Since my salary was so high, my credit limit was high - around $14,000. That's what led me to apply for a credit card in the first place. Which meant I was receiving big medical bills that I just couldn't afford. To cut a long, fighting-with-insurance-companies story short, I ended up with more than $200,000 in medical bills after my back surgery, and insurance only covered about 60 percent of that. (I was insured when I was self-employed, but that coverage wasn't great.)
Since I was self-employed at the time of the car accident, my current insurance wouldn't pay for all of my medical expenses. My doctors told me that my only option was surgery to remove the pieces of my shattered disc that were causing the nerve issues. However, a couple weeks after I started, my back pain got worse, and sure enough an MRI showed serious problems: I had a herniated disc, as well as a shattered disc in my lower spine that was causing nerve damage (and resulting pain that shot down my legs). I love it, and at $100,000 a year, I'm compensated well. While I was dealing with these symptoms, I actually got a call from a recruiter and landed the job I have now. I went to chiropractors and physical therapists and tried all kinds of treatments to feel better, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. But a couple months after the accident, my back pain persisted. When we got to the hospital, my mom was treated for burns on her legs from the airbags, and I was experiencing shoulder and back pain. My mom, who was driving, had no time to stop, so we T-boned the other car.Īt first, we thought our injuries were minor enough, even though my mom's car was totaled.
We were driving on a four-lane highway, and a car in the opposite lane made a left-hand turn on a red arrow. Then, in June 2012, my mom and I were in a car accident. So I quit that job and started a medical writing consulting business, and I was making good money while I looked for another job. Even though I decided the money didn't make up for how much I hated the job - I wasn't using any of the skills or knowledge that I went to school for - it was a great experience, and one that allowed me to start my own consulting practice. I was making $110 an hour, which I calculated to be around $280,000 a year. I didn't want to get into the kind of situation I'm in now.Īfter my post-doc, I continued working for Merck as a medical writer, and the money was awesome they were practically throwing it at me. I had a credit card with a low credit limit, but I was terrified to use it. At times, I found myself calling my parents saying, "Hey, can you help me out?" But I never got into debt.
My rent was around $1,500 a month, and since I was living about 40 minutes outside New York City, the cost of living was pretty expensive. I deferred my student loans, but still tried to pay some of that debt off when I could. My annual salary was $40,000 my first year, and that climbed to $43,000 my second year. When I got out of college, I did a post-doc fellowship at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where I worked as an adjunct professor and spent 75 percent to 80 percent of my time working on cardiovascular drug development at Merck. So I accrued about $70,000 in student loans during those last two years of pharmaceutical school. My parents told me they'd pay for four years of college, and anything else would have to be my responsibility. I chose to do a six-year doctorate program right from the start, as I always knew I wanted to be a pharmacist. In 2009 I graduated from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh with a pharmaceutical degree.
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