Thursday, May 5, 2016

Four months...what?!!!

Insurance is a funny thing and so are husbands....when they forget to make the insurance payment. Which mine did and I realized when I went to pick up my prescription for my anti seizure medicine. I put in a quick call to the insurance company who was so nice and said that all we need to do is fax a letter stating that we want it reinstated because they "want to keep our business and won't give us a lapse in coverage." Sound too good to be true?

It was.

I called again and was told that it was only a 50/50 chance that they will reinstate me, which was the worst thing in the world to me at that moment (and of course I was on the phone about to walk into Ben's classroom to teach Art Ed in tears), with my appoint for an MRI 2 days later. That night I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. I finally decided I would post a nasty tweet to HealthNet, so I did.
And they replied. I emailed them my info as requested and received a call at a decent time in the morning, not 2am when I sent it! I was told that we had to pay $1500 for the missed payment and the next payment, so I paid and was told it would be reinstated, and I was hopeful that I'd make my appointment the next day. But I was a little too hopeful and the hospital called saying there was no insurance on record, so again I called the insurance who said it takes 24-48 hours. To be on the safe side we pushed my appointment back 3 weeks to be sure I would be covered for it.

I received a call the day before my appointment and was told that my copay for the MRI would be $2900, so I assumed that meant insurance was going to cover the rest.


I made the trip up to Beverly Hills alone this time and haven't in over a year, since it's so stressful to me. Of course this was the trip I went alone because when I went to registration they said insurance wasn't going to cover it. So to make a long story short, who ever called me messed up and didn't enter that I was covered in their system. While they pulled their heads out of their asses, I missed my MRI and was finally squeezed back in and only ended up being 30 minutes late to my doctors appointment.

Because I was not on time for my appointment there, I was squeezed in again, and made to wait for a bit in the room which makes me nervous because that's usually when my oncologist reviews my scans. It took for what seemed like forever for me to be called back, and when I went into the room to review my scans, I think he saw a worried look on my face, because as soon as I walked in he told me to breathe and that they looked fine!!! YAY, that's the news I wanted!

There is a reason Dr. Rudnick and I are smiling, my clean scan streak continues and insurance hopefully has all of the kinks worked out and my husband remembers to pay. I'm sure after this he'll never forget again!! Thank you all for your prayers.


 When it was all over I drove through Hollywood into Studio City to meet a friend (from a survivor trek to Tahoe, which I still need to post about) for dinner to celebrate.



My friend Sarah and I had raw blueberry mojitos at a vegan restaurant, so they used a raw fermented juice (tasted like wine) in the cocktail


We took a few pictures after we ate. It was wonderful catching up with her. I loved every minute of it and dinner was delicious!



And with her up there, along with a high school friend I will always have something to look forward to and someone to celebrate with. Never again will I go 4 months in between MRIs, even Dr. Rudnick thinks ever 3 months is perfect, Next appointment is on August 3rd. So much life to be lived in the next 3 month, including jumping out of a plane for the first time, kayaking in the Smokey Mountains, Josh finishing elementary school, and summer vacations, girls trips...lots of living, I'll be busy!

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Clean Scan Streak

First I want to apologize for not updating this like I thought I would. I have been out living my life and trying to enjoy as much as possible with my family and writing this blog takes away from that family time I cherish so much.

I have been on a clean scan streak since my last surgery in November 2013, yay me!! I did a year of chemo, so I wasn't surprised that every scan came back clean during that year, however they are still coming back clean!!

No I am not in remission and that is one of the questions I get asked often and hate the most, because I wish there was a remission to brain cancer. I do realize other oncologists tell their patients that they are in remission, but my oncologists believes that is just their way of putting the patients mind at ease and that it will continue to grow even though it is not visible on the MRI. I have absolutely come to realize this as a fact and you know what? I'm OK with that. I'm a fighter and in the battle of my life and knowing I have to fight the rest of my life will keep me doing just that. I don't want the doctor to tell me something to sugar coat it for me and make me relax and possibly slack on healthy eating only to have it come back with a vengeance, I'll continue to fight with every thing I have and to live my life to it's fullest, enjoying time with my children.

We returned recently from a wonderful Spring Break road trip, those posts are coming soon, I promise!

Thank you for your continued prayers and positive thoughts.