Testing Day

Our day began bright and early at 7:00 a.m. when we showed up for E.'s first appointment, only to be immediately greeted by some confusion. E. couldn't even so much as check-in, as we were told his account had been "put on hold" because there had been no insurance approval for this latest round of tests. We were told to have a seat while they tried to work things out. After an hour, the apologetic front desk clerk informed us that he couldn't reach anyone at the business office and suggested we walk over ourselves. We made the long trek to the business office, where we were informed of exactly the same thing: we did not have insurance approval. Apparently, E.'s insurance was denying further testing in Texas, claiming that testing could be done locally instead. Even though it was now 8:30 a.m. in Texas, it was only 6:30 a.m. in Nevada, which meant that the insurance folks were probably still snoozing and most certainly not in the office yet. A variety of people left messages stating our claim to the insurance company; the business folks, the testing folks, the doctor's representatives and of course, E. himself.

Surprisingly, at 8:13 a.m. Nevada time, the helpful gentleman at the MD Anderson business office called us back ... we had insurance approval! We headed back over to Nuclear Medicine to begin the PET/CT process. Unfortunately, the entire schedule was thrown off due to the delay, but we were thankful they were still willing to squeeze us in where they could. We were at their mercy though and settled in for the long wait. It was 11:35 a.m. Texas time when E. began his first appointment of the day (originally scheduled for 7:00 a.m.). From here on out, it was surprisingly smooth sailing. The PET/CT, followed by labs, and then the MRI. Even with the unexpected morning delay, we were still done before 5:00 p.m. Woohoo!

We had one more kink thrown in our plans as well. Dr. A., the medical oncologist, was called out of the office and wanted to reschedule our appointment to next week. Since that's not really a feasible option for us, we'll have to settle for a phone consultation. When, we don't know. We're hopeful we can still get the PET/CT results from someone tomorrow, because I might just be a crazy (crazier?) lady if we have to wait indefinitely.

You'd think this scanning/testing/waiting for results process would get easier. Physically, it does. We have that part down to a science. Emotionally, it doesn't. It simply doesn't.