Chapter 3 The Evils of Insurance and Dr. Google.

As soon as I got in the car I recapped my visit with Dr. Reid. I told David about the appointment with Dr. Fulton. He didn’t say anything but when I looked over I saw the tears in his eyes and he couldn’t quite catch the one that ran down his cheek. He reached over and took my hand and squeezed it. I squeezed his right back and handed him the little box of tissues.

David and I have been through some stuff over the last 42 years. We are tough. We have lost two of our four children. We will get through this too.

I told him, “It’s going to be OK. We will get to see the specialist and it probably isn’t going to be a big deal.” “No big deal, It’s no big deal, It’s no big deal.” I chanted in my head over and over until we got home.

I started calling the Human Resources department at the hospital but by this time the offices were closed. I called the 800 number on the back of my insurance card and after several automated twists and turns was told that my social security number was not listed.

I demanded to speak to a person. The wait was not terribly long until I spoke to a human. I tried not to totally lose it. I was rapidly headed in that direction.

The person was able to eventually find me in the system. After a great deal of searching it was discovered that when the hospitals “Healthcare Plan” which was purchased by another large hospital system in January, had not yet added our social security numbers to that system, thus when a call was placed by the physician’s office to get prior authorization for any testing they were told we are not in the system. Several long holds later and it was determined that the HR department would be notified and they would get the situation cleared up.

I put that problem to bed and began working on how to go to Dallas in a week when we couldn’t leave Mom for that long. It was decided to call her sister to come and have a sleepover with her. That was arranged and we were on to the next step in the process. Tell everyone in the family what is going on.

My son’s both live close by and I told them first for fear that someone would accidently post something on Facebook. My oldest son, Andrew was, and is, very concerned and wants to know everything that is happening. Aaron, who’s so much like his dad and mine, keeps his feelings close to the vest. I am not sure if he wants to know everything, but I keep to the basics because I know he is super sensitive to these situations.

The rest of my family and David’s brother and sister all live quite far away. The easiest and most efficient way to get added to the prayer chains of both family and friends was to draft a message and send it to everyone at once. The wonders of the internet, email ,and text messaging. I am sure by the time we finished telling everyone there was a lag in the internet when searching for Ocular Melanoma, aka Uveal Melanoma, aka Choroidal Melanoma due to the high traffic for the topic on Google.

Dr. Reid had told me before I left his office. “I know that your first inclination is to get on the internet and search this. I will tell you that EyeWiki would have the most accurate and up to date information.”

EyeWiki it is then. My search confirmed everything I had been told including the part about the metastasis. It is stated that while this is a rare disease, it is often deadly. Metastasis currently has no known treatment or cure. While the disease has the Melanoma name it is actually quite different from Melanomas of the skin in both symptoms and treatment options.

“Thanks! EyeWiki. You suck!” I snarled at my phone as I read, and reread the information.

I texted my boss and her assistant. They were both wonderful. They told me to take whatever time I need and they would be praying for me. I told them I didn’t need to take off yet, but might need to in the near future depending on what the Ocular Oncologist, (I still can’t believe there is such a thing) had to say.

Whatever happened to the Doctor that treated everything from taking out your tonsils, to trimming your toenails. We have specialists for every body part and no one can fix anything without a trip, or ten, to a major metropolitan area. I am thinking that if there are only 2000 cases of this eye cancer a year, in the entire USA, this guy in Dallas must play a whole lot of golf. I realized later that he does treat other eye cancers and diseases as well, so he probably only golfs three days a week.

Amber, My PCP texted and told me she had me scheduled for CT of head, neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis for the next day and I was to come to her office ASAP.

I arrived at her office completely composed. I was totally chill, but when I got in her office, I had a melt- down that would make Chernobyl look like a chimney fire. I started ugly crying, and couldn’t stop because I had been holding it in all day. She immediately called in a prescription for Xanax which I gladly accepted.

As soon as I left the office after having labs drawn and getting instructions on the CTs for the following day, I made a beeline for Walgreens. They gave me that funny look they do when you are getting a “Controlled” substance. I gave them my license, insurance, and my middle finger as I pulled out of the drive through. It is passive aggressive I know, but it was rather satisfying at that moment.