And just like that, my bubble was burst

I was feeling pretty good when I got up this morning. As I was heading to my office to start my work day, my oncologist called. I had meant to call her yesterday with an update, but got busy and forgot. So I filled her in on what happened over the weekend. She thought I still needed a PET scan so she had ordered one and was waiting for prior authorization from my insurance company. I said okay. The fact she still thought I needed one was a little troubling, but I figured she was just being cautious and didn’t really think too much more about it.

At 1:30, I went to see the kidney doctor. That’s when everything changed. He told me a urine test they’d done while I was in the hospital showed strong indications of SIADH (there’s that evil word again). The main cause of SIADH is lung cancer (there are some other causes, but none of them sound like better options). So in his opinion, the cancer is back, even though they couldn’t see it yet on the CT scans. I mentioned the thyroid issue to him, but he instantly shook his head and said he didn’t think that had anything to do with what’s been going on with my sodium.

If he’s right, my sodium will begin dropping again, which would mean I’d need to go back to the hospital each time so they could give me the scary pill (Samsca) to bring it back up. He said in cases like mine, they can sometimes get approval from the insurance company for me to get a prescription so I can take the pill at home when he tells me to. So he wrote me a prescription. And I’m back on Gatorade again (no water).

When I got home, I called a woman from Blue Cross whom I’ve been communicating with for quite some time. When I was sick, she used to call me once a week just to ask how I was doing, so I figured she was a good place to start. I asked her about authorizations for the PET scan and for the Samsca. She told me my husband’s union (IBEW) does their own pre-authorizations, so I needed to talk to someone from the benefits office. I’ve talked to the woman she told me to call several times before, too, and she’s also been very helpful. So I gave her a call. She said she hadn’t received a request for the PET scan yet and she would talk to some people and give me a call back.

In the meantime, I called the oncologist’s office to find out if they’d sent the order for the PET scan. They said it had been ordered, but the woman who does the PET scans (there’s only one) has been out for a few weeks, but will be back tomorrow. The guy on the phone said he’d put a note on her desk asking her to put the request through first thing in the morning.

When I heard back from the woman at the benefits office, she said my PET scan had been approved. I guess the three-in-a-lifetime thing only applies to some insurance companies because I’m pretty sure I’ve already had three. For the Samsca, I had to call our mail order place and see what they needed to start the authorization process.

So when I hung up the phone, I called Sav-RX. They asked for the doctor’s name and phone number and said they’d take it from there. I had to mail the prescription because they will only accept faxed copies from a doctors office. So I did. I figure I can always have him send a new one if they don’t get it, and they said they could go ahead and start the pre-authorization process without it since they’ll be communicating with the doctor’s office.

Needless to say, I didn’t get much work done today. I’m trying to stay calm and just take it one day at a time. That’s about all you can do.

FYI, the Bible verse you see in the picture doesn’t really have anything to do with my story. It just came with the photo.