It's chemo time, again! Three weeks can zoom by. This time around, it's been rough. I've been fighting to figure out insurance. In order to avoid paying more out-of-pocket deductibles than necessary with this work-related move, we decided that it would be better to do Cobra insurance this year. The math made sense. What didn't quite add up was the understanding that all the insurance that we' ve paid wasn't being counted somehow, and our policy had been disconnected. Hours on the phone and on hold, looking for answers and trying to translate English spoken in dialects that are difficult to understand, no answers in sight were worrisome. I was unsure if my appointments that I'd been waiting for for nearly two months would be able to happen. I was worried and exhausted from all the time with no progress.
Finally, last Friday, we made a discovery. The person whose job it is to put the insurance money from the company into the insurance company realized she had made a big mistake: send our Cobra money in with the other money, where it got lost in a deep pool of nothingness. She was able to call and straighten out the knots. She even had a new number to call and a reinstatement number for reference! However, this would not go into action for at least two business days.
Fast-forward two business days. I had my #16 dose of Enhertu. The nurses were concerned about what I would need to pay out-of-pocket to cover this treatment without any insurance. I was feeling helpless, as the concept of me having insurance was true, but it just couldn't be shown online. I technically had insurance, and this should not even be an issue, but I was at the mercy of the insurance company to make the necessary changes to make it all right.
I got into action when the next step was possibly canceling the long-awaited appointments. I've been waiting around for almost 2 months to get these tumors shot out of my brain before they grow too large for that treatment to work!
Luckily, I was able to get a customer service rep. with a heart. When there was no other solution, I plead my case, telling her that my cancer has always been aggressive. I've already given this beast too much time to grow without treatment. I'm supposed to have radiation that will knock it out, but that just might be cacncereled, due to a mistake that had been made by someone else. We are paid up and on time. However, it looks like the opposite. I plead with this woman and begged her to help. I didn't want to have fought cancer so hard for over nine years, only to die because insurance was denying me.
That set image her on a mission. She sent an URGENT message to a higher-up and assured me that this would be handled by the end of the work day. It was hard to believe after all the time I'd already spent, but I moved forward, believing her. (My health care team was on board, even prepping my brain for the next days with some pre-meds of steroids, etc.)
After treatment, I went home to pack an overnight bag, still hoping the next day's plans would happen. My aunt met at my house to travel to the appointment. Before we had the car packed, my phone rang with good news: The insurance had officially been reinstated!
That was the good news I needed to head on our way, get something to eat, and rest up before the early morning of another treatment day.
Somedays I wonder why all the little pieces have to be so difficult. Fighting cancer-period-is hard enough! You would think that these hiccups could ease up and work together, instead of causing me unwanted anxiety and a huge waste of time. However, without the struggle, the success would not feel quite as sweet!
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