Decision Time

We are at the last stretch of summer vacation. The youngest is the only one excited to be going back to school. Since the boys are starting new schools I wonder if they have a little apprehension about what their days ahead will look like. We enjoyed watching the WMU vs UofM yesterday with family at Swan Lake. Our family was all in WMU but it was good to see Michigan having a much better start to the football season. It was a beautiful day for just being outdoors and enjoying company.

Last Thursday we met with Tom's Oncologist. The morning started with receiving news from his PCP that Tom's calcitonin levels jumped to 536. If you recall in July his last count was 395 so in a month the increase was 141. This was not encouraging to hear. I decided to bring along the 300 plus page report that I had been going over to to discuss the Denial and Appeals with his doctor to see how we could get this Approved or if we need to concentrate on a different type of scan for now. At the beginning of our consultation Tom and I were shocked to hear the doctor proclaim that once again his numbers were jumping to indicate the cancer is definitely growing and that he recommended a PET scan as our next step. I replied that I am sure he was aware that Tom had been denied the PET scans twice before. We were shocked and disappointed that Tom's doctor did not appear to have any knowledge of the Denials & Grievance's. His response was that he would make a phone call to the insurance company and get this through. We waited out in the lobby to hear that the Oncologist did get through but nothing was resolved. We were also assured that they would get it resolved on Friday and they would call us. In short we felt that we were shuffled through his office. Friday came and went with no phone call.

That evening Tom and I had a long conversation. This is his life that we are dealing with and we are not satisfied with the current level of care that he is receiving. We decided to follow the advise of his Surgeon 2 years ago and move his care back to the University of Michigan Hospital. Tom discussed this with his Primary Physician on Friday who agreed that he needs to return to the U of M where they have a team of specialists who can deal with this rare cancer. His office has started the paperwork. We do not anticipate any prob elms with our insurance company switching our Oncologist.

While we feel that this is the right decision, it will not be an easy one. This will mean Tom will have to start making trips back & forth to Ann Arbor at a time when school is starting and we are in the midst of Band, Football, Cheer leading, and I have now returned to working full time. Maybe this will force Tom to slow down and not work so many hours. Thanks for continuing this journey with our family & your support. We can't do this alone.