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I wish you all the best. My mom just won an appeal to have her Gemzar Oxaliplatin combo covered by her insurance – they told her the same thing, “this isn’t approved for cc”. Well like much is…
Anyways, keep up the fight on both sides – health-wise and with the insurance company.
Thanks to all that replied to my “intro”. I’m still waiting to hear from the Dr. I have called in daily, often twice. The nurses are empathetic but I’m still waiting for a response. I’ve even sent him an email. All I want to know is what’s the plan.
Hi, NC here too. Let me reiterate what Pam said: Your oncologist should know how to get this approved. If he does not get it approved, do not hesitate to change to a doctor who will. I know a practice in Charlotte that is a BCBS designated rare and complex cancer center. In a nutshell, BCBS ultimately has to approve almost anything they ask in the treatment of CC.
Hi tchoskins!
Ahhhh…..a fellow North Carolinian! I lost my Mom in April of this year. She was Stage IV with mets to the lungs when diagnosed. She was treated at Duke with these two drugs as well as a few others.
Don’t give up hope. Her insurance company did question the combination but quickly paid up when the Oncologist contacted them.
Give them a call. I’ve found that nagging can produce excellent results when consistently applied…..lol.
I’m glad you’ve found us. Come often and be assured you will find some of the most helpful and compassionate people on the planet here. I’m sorry you had to find us but we are glad you did.
You will be in my thoughts and prayers!
Pam
Hi tchoskins,
Welcome to the board hwere you will find friendly, supportive friends, somewhere to ask for advice/questions or just generally vent your feelings.
My Dad had cc but sadly passed away quite quickly after diagnosis, only 7 weeks. I live in England and he was in Florida so I have spent much of this year over there, supporting him and latterly my MUm.
Wishing you all the best with your new regime of chemo, keep us informed of your progress.
Katie
Talk about a roller coaster ride, bet you never bought a ticket to stand in line for this one. But, welcome to our world, sorry you had to come. We are in a similar situation right now waiting for an appeal for a PET. The only thing I can suggest is to call the doctors office again as I have discovered sometimes the hitch lies in his help. Good luck with the appeal and please keep us posted.
I am a CC patient. A lesion was discovered on my liver in May of 2008. The left lobe of the liver was resected in July. I received 28 radiation treatments and 28 days of Xeloda pills during September and October. A follow-up CT scan was done in January of 2009. All clear.
Then another CT was done in April. There were 12 small lesions. Another resection was not possible, of course. And the radiologist said I had had as much radiation as I could have. So I had a chemoembolization in June. One day and one overnight in the hospital.
An MRI was done the first week of July. No new lesions and some reduction in size to the existing ones was the news.
I began a treatment of gemzar and cisplatin the first week of August. I had a port put in so they wouldn’t have to use a vein each time. After 3 cycles (6 treatments) we did an MRI (Oct. 1). Again no new lesions but some growth to the existing ones.
At present I’m waiting for my oncologist to get an insurance approval for a different treatment. This treatment is a combination of 5-FU and Oxaliplatin. At the moment the insurance people are saying that that combination is for colorectal cancer, not CC. I’m told that the oncologist will have to appeal this decision.
It’s been 6 weeks since I’ve had any type of treatment and I’m getting anxious. Although I feel good I don’t want the lesions growing. And even though I didn’t have any side effects from the gemzar/cisplatin combo, and I may from the 5-FU/oxaliplatin, I ready to move on.
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