"Have you been helped, sir?

That was how the girl at the counter greeted me at Ben and Jerry's yesterday. The answer was yes because another guy had already taken my order for my free ice cream scoop. Still, that's the second time in about two weeks that I've been mistaken for a man. I need more hair! If I was a woman with less of a sense of self and femininity, I might be insulted, especially when you realize that half of one breast is gone. Many women feel less of a woman after breast surgery. That has not happened to me, thankfully. I just need more HAIR!!

Mark and I have spent the last two days in insurance hell, again. Mark's is ongoing and unresolved, but my issue was resolved relatively quickly today. I'll tell you about mine first.

In February I had a PET scan at the cancer center. Everyone there accepts CIGNA, so I assumed the radiologist reading the scan would, too. He was contracted out by the cancer center and is not a CIGNA in network doctor. The claim was denied and I was billed for $240. I was outraged, so I spoke to the doctor's office and the cancer center. Both said to relax; it would be taken care of; no problem. So I did relax until I got the second bill yesterday. I called the doctor's office again and got the same story. No, he's not a CIGNA doctor, but yes, he's contracted with the cancer center. She will resubmit it with a special note on it and it will get paid. I reminded her that we had exactly the same conversation about five weeks ago. She kept repeating herself like a robot. I hung up and called CIGNA. I got a wonderful customer service rep who immediately reprocessed it and said, Voila, PAID! Amazing. I should have called him back in February. He said this often happens with radiologists, pathologists, and anaesthesiologists who are often contracted out. As long as I have my work initiated by a CIGNA doctor and done in a CIGNA center, it will be paid, but it often first gets denied. The CIGNA rep said if/when it happens again, just call and they'll fix it. How nice.

Mark's problem is totally different. I'd like to say it's unique, but he's actually read of similar problems online now. As of January 1, 2011, we both switched to new policies. I took the CIGNA husband/wife policy offered by Baltimore County; he took the federal Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan in Florida. Both require that we go to in network providers, but that is not a problem for us. The problem now is that he had some doctor visits in January in Maryland and a visit to the new doctor down here in March. None of them have been paid because both CIGNA and BC/BS are waiting for the other to pay first. Both insurances say they are the secondary. HUH? When Mark had two policies before (my Carefirst BC/BS of MD and his federal HMO MDIPA), his fed policy was the primary and mine was the secondary. They determined this by whose birthday came first. His is in March, while mine is in August, so his is primary. (I never really thought that was a particularly good reason, but whatever...) When he got the new insurances, he assumed it went the same way, so he told both the doctors when he went in that the BC/BS was primary and CIGNA was secondary. Now no one will pay anything. According to the federal policy, because Mark is retired and has other coverage (my CIGNA), his fed policy is secondary. My CIGNA people say that because I'm the policy holder and he is my dependent, CIGNA is his secondary. Well, come ON people! Somebody has to step up and claim him!! We are still waiting to hear back from both companies. I'll keep you posted.

I had my last big field radiation treatment today. Tomorrow I will start the boosts, which are directly to the site of the tumor. I still have to have an ultrasound before it each one of those, but then it's just one field instead of two that gets radiation. It takes slightly less time because of that. There will be 5 of these and then I'm truly DONE!

Because when I finish next Wednesday, it is Passover, I can't go out to eat at a nice restaurant to celebrate. I can't go to a bar and have a drink to toast my accomplishment either. So, I'm trying to think how I can celebrate and mark the end of treatment. Today I told Mark I could go to a jewelry store and buy myself something nice and expensive and charge it to his credit card, but he didn't seem to like that idea. LOL Any ideas on how I should celebrate and mark the end of my cancer treatments? I'll be all done. I'll be a survivor. I'll be on pills for five years, have regular CT scans, mammograms, PET scans, doctor's visits, blood tests, etc. that go with being a survivor. You're never really done looking for the insidious beast to rear its ugly head again. Still, it's a big milestone and I want a celebration. Any ideas will be welcome.