Wednesday's appointment was a CT Scan so the Oncologist can begin the treatment planning procedure which will take a few more days to complete. This is when they'll figure out how many treatments will be needed and where to aim the radiation. There was so much confusion about the medication, because there are two Oncologists, one for the follow-ups and one that's actually performing the radiation. The nurse for one doctor said that she gave my aunt the prescription, then said she didn't, the Oncologist wanted me to get the prescription when I came back on Wednesday but the nurses knew nothing about it, what a runaround. When we finally got the nurses to understand, the doctor had already left for rounds at the hospital, the agreement was that I'd come back on Thursday morning to pick up the prescription and with that we finally went home.
This morning was like trying to pull myself onto a boat after I'd fallen out. Dragging myself out of bed was hell but I made it to pick up the prescription, but no doctor. No doctor, no nurse and the other doctors staff knew nothing about it, apparently the doctor works out of the downtown office on Thursdays, you think she would have told me that yesterday. At least one of the other nurses searched the desk and found the prescription. I should have known from the morning that the rest of the day wasn't going to work well. I told mom that I'd be at her house by 10:00 so she could drop off the prescription before they went grocery shopping like they do every Thursday. I get there at 10:00 and mom is gone, what the hell? I track her down at the grocery store and she's telling me she has to go later to pick up the prescription, again, what the hell? I finally get her to understand, she apologizes which makes me feel guilty and I drop the prescription off on my way home so they can pick it up after grocery shopping. I get home, make a few more call, and lay down for one second and pass out, only to be woken up a bit later by mom calling. The pharmacy didn't have all the medication so they had to go back tomorrow but it was going to cost $3300, WHAT THE HELL???? I call the pharmacy that proceeds to tell me that that is her copay, that it regularly would be $4410. I call the doctor to find out what's going on. apparently the pharmacy had billed it to the wrong part on Medicare. An FYI for people out there, if you get a prescription for chemotherapy (Xeloda), make sure they bill it to Medicare Part B, not D, D is usually for prescriptions but this is a treatment which should have no copay. Thank goodness for Kenzie at the downtown office, she had me call the pharmacy and cancel it, and then faxed it to a specialty pharmacy that will deliver it to me tomorrow.
After calls back and forth to my sister, and another sister getting snippy with me because I needed her to call a doctor tomorrow, I'm so ready to pass out. My sister that I'm going on vacation with in July talked about it and despite the other sister telling us to go, we've decided to cancel the trip. We both need the vacation but neither one of us would forgive ourselves if something happened when we were gone. My brother did that when pop was bad and had to come back early when pop went.
Monday will be the appointment that will ensure that all the points are lined up correctly for radiation, a dry run. On Tuesday radiation will begin simultaneously with Chemotherapy. We won't find out until Monday how many actual treatments she'll need. We pretty much have the ride situation figure out for Monday - Thursday. Because I'm off on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll be driving, I really hope I can do all this and work. Fridays are still a bit of a jumble trying to find people but we'll figure it out.
I convinced auntie to move in with mom for at least six weeks to keep mom from driving and running around too much to check on her. I hope I did the right thing, we were all thinking it but I had to break it to her. I basically really didn't give her a choice, I pretty much told her this is what's best. We'll all gather at mom's Sunday to clean out the back room and move auntie in. I don't think one day is enough, mom has so much junk back there, I took home a little suitcase I used to play with as a kidlet and was full of stuff. SHE KEEPS EVERYTHING! I found not only a Spanish lesson from 9th grade but 5 1/4" floppies.. FLOPPIES!, and lava rocks from a vacation to Crater Lake when I was about 12. ::sigh:: Pack rats run in the family.
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