Tuesday was the day - I left my home office at 12 noon as a devout type A personality arriving late would have been bad form, I am escorted to the patient registration area where I am introduced to my Patient Financial Specialist - wow - say what? Yes at MD Anderson you have your own Patient Financial Specialist who is there to assist you with navigating the financial complexities of Cancer - this cracks me up because for months I have lamented that I needed my own assistant to keep up with the billing and the appointments - bam there she was at MD Anderson who knew. Once I had completed all of the paperwork a volunteer took me out a tour of the facilities - showed me were the essential items I would need for my day in the facility and then escorted me up to the waiting room for my appointment. 15 minutes later I was taken back to be weighed, measured and vitals taken - no surprise in all of this my once statuesque frame had was now 1.5 inches shorter, evidence of the weight I have been carrying for the past year. I filled out a comprehensive history of all I had been through, meet with a nurse who reviewed it and then the fabulous Jade Homsi came in to chat. We spent about 30 minutes discussing the past 10 months and all that had gone on - he quietly listening to my story - interspersed with commentary on my treatment. I completed the verbal history and he gave me a brief history of his practice - for that past 9 years he has treated nothing but melanoma - day in and day out that is all he treats. He then went on to tell me that I was not a candidate for Interferon - my mind seized - what did he just say to me ...did I hear that right?? Yes I had heard it right he would not have suggested that I take interferon - but wait I was told my miotic rate was very high - yes he said it was very high but that does not make you a candidate for Interferon. I told him that I was told the cancer was microscopic and that if I didn't do the Interferon it was going to come back - again he stated that I was not a candidate for Interferon - I will be frank it is good thing that I have an excellent memory - when not Restoril - because I remember him saying to me that he was 98% certain that it was never coming back - WAIT - STOP the bus - did he just say that it wasn't coming back - for the past 10 months I have been poisoned, cut and scanned because the cancer was coming back - did he know that I didn't float down the Salt River on my 9 month NED or drive with my convertible top down or walk the lake before 600a because I was afraid that this would bring it back? Did this amazing human know what a blessing these words were to me to finally hear that I can get back to living my life - while more protected for sure but living again?
I won't lie - bits and pieces of all that he said to me in that examination room are coming back to me now that the shock has worn off and I have moved through the anger of my circumstance. I can tell you I stand a little taller now - my heart is not so heavy, the fear is gone and in the middle of the day I put the top down on my convertible.
People have asked me what I am going to do with this information - and after 48 hours of reflection here is what I have.
1. I would like an apology from this Doctor - to sit at a conference room table across from this man and have him tell me that he made a mistake, that he is sorry and that he learned something from this all - it is highly doubtful that this will ever happen but a girl can dream. Instead I will file a complaint with the Arizona Medical Board so that if this ever happens again - because lets face I am not sure that this wasn't intentional - someone will know what he did to me.
2. I have mad fundraising skills - they have sat dormant in the spare closet - time to dust them off and see what I can do to benefit MD Anderson and the patients who are much less fortunate than I. Does anyone else think that it is weird that Phoenix is the 5th largest city in this country and we do not have a 5k or a 10k to raise money and awareness of Melanoma?? We have over 150 golf courses - why isn't there a tournament to raise funds? And what about a Gala where we put on our fashion finery and dance about in the name of Melanoma?
3. One of the things that I found alarming is that my treatment plan is not customary however BCBS never even looked at the treatment plan - there was no pre-authorization or review of what could have been $250,000 just for the Interferon not including the after effects. I think that has to change - in the course of 10 months I had a PET scan, 3 MRI, 3 regular Mamograms, 2 3d Mamograms and 2 thyroid glands - the month of January they paid out over $25,000 for Treatment, scans and a PIC line. It boggles my mind that none in all of this said hey this isn't right and my question is why.
4. I need to get back to living life - having fun and not fearing the melanoma - enough with the fear and the living life as a hermit - it is time to seize the day!!
No comments:
Post a Comment