Today I was scheduled to see Dr. R in Dallas and then have an echo test done in Dr. S. office.
I got new insurance for 2016. It costs a little more, but it has cheaper copays and covers all my doctors I see in Dallas. Sounds great right? The only downfall is that it requires a referral to see any specialist.
So I get a call at 9am this morning from Dr. R office asking for my new insurance information. Apparently bringing it in when I get there at 2:00 was not acceptable. They then proceed to tell me that without a referral, they will have to cancel my app for the day and reschedule. And I panicked. I mean, I already have another appt scheduled in Dallas I have to go to and I'm running out of time I can take off at work. So I called my new PCP, whom I was scheduled to see this coming Friday. Unfortunately, they couldn't send the referral. But the nurse did me worked in an hour later and had me establish with my PCP, Dr. W. today. Once I got in, I explained my situation, and Dr. W. sent in all the referrals for all my upcoming specialists visits. Whoo -hoo! Almost.
After her nurse gives me a pneumonia vaccine Dr. W. thought I needed (ouch!), the nurse tells me that my referral would not be ready by the afternoon because the insurance takes 2-4 days to process them. I called the insurance myself but ran into dead ends. It was hopeless. I was going to have to cancel my appts and never complete the echo test they wanted.
After I had a mental breakdown in my car and cried until my eyes were sore, I decided to just drive to Dallas and work something out with Dr. R's office - with or without a referral. I got as far as Terrell thinking about everything I would say to the front desk, or demand to see the clinic manager or just cry in front of the whole office. But the clerk called and said while they did verify my benefits, they still didn't have my referral. I was prepared to argue and started to get short, but she said that my insurance will allow me to see a specialist without a referral, but the copay was much higher.
While I hated paying more money, I was happy I could still make my appt. So I agreed and drove on. Even after I arrived, they still had trouble filing and verifying my insurance, so I had to delay lab work the doctor wanted.
Dr. R. says my gastric emptying study, colonoscopy and upper GI scope were all normal, so he's not sure what could be causing all of my gastric problems I started having during chemo. He's ordered some more tests and is even trying out an anti-biotic to rule out any unseen infection. Dr. R is very sweet and reminds me so much of Dr. S. He assured me that my symptoms were not just in my head and I'm not a hypochondriac. He's determined to figure out what's still causing my symptoms and fixing them once and for all.
After that I went over to Dr S. office and had my echo test done. I had one done before I started chemo, and the chemo is known for causing heart damage, so this echo is just checking to see if any damage has been done. I go back to see him next week, so he'll tell me the results then.
The day started out very stressful and I thought I was just going to lose my sh*t. I hate that I'm already fighting with the insurance company and having to jump through hoops just to get everything in order. But I like my new PCP and I still got to keep my appts today. Although things didn't go the way I planned and they didn't miraculously get better, I managed to survive and still got what I needed. After all, we know things could always have been a lot worse.
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