'cancer Dr.' appointment

Thur. June 20, 2013
>> Had my first appointment at the 'cancer Dr' (C-Dr) office today.
>> Patient Advocate.  My first stop was to meet my Patient Advocate who is the person that will help me in many ways throughout this new chapter of my life.  They do a lot of things but perhaps one of the most reassuring things I heard today is their responsibility for the "full coordination of insurance benefits and resources" and to "ensure authorization for all services prior to treatment."  I can't put into words how much of a relief that is.  I've always thought I had good insurance coverage but in reading through my insurance handbook last week I lost track of how many times it mentioned that we (policy holders) are responsible for: making sure we use contract providers (which I knew); making sure that pre-authorization of "some services" is done or benefits will be declined or reduced (there's a list of 10 things we need to tell the insurance company each time we call for pre-authorization!) and 15 pages listing all services!  Ultimately I'm still responsible for making sure it is still done but as we talked a bit more I was impressed with how much they knew about my medical plan (pre-auth needs and also at which facilities my insurance will pay for tests & treatments) and had already been done with my insurance company for upcoming procedures.  All I can say is this Patient Advocate is a huge plus.
>> After that the next stop was to get all the vitals stuff done.  The vitals guy measured my height (I've shrunk since it was last done over 15 years ago) and my weight (that's shrunk too, especially the past 2 weeks--too worried to eat and lost my appetite--not altogether a bad thing at my weight!).  Also took my temperature and oxygen level and, no surprise, my 'white coat BP' problem was in high gear--maybe I'll get used to it now and get it down to the same normal levels I have when doing BP at home.  And, of course, they siphoned a bunch of blood.
>> C-Dr.  From there my next stop was to finally met my 'cancer Dr' and I was soon impressed.  He reminded me in many ways of the primary care physician I've had for over 30 years - and that's a good thing. Excellent 'bedside manner'. We then reviewed my medical history and family medical history from all those forms I'd filled in.  He too was surprised I had all my original body parts (up until the lymph node removal) and seemed in good health, well, other than the reason I was there, and the obvious weight issue he and I agreed on.  He calmly explained more about my variety of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL).  Oh, just after he started I asked him if I could record the conversation with my new smartphone and he said yes.  So glad for that as he went through a lot of information, and about 20 minutes into it said by the time I got to my car I'd only remember about half of what he said and by the time I got home only half of that, and then pointed to my phone and said having that would help.  He was so right!  He then explained the next steps are to 'stage' my NHL by doing a few procedures to determine the source of the cancer cells and... (see, I've forgotten already the best way to say the next piece but I'll get it corrected) _____________.  The staging and location of the active cancer must be determined before the treatment plan can be decided.  He then poked and prodded lymph node areas and my spleen (similar structure to a large lymph node). He also encouraged me to write down any questions I had and bring them at each appointment. My recent smartphone purchase may have been a good thing now.  He then explained the next step is two procedures that need to be done:  1) a PET [Positron Emission Tomography] scan; 2) a Bone Marrow aspiration and biopsy.
>> After that it was back to my Patient Advocate who called each hospital where the two procedures will be done and got the scheduling completed while I was there.  She told me she had already checked with my insurance for the pre-authorization and made sure each hospital was 'covered' for each procedure.  Nice.
>> Both procedures will be done in this next week.
>> Next appt with C-Dr scheduled the following week to discuss test results and what is next.
>> Best words from C-Dr today:  "Definitely a treatable disease."

I think I'm too wordy.

Lymphoma cancer is represented by the Lime Green ribbon.