Cancer Shmancer!

Why is it that Doctors can be the dumbest people on this planet? Yet…they are the smartest as well, curing disease, diagnosing illnesses, and expanding modern medicine. For all of this I am grateful but sometimes I feel like Doctors are just playing the guessing games and pretty much just practice “the process of elimination." Ever since I was a little girl I have been terrified of doctors. In fact I remember when I was 6 years old riding in the back of the Caravan, after my parents tricked me into a doctors appointment. I sat in the backseat of the van having a inner panic attack thinking “what am I going to do?” Suddenly I had an idea, but I waited until the last second possible to execute it. As we pulled into the parking lot of the doctor’s office I slowly crawled under the seat of the Caravan. My parents came around to get me out, but they could not physically get me out so it took quite a while to coax me out from my hiding place. However, I was still not ready for the doctor. So I tried to be a big girl and did everything the doctor said to. Then, suddenly, I had an escape. He wanted to draw some blood (NO WAY!!) So, I pretended like I needed to pee. I excused myself, went to the bathroom, and locked myself in the stall. Sadly I was not able to hide very long. After some more coaxing, my mom got me out. In the end, I had to give blood, and got my tonsils out. It was very traumatizing and  now it takes a lot for me to get to the point of actually going to the doctor. But what is even more traumatizing… is that I feel like every time I do finally go to the doctor, after putting it off for a while, I come away feeling let down. Let down, because the doctors pretty much always make me feel like nothing is wrong with me and say, go home and if you still are sick in a month, come back. See why Doctors are DUMB!!


Well since October I have been sick on and off, so I finally went to the doctor in the middle of February (see it takes me a while to get up the guts). Well, this doctor did recognize something being wrong and instantly started testing for Lymphoma Cancer. Well, it is now 7 weeks later and I still have no answers. I go from test to test, from scan to scan, and from doctor to doctor. NO ANSWERS…just the waiting game. In fact one of the doctors told me last week, nothing was wrong with me and if I still feel sick in a month come back. Hmmm…never heard that before. So one doctor is telling me nothing is wrong with me and the other two doctors are saying. Well, Lymphoma Cancer is really hard to diagnose, we think that is what we are dealing with and then wait a week before deciding the next step. So in turn...I an going CRAZY! 
The funniest thing happened  last night I got the mail on my way to pick Greg up from class at 10:00pm. Well, imagine my surprise when I opened the mail and have a letter from my insurance company that says.


Dear Erin,


We have received the request from your Doctor for a certification of the services listed below. Based upon the information given us, these services have been certified as medically necessary.


Dates of Service                Service                                Units


3/4/2010 to 3/4/2011   RITUXIMAB, 100 MB           12 Months


Please call with any questions.


WHAT THE HELL???? (Yes it is my blog Mom I can swear) This is my what the HELL face to go along with my WHAT THE HELL???comment, just for my mom!

 I look at the service “Rituximab” what is that? I have been prescribed nothing? So as I am driving I am frantically goggling it. Well, this is what popped up on Google Rituximab (Rituxan) is a drug used in the treatment of Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas (NHL). It is one of a special group of drugs called ‘monoclonal antibodies’ used in chemotherapy treatments.
So imagine, going from Doctor to Doctor from test to test and just feeling like you were getting the run around and no conclusive answers. Yet, one day in the mist of all of it, you get a letter from your insurance company saying per request from your doctor you have been approved for a 12 month supply of chemotherapy medicine. WHAT!!! So now I have made my own conclusion. Either I really do have cancer and my doctors, who have been out of town for spring break for 2 weeks, know I have cancer and have failed to mention it to me. Or, my doctor is into insurance fraud and is just getting money from my insurance company. Or, like the doctor said last week, nothing is wrong with me, if I feel sick in a month come back. AAARGHHH!!Either way, I still have no real answers I am just laughing about getting that letter in the mail.