After taking a few scans, making a foam mold of my lower half so I can lay in it and position my body in the exact same way every time, adding tiny black stickers to my body (because I beg not to be permanently tattooed), and a few follow up appointments with more scans, we're finally ready to begin radiation on Thursday, April 18.
Hooray! Initially, I was told that it would take at least 2-3 weeks before we began, but it's been only a week and we're starting. Hooray!
It will take 20 sessions, so I'm scheduled to finish on May 15.
Every day I drive to Provo, walk in the side door, wait in a separate back waiting room (where I never see anyone else) until one of the technicians comes for me, walk into the leaded radiation room, drop my pants (while they hold a small cloth in front of me for modesty), get positioned on the narrow table, wait for the 2-3 technicians to finalize all the tiny alignments with those stickers, watch the technicians leave and close the heavy leaded door behind them, wait approximately 11 seconds while the machine hums over me, count off another 30 seconds or so while the machine spins around my body so that it's now positioned under me, and count off a final 8 seconds for the last part of the radiation is delivered preciously where it needs to go.
Then it's a quick hop off the table, get fully dressed again, and I'm free to go again until it's time to repeat the process.
Tomorrow, same time, same place, every weekday until 20 treatments are finished.
It's not hard, difficult, or even that time consuming. The side effects are very minimal--just some redness that feels like a minor sunburn. I start applying Radiaguard (a lotion) about the fourth or fifth day, 2-3 times a day, and its works great.
It's the drive between Cedar Hills and Provo every weekday that quickly gets old. Oh well. If it prevents the Hodgkins from coming back, it's definitely worth it!
Purple Everywhere
Daily Herald picture
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Setting Up a Radiology Appointment
Now that the Hodgkins is gone--again--I need radiation--again--to try and prevent those lymph nodes from getting cancer in the future. It's a way to try and stop the Hodgkins from returning (because it tries to return in the last spot it was in).
After lots of phone calls to check with Dr. Jay's IHC office, our insurance company (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), and Central Utah Clinic in Provo, I'm finally able to determine that I have to drive down to Provo for radiation, so I call to make that appointment.
It's a good thing that I'm used to standing up for myself because Dr. McAllister's receptionist tries to tell me it will be at least a week before he can see me.
I'm not willing to wait an entire week unless I absolutely have to.
What's the delay? He doesn't have a spare 30 minutes anywhere in his schedule within the next four working days?
Well, he likes to get and review all the information from previous scans, radiation treatments, and the referral from the oncologist before that first appointment. I can understand that, so what if I pick up all the information he needs and bring it to his office?
So I head to Salt Lake City and drive to the UofU hospital where the PET scan results from Huntsman are kept, find my summary statements from Mott's Children's Hospital at the UofMichigan from when I was 7, and stop by Dr. Jay's office for my radiation records from them.
Then I drive to Provo and hand deliver everything to Kathy.
I've been around the block a few times; I know how medical things work; and I know how to speed them up.
Amazingly, Dr. McAllister can now see me on Monday, April 15 at 1:00 pm.
Whew! It's like I have to beg for the treatments I know that I need.
After lots of phone calls to check with Dr. Jay's IHC office, our insurance company (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), and Central Utah Clinic in Provo, I'm finally able to determine that I have to drive down to Provo for radiation, so I call to make that appointment.
It's a good thing that I'm used to standing up for myself because Dr. McAllister's receptionist tries to tell me it will be at least a week before he can see me.
I'm not willing to wait an entire week unless I absolutely have to.
What's the delay? He doesn't have a spare 30 minutes anywhere in his schedule within the next four working days?
Well, he likes to get and review all the information from previous scans, radiation treatments, and the referral from the oncologist before that first appointment. I can understand that, so what if I pick up all the information he needs and bring it to his office?
So I head to Salt Lake City and drive to the UofU hospital where the PET scan results from Huntsman are kept, find my summary statements from Mott's Children's Hospital at the UofMichigan from when I was 7, and stop by Dr. Jay's office for my radiation records from them.
Then I drive to Provo and hand deliver everything to Kathy.
I've been around the block a few times; I know how medical things work; and I know how to speed them up.
Amazingly, Dr. McAllister can now see me on Monday, April 15 at 1:00 pm.
Whew! It's like I have to beg for the treatments I know that I need.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Insurance Nightmares
I once heard that the CEO/President of Intermountain Healthcare (IHC) and the IHC insurance company and plan (SelectHealth/SelectMed) and the CEO/President of the University of Utah medical systems have a personal grudge or disagreement with each other.
Because of their disagreement, one (or both) of them vowed that they'd make sure that IHC and the UofU medical systems always remained separated from each other so that IHC providers would never be covered by insurance companies that accepted UofU providers and vice versa.
I certainly hope that is not the truth!
If it's only a squabble on a personal level between two (so-called) professionals that's keeping me from
* being seen by the radiologist that helped me before (That familiarity and history definitely helps when dealing with cancer!)
* driving only 1.5 miles from my house
* and requiring me to pass a radiation oncologist's office while driving the 30 minutes it takes to drive to south Provo to another office
then
I HOPE SOMEHOW JUSTICE IS SERVED AND THEY HAVE TO COMPENSATE EVERY PERSON THAT THEY INCONVENIENCED!
Please, please tell me that my health care decisions are not affected by disputes of a personal nature!
Because of their disagreement, one (or both) of them vowed that they'd make sure that IHC and the UofU medical systems always remained separated from each other so that IHC providers would never be covered by insurance companies that accepted UofU providers and vice versa.
I certainly hope that is not the truth!
If it's only a squabble on a personal level between two (so-called) professionals that's keeping me from
* being seen by the radiologist that helped me before (That familiarity and history definitely helps when dealing with cancer!)
* driving only 1.5 miles from my house
* and requiring me to pass a radiation oncologist's office while driving the 30 minutes it takes to drive to south Provo to another office
then
I HOPE SOMEHOW JUSTICE IS SERVED AND THEY HAVE TO COMPENSATE EVERY PERSON THAT THEY INCONVENIENCED!
Please, please tell me that my health care decisions are not affected by disputes of a personal nature!
Monday, April 8, 2013
No Dr. Jay This Time
I decide to go into work on Monday morning, because I agreed to cover for my team. Cancer or not, I'm a person of my word.
While I'm at work, I'm trying to navigate how to set up radiation appointments.
So Corrine from Dr. Jay's office is back in the office and relays this unfortunate news: since we now have Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance, Dr. Jay isn't a covered provider for them. He's only an IHC (SelectHealth/SelectMed) provider, so I need to contact the nearest radiation oncologist--in Provo!
I immediately put in a call to the Radiation Oncology department at Central Utah Clinic in Provo and leave a message.
About 11:00 am, I haven't heard back from Provo, so I call again. Finally I get through to the receptionist who tells me that the soonest that she can fit me in is Friday afternoon. Really? Are you kidding me? I know how scheduling goes and know that there is room in their schedule sometime before Friday.
The waiting game is the worst part for me. When you know you have a serious medical condition and you know what the next step is, why do you have to wait for it?
I decide I can't handle waiting, so I call the receptionist on her statement. "Really? There are no possible appointment times from Monday afternoon until Friday afternoon? With two doctors in the office? Are they on vacation? At a conference? Surely, we can take the next step without having to wait until Friday? I know how this goes. This will be my third time getting radiation and it's my fourth time dealing with Hodgkins lymphoma. Isn't there something we can do to move things along?"
She bristling a little, but then starts explaining that Dr. McAllister first needs a referral from Dr. Wendy. Then, he needs time to receive all of my records and time to review them, so Friday is probably the first chance he'll have to get everything he needs.
"It's okay; I understand what you're telling me. What can I do to speed up the process? I'll hang up now and make sure Dr. Wendy's office calls you immediately. What else? What records does Dr. McAllister need? I'll get them and hand deliver them to your office if it will help."
So finally acquiesces that if they get the referral call and if they get my medical records faxed over from Dr. Wendy, she can fit me in on Wednesday. Whew! One obstacle down.
While I'm at work, I'm trying to navigate how to set up radiation appointments.
So Corrine from Dr. Jay's office is back in the office and relays this unfortunate news: since we now have Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance, Dr. Jay isn't a covered provider for them. He's only an IHC (SelectHealth/SelectMed) provider, so I need to contact the nearest radiation oncologist--in Provo!
I immediately put in a call to the Radiation Oncology department at Central Utah Clinic in Provo and leave a message.
About 11:00 am, I haven't heard back from Provo, so I call again. Finally I get through to the receptionist who tells me that the soonest that she can fit me in is Friday afternoon. Really? Are you kidding me? I know how scheduling goes and know that there is room in their schedule sometime before Friday.
The waiting game is the worst part for me. When you know you have a serious medical condition and you know what the next step is, why do you have to wait for it?
I decide I can't handle waiting, so I call the receptionist on her statement. "Really? There are no possible appointment times from Monday afternoon until Friday afternoon? With two doctors in the office? Are they on vacation? At a conference? Surely, we can take the next step without having to wait until Friday? I know how this goes. This will be my third time getting radiation and it's my fourth time dealing with Hodgkins lymphoma. Isn't there something we can do to move things along?"
She bristling a little, but then starts explaining that Dr. McAllister first needs a referral from Dr. Wendy. Then, he needs time to receive all of my records and time to review them, so Friday is probably the first chance he'll have to get everything he needs.
"It's okay; I understand what you're telling me. What can I do to speed up the process? I'll hang up now and make sure Dr. Wendy's office calls you immediately. What else? What records does Dr. McAllister need? I'll get them and hand deliver them to your office if it will help."
So finally acquiesces that if they get the referral call and if they get my medical records faxed over from Dr. Wendy, she can fit me in on Wednesday. Whew! One obstacle down.
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