I have an appointment with the medical oncologist on Tuesday morning to discuss chemo treatments and the HER2 status is an important piece of information for that. MRI with contrast is also scheduled for Tuesday, which will give more imaging of the breasts. The insurance wouldn't approve a PET scan unless the surgeon really was insistent so instead I'll do a CT scan and bone scan instead. These essentially accomplish the same thing...determining whether the cancer has spread to any other part of the body.
On the drive in (which is really only about 5 minutes...a lot can happen sitting in the parking lot!), Mom and I also discussed the issue of getting a second opinion. Long story short, I made some calls, as did Barbara Crecelius, personal assistant, and got on the books for an appointment at Ohio State's Cancer Center. In these discussions, both of us also found out that my insurance coverage is good, Anthem is helpful, and there are no limitations to chemotherapy drugs. Additionally, the in-network providers get pre-approval before making orders, so while this can at times delay scheduling (ex: the PET scan), it also eliminates the need for me to make multiple phonecalls between insurance and doctors and for that I am thankful.
After work, essentially zoned out and watched Netflix with mom. Would recommend Paranoia with the oh-so-attractive Liam Hemsworth, but not so much the "biopic" Diana. While laying around, I had the thought that maybe this is all just a bad dream and at some point, I'll wake up. Unfortunately, I realize that is not the case.
Overall, I am still overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. Met with work ladies for coffee because they intentionally wanted to know what to do to help. Your messages continue and mean so much. In yesterday's mail, I received a touching note from my AP Statistics teacher from my senior year of high school. Through the grapevine of former teachers and parents of friends, he had heard and gotten my address. Also included was this photo:
Brought a smile to my face, as again, as much as life can change, it remains much the same. Can't say based on looking at me that I'd know this was 11 years ago!
