Chemo #1

It has been an interesting day. Today was chemotherapy #1 that almost wasn’t. We got a call yesterday afternoon telling us that our insurance company denied coverage for our treatment plan. Huh? With chemo less than 24 hours away we began a series of phone conversations with the cancer center and an insurance company assigned case manager. After several phone calls we finally came to the conclusion (which we are still not totally sure about) that the insurance company does not agree with one of the chemotherapy drugs being used. The drug in question appears to be the carboplatin. Even though the carboplatin is in the second set of chemotherapy that starts 12 weeks from now all of the chemotherapy was denied. We had hoped that it would be resolved by our 9:45am appointment today, but it was not to be. We finally gave up hope for a resolution just prior to noon and, hoping and trusting that it will be resolved (it is in appeal), we decided to have the chemo today anyway. To do so we had to pay upfront in the amount of $6500! We will need to pay this every two weeks until the cancer center gets paid and is able to reimburse us. Cancer and chemo is stressful enough without having to deal with this!

Chemo was done around 5pm. So far Vonnie feels no ill effects, except for hot flashes. She really isn’t expecting any significant side effects for the first 24 hours. We came home and had a nice supper of soup. Thank you Joan for the great meal! We were surprised when we got home with tulips, balloons and goodies hidden around the house. We had an early “Easter egg hunt” thanks to our daughter Julie. Also included with the goodies was what we are calling a “chemo pet”. The attached picture shows a stuffed spotted leopard that will accompany Vonnie to her chemo treatments. We need a name and are asking you to help us name her. Click image to enlarge.

NAME THAT LEOPARD! If you have a suggestion please either put something in the blog comments or you may email us at lvsypkens@gmail.com.