Follow ups, updates, Insurance issues...

Found out COBRA will probably be the best route to go after all. Paperwork (supposedly in the mail) is due back within 60 days and my first payment is due 45 days after that. For as much as I've been groaning about not being able to make the additional payments every month this time-frame buys me the chance to catch up with work and make some money and make this happen.

I also learned that an insurance company can exclude someone with a pre-existing condition from 6 months to a year. The person I was speaking to (who said they would call me back...but didn't) needed to confirm how cancer fit into that situation, because cancer as a pre-existing condition doesn't fit into the 6-12 month window and can last as long as 5 years at least. He also advised keeping COBRA keeps my insurance as is and thereby doesn't allow my existing insurance company to consider me as having a pre-exisiting condition. He also stressed the fact that any lapse in coverage gives any insurance company the right to fall back on my having a pre-existing condition and means I may not be picked up by anyone for a loooong time.

So keeping things status quo means that the plan is to switch hospitals and keep my Oncologist in network, which means leaving Dr L, who has been amazing! But who has been "out of network" since the beginning. And she brought this up to us when she gave me the run down on how we deal with Hodgkins anyway. So my call to her tomorrow shouldn't come as a big surprise.

ABVD is the standard for Hodgkins so anyone can administer it. It's not like she was going to personally hold my hand for the next 6 months or anything.

I mentioned this to Dr G (Urologist) during my Post OP visit today. First of all, he CLEARED me for everything. He recommends I work part time for at least a week before trying to work full time at all. But he also cleared me for chemo as well. (although realistically, I should really not expect to feel 100% for a full 2 months with this kind of surgery. But Chemo needs to happen so we have to move on ASAP).

I mentioned my recent symptoms: sudden body temperature changes, fatigue, and dizziness which he immediately blamed on the lymphoma. He reminded us about the hot flashes lymphoma can cause, which is responsible for one of the primary symptoms: Night Sweats. Which by the way have gotten worse for me in the last couple of weeks. I have had a few soaking night sweats since this began.

I also mentioned my weight loss; as of this writing (I last weighed myself 2 days ago) I am 20 pounds lighter since I first walked into my Oncologist's office on 11/27/06.

Dr G said matter of factly "It's the lymphoma, it's trying to kill you. You need the chemo." He made notes in my folder about what I was telling him and he did say the phantom pain I feel where the kidney was is indeed something I will continue to feel for a while. My body is still reacting to the surgery, and I'm healing.

Everything else acting up now seems to be the remaining cancer and the way Dr G responded to my symptoms was sobering. Has my body until now been so occupied with both cancers that I didn't notice the Hodgkins activity as clearly as I do now? With the kidney now removed is the Hodgkins running rampant? He said "The lymphoma hasn't been dealt with yet, you're cured of Renal Cell-you need the chemo."

He also said my occasional shoulder pain could be related to the tumor on the mediastinum (or the mass of nodes/tumor in my chest.)

It's all Lymphoma now...obviously.

With the suggestion of changing hospitals and Oncologists Dr G gave me the name of an Oncologist he knows and trusts and recommends all of his cancer cases to. (He would be another Dr L if we choose him) -I have to contact my current Dr L and discuss my plans with her because as last I understood I still have a Bone Marrow test to be done to further stage the Hodgkins. And I still need to discuss the option to have a Portacatheter installed, implanted?

Whatever it's called when you put it in.

Anticipating my calling his recommendation Dr G had my entire pathology report copied and handed to me (to hand to the new Dr L). I read thru the reports and I'm both facsinated and astounded by the reports and tests and re-tests done to confirm or deny the existance of Renal Cell vs Hodgkins in my body. Scattered in the 15 or 20 pages are very BIG words that explain where the tumor was on my kidney, what and where they found the lymph nodes in my neck and chest, what chemicals reacted to what tissue and most importantly the fact that a battery of doctors and pathologists agreed that there was no evidence of Renal Cell Carcinoma anywhere else in my body except the kidney and that the lymph nodes biopsied elsewhere was and is only Hodgkins. Amazing!

The report I have in front of me is dated 1/3/07, the day after they took my kidney out. The concept that these two diseases existed in my body at the same time is still hard to accept. But true nonetheless.

And the bastard: "Hodgkins" (so far) left alone (until chemo starts) is beginning to piss me off.


In other developments:

Our 3 yr old who was reacting and throwing fits at night because he thought I was different since Surgery has calmed down. Once I returned to normal habits around the house his behavior improved and he was thrilled once he learned tonight that I can pick him up now (since Dr G cleared me).

So...I still have work ahead of me, but I can move on to the next part and start fighting the lymphoma back. The sooner the better...where have I heard that before?