Last week I got a phone call from a lady at my insurance company. She said, “Your injection has been authorized.”
I was puzzled and responded, “I don’t know anything about an injection—what kind of injection?”
“I don’t have that information,” the representative said, “but I can give you the authorization number so you can call your insurance customer service. They can give you the information.”
I was busy so I didn’t call. Then on Saturday, I got a letter from my insurance company titled, “Your request for coverage has been approved.” It went on to say that either I or my health care provider had asked them to review coverage for the patient and providers noted above: me and my oncologist. Then it said, “We have completed our review and approved authorization for coverage as stated below.”
Under Authorizations, I was given Approved Procedures with a Procedure Code and under Procedure Description, it said “Injection” and a long word that looked familiar. When I Googled it, I found that it’s one of the drugs used to treat the kind of cancer I had. Then in a table it said: Dates: 5/23/2024-11/18/2024, Service: Injectable Drug, Number of Services: 180 Days. Then an Authorization number and Status: Approved.
I was becoming more and more upset. I told Donn, “It sounds like my oncologist has gotten approval for me to have this injectable drug for 180 more days from May 23 to November 18, 2024! But at my last visit, Dr. L was talking about the plan for after care after my last Targeted Treatment on May 28.”
Donn acted like this was no big deal, and we could get it straightened out at my appointment on May 28. I thought, Easy for him to say! He’s not the one whose name is on this piece of paper!
So that evening I wrote a long message to a woman who had the same kind of cancer surgery I had. We went to school together years ago but had become much closer since our shared experience recently. She also is a nurse. She responded that she would be flabbergasted to get this kind of information from her insurance company.
I was glad to hear that she didn’t feel that I was over-reacting! I told her, “They haven’t even done any tests that I know of that would show that I need more treatment.”
My friend promised to pray for me. As I was copying information into my message to her, I noticed there was a member service phone number on the letter I’d received that I could call Monday through Sunday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. I decided I would call after church on Sunday while Donn took Sarah home.
I messaged my friend later, “Well, I made the phone call, but the representative said all she knows is that the injections were approved because it was medically necessary. I explained that I was upset, because the phone call and letter from my insurance company was the first I’d heard of this. The representative said she didn’t blame me for being upset. So I’ll have to wait until my appointment with the PA and what was supposed to be my last treatment.”
During the phone call to Highmark, I cried, and after the phone call, I cried some more. How could the Cancer Center know it was medically necessary for me to have 180 more days of treatment when no tests have been done that would have shown that?
I had told my friend, “I’m not going to tell anyone about this but you.” And I didn’t, but she was praying. By evening, I was back on an even keel, back to “I trust you, Lord, no matter what.” Donn and I had a good day on Memorial Day, and truthfully, I barely thought about the letter from our insurance company.
Tuesday came and we headed for the Cancer Center. Today I would find out for sure what was going on. When I checked in, the receptionist said, “You’ll see the doctor and then you’ll be in Annie’s POD.”
Oh dear, I thought, that doesn’t sound good. I was supposed to see the PA today. Why am I seeing the doctor? Does she have bad news for me?
When I was called into the examining room, everything went along as usual except that my blood pressure was very high. When the preliminaries were over and we were alone waiting for the doctor, I told Donn, “I’m not going to say anything about the letter we got until we see what the doctor has to say.”
When the “doctor” arrived, it turned out to be the K, the PA I was supposed to see. When I asked about it, I was told the receptionist doesn’t usually know who you’ll see but of course, I jumped to a bad conclusion because of the circumstances!
Soon the PA said, “So today is your last treatment?”
I said, “Well, that’s what I thought.” And then I told her about the phone call and letter from my insurance company.
Donn said, “Since Daisy had some days when she wasn’t able to have chemo, did the Cancer Center have to ask for another authorization for this treatment because she wasn’t done when she would have been otherwise?”
K smiled and said, “That’s exactly what happened.” Apparently, they can’t ask for an authorization for just one treatment, but there was no plan for me to be treated for another 180 days. How did my husband get to be so smart? But I’m also so thankful for my friend who understood exactly how I was feeling and prayed me back to regaining my equilibrium!
My high blood pressure concerned K, so she got her own blood pressure cuff. By then my blood pressure had dropped to 147/70. We went on to Annie’s POD and struck up a conversation with a woman who had also given birth to boy/girl twins as we had. We talked a little about Jesus and as she was leaving, she came over and showed me a “flat Jesus” someone had given her to bring along to her treatments.
I gathered from some of the things Mary Beth said that her cancer may be quite serious, so I told her we will put her name in our bowl of people for whom we pray. She got teary-eyed. Please pray for sweet Mary Beth to recover and live to see her grandchild grow up.
When it was time for me to go, Annie brought me my certificate of completion of treatment signed by all the oncology nurses and a little windup toy that sang a song for me. Then I gave her a copy of my latest book which is a compilation of my blogs from 2020 to the end of 2023. I hope it will bless her since she played a major role in some of the blogs.
We said our goodbyes and went out to our car. When Donn started the car, Tauren Wells was singing the last words of God’s Not Done With You:
God’s not done writing your story. God’s not done with you
And I wept grateful tears as we headed to Ruby Tuesday to celebrate completing my treatments.
Father, thank you for people whose prayers hold us steady when Satan throws fiery darts as we near the finish line. Help us not to believe his lies. Amen.
Health Update
No report yet from the 30-day heart monitor. I’m hoping no news is good news!
A few hours after I did the health update above this morning, I received a call from my cardiologist’s office in response to a blood pressure log I’d sent them a couple weeks ago. They wanted an update of blood pressure readings for the past couple days which would be reported to the doctor. A few minutes ago, I received another call saying they wanted me to double my blood pressure medicine–I’ll need to do some blood work before I come in for a blood pressure check on June 13. They also said there was nothing concerning from my 30-day-heart monitor. So no real answers about the frequent palpitations I have periodically. I’m thankful not to need blood thinner.
Thank you so much for your prayers!