springs. She walks in carrying a pink tumbler, briefly speaks with a staff member, and is told she does not need to check out and can use the patient exit. Afterward, she encourages other people not to put the test off. “It’s quite literally the easiest scan that I get, so if you are avoiding a bone density scan, go get it,” she says. Bond adds that her phone fell before the exam started, so she has no footage of the scan itself, but describes it as a five-minute procedure where an arm moves back and forth. Back in her car, Bond says she was told her doctor would get the results in a week, which she says feels like a long time to her, and that she would receive them in the mail in 10 days. She also recounts a back-and-forth with a staff member who repeatedly asked whether she had a hysterectomy. Bond says she explained she had an oophorectomy, in which the ovaries and fallopian tubes are removed, and noted that the clinic’s paperwork only asked about a hysterectomy. She closes by talking about her next appointment, a bone scan in San Marcos on Thursday, which she says will involve an injection followed by a three-hour wait. Bond says she is not sure whether patients are allowed to leave during that wait and may call ahead to ask. Squinting into the sun at the end of the clip, she jokes, “Life’s so… future’s so bright, she can’t even stay in focus,” before stopping for an iced coffee and a cinnamon roll. The comment section filled with people reacting to the cost of Bond’s care, with several sharing similar experiences of their own with insurance denials. One person wrote: “Our health care system is such a damn joke! I’m so sorry.” Another suggested a way for viewers to help directly: “Have you ever thought about a go fund me? there’s a lot of people who love you. and even $5 can add up from many people!” Others focused on the mix-up over her surgery. One commenter said: “I just think it’s interesting that a healthcare clinic doesn’t know the difference between a hysterectomy and an oophorectomy (and DOESN’T ACCOUNT FOR IT)” Navigating the healthcare system presents hurdles beyond insurance battles, as a separate Texas woman with sickle cell anemia says she was denied pain treatment at a hospital. A separate viewer described their own billing experience: “I got a denial for radioactive iodine treatment for thyroid cancer 8 months after I took it. They must be joking. Wild.” For patients, billing disputes aren’t the only hurdle, as a Louisiana woman was told to keep stickers on for her next cancer treatment appointment.