Tomorrow morning (Monday) I'll be headed in for a CT scan. Fun. Two hours of lounging in a darkened room sipping day old strawberry milkshake. That's what the barium contrast stuff tastes like. I've learned to drink it without thinking about how gross it tastes. ;P
You may be asking why a CT scan and not a PET scan? Or maybe not. Well, thanks to a clerical error and some apparently paperwork shy doctors at Kaiser, the referral for a PET scan was turned down. The Kasier person who received the original request put it in wrong as if Dr. Lee had sent in a full body scan request; which I do not need and should have been turned down if that was really what had been requested. But we asked for a thoracic scan, just like the first two. Dr. Lee called in last Friday to correct the error and still got turned down.
Now, this is something I need to have done. Dr. Lee needs to see the same kind of scan as the first two to judge how well the chemo has done. Apples and apples, ya know?
So, while I wait tomorrow morning, I will call Denise (my case manager) and ask her if we can't get this approved somehow. I won't be surprised if she agrees with her standin (Denise was on vacation last week) and tells me it may be easier to have Dr. Lee call in another one but to make sure it is received correctly.
No biggie though it's not like I need any extra crap in my life right now.
I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I may get an assignment to work in a few weeks. I don't have many specifics but one of my strengths has always been an ability to adapt to new jobs.
Contributors
Cast of Characters
patient: John Scofield
loving wife: Jody Scofield
primary doctor: Dr. Nicholas Morog, MD
gastrointerologist: Dr. Christopher Shih, MD
oncologist: Dr. Young Lee, MD
radiologist: Professor Sally Cheston, MD
colo-rectal surgeon: Dr. Francesco Grasso, MD
older doggie: Bailey
younger doggie: Hurley
Looking for a specialist? Like what I've had to say about mine? Click their names above to visit their practices!
loving wife: Jody Scofield
primary doctor: Dr. Nicholas Morog, MD
gastrointerologist: Dr. Christopher Shih, MD
oncologist: Dr. Young Lee, MD
radiologist: Professor Sally Cheston, MD
colo-rectal surgeon: Dr. Francesco Grasso, MD
older doggie: Bailey
younger doggie: Hurley
Looking for a specialist? Like what I've had to say about mine? Click their names above to visit their practices!
2 comments:
John, this is Mark Pope. Just checking in and saying hi. I've been meaning to call the last few weeks (heck, even months), but I keep getting bogged down with other junk that distracts me. (Being a con-chair and working full-time definitely takes it out of ya...)
Anyway, I'd like to come by sometime and visit you and Jody. Give me a call when you can, okay?
My Aetna RN case manager and my Hopkins Nurse Practitioner go through the approval thing every two months for my MRI - it's a "special" MRI. They just shake their heads. The Hopkins nurse puts this on the request "she has Aetna, but the approval is in the NOTES - look for it!".
Who hires these illiterate approval people?
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