After the call on Friday that my insurance company denied approval for a 2nd round of fertility treatments for preservation, it was a tough weekend. I did my best to let it go. I figured, I did all I could do and it was out of my hands. Whatever was meant to be would be and I had no more control over it.
I fought as hard as I could, did all I could, but the ultimate decision was not up to me. Someone else could make that call and had the power over that decision. As with everything else in my life, I tried to let it go and trust that things would work out the way that they should. For some reason, I always end up landing on my feet. I might not know why things go the way they go at the time, but always I end up where I was supposed to be.
Today I was back at work. I waited until around 10:30 to call the fertility doctor's office and left a message for his nurse, Jackie. She's AMAZING. I got 2 called from my surgical oncologist's office to change my next appointment from the 7th to the 8th, then to tell me my pre-op is on the 8th as well at Faulkner. Surgery day I need to check in a 9am for a noon time surgery. All the paperwork was getting mailed out today.
It was around 11:30 when Jackie called me back. The doctor had been with patients most of the morning, but had drafted up a letter which was being typed to fax to my insurance company for reconsideration. After it was faxed and hand delivered to Dr. Dave, the one who denied the request originally, he was going to call to discuss it.
Jackie asked if I heard back from Fertile Hope. Its a group through Live Strong that offers financial assistance for fertility preservation with cancer patients. She gave them all my contact info on Friday afternoon, but I hadn't heard back yet.
I called back my case manage at my insurance company. She didn't have any other info and the denial letter was not yet loaded in my file for her to even know why the request was denied.
Shortly after that, I got a call from Patti at Fertile Hope. She was great. She talked me through their website with the application and what benefits they have available. They work with a pharmacy who ships the drugs directly to the doctor. The pharmacy doesn't even get my name, but they cover the cost in full. The meds I took before cost close to $14,000.
The fertility clinic I went to last Thursday is on Fertile Hope's list. The contracted DISCOUNTED price for what I went through last Thursday was still OVER $5000! That was the discounted cost! WOW!
Jackie had told me on Friday that the doctor and Harvard Vanguard, who he is through, were going to waive their fees for me. I thought that was amazing. But over $5000? WOW!!
Patti also gave me info on another group with a different website (I can't remember their name) for preservation. The cost to ship to them is a one time $95. Then they charge a discounted annual rate of $106 for storage. The place the clinic provided is $85/month for storage. That's over $1000 a year.
I left work today around 1:30. I had to be at Dana Farber at for 2pm for a "Look Good Feel Better" program. They give out a couple hundred dollars worth of makeup to each woman in the class, do a whole class on applying it, plus some tips on wigs and scarves. I'm really glad I went now, before chemo starts, just to get a better idea of things and to try to get better prepared.
Hoping to hear from Jackie, I left my phone out, on vibrate. At about 2:30 it started vibrating and I saw the number. It was from their office. I grabbed the phone and left that room to go into the hallway. It was Trisha, a medical assistant from the fertility office. Right away she yelled, "YOU'RE INSURANCE COMPANY APPROVED YOU!"
It was a HUGE relief. I just felt a weight lift off of me. Something finally went right in all of this. Finally.
I asked Trisha about the meds. On Friday, the plan was to start on one for Monday night, tonight. So I called the fertility pharmacy and had it ordered to be delivered today to Jim's work, since I knew I was leaving work early today. But as of this morning, with all the insurance crap, Jackie said we'd start tomorrow on that drug and have the drug protocol done by then for the rest of the meds. I didn't know, now that approval came through, what the plan would be.
Trisha was so funny. She didn't know what the plan was. She said, "I haven't talked to Jackie yet. She doesn't even know. I JUST got the approval in now and called you right away." She was happy for me and it was really nice. That whole office has been SO great.
So, tonight I took my first shot. Something finally went right.
24 days until surgery.
No comments:
Post a Comment