Doctor appointment, costs of treatment and insurance!

I had my appointment with my oncologist yesterday.

This was also my 11th Sandostatin shot.  Charge to date is $187,000 (plus some change).  This is what they charge the insurance company.  The insurance pays about $4,400 per shot so they've paid $48,400 for just my Sandostatin.  I'll have to add everything up one of these days to see what they've paid so far.  We switched to our new plan last July--right after I was diagnosed (in June). I paid my deductible in July and then I had to pay it again if January because our plan year is January through December.  $3,000 both times.

I don't know how they get away with that.  Now I am looking at changing my plan and lowering my deductible but I will start paying for it in July and it won't go into affect until January.  I just don't get it.  Makes me feel like this:

My visit with my Oncologist went well.  It started out with him standing in the doorway saying; "Sharon, I didn't know what to expect... I didn't know how you would look?  You look good!"  I told him I felt pretty good.  We talked about the pain I had and continue to have (not as bad as it was but it is still there). He feels that it may still be an abscess and he said that sometimes antibiotics will help but then in a month or more, it may flare up again.  We will wait and see...  I will try not to fall of Abbie.  I haven't for many years but you just never know.  I'm afraid that kind of trauma may break open any abscess that is there.  I didn't ask about that--it is just something I wonder about (and worry about).  It will not keep me from riding. I'm going to have a lesson on Thursday so we'll see how it really feels!

He also said that if I progress, he will probably not recommend another surgery but sir-spheres, which is liver targeted radioactive beads.  I hope that will be years down the road and when I said I hoped this surgery was worth it, he said he felt it really was!  I hope so. 

He wants me to have another scan in 3 months to make sure my tumors are stable and check on the possible abscesses, in my liver, of course!  I'll have blood work as well.  It'll be interesting to see if my CgA and Pancreastatin have gone down since my bigger tumors have been removed! I'll see him the end of July after my scan and blood work.    

I've had 5 CT scans in less than a year!  I think that's is a lot of radiation. I wish I would have asked about doing a MRI instead of a CT Scan.    

I'd like to say more about Sandostatin.  It's not just really expensive anti-diarrhea medication (it also stops flushing in those patients who have it--I do not).  It has also been shown to decrease tumor growth in some patients.  Hopefully with my decreased tumor load, it will keep mine from growing and prevent any new ones from popping up either in my liver or elsewhere.