Fort's Cancer Sux!!

Surgery Cancelled on Friday

due to REDONKULOUS irony.

First things first. My port surgery has been cancelled for Friday morning for what I can only explain as the BIGGEST MEDICAL OFFICE IRONY I have encountered to date.


Two weeks ago when the scheduled my port placement, Miss A from Dr. X's office called. They needed me to fax a copy of my drivers license and a copy of my insurance card. Did it lickety split. They then needed for me to "swing by the office" located at kettering hospital and fill out all the preliminary paper work. For some reason I HAD to be there for this to take place.

I said that I had chemo two days later and I could probably swing in before five at the end of the day. But the chemo treatment lasted a little longer than I thought and there was no way I was going to make it in with time to fill out all this paper work. I wasnt sweatin' it though. I had PLENTY of surgeries and each one I filled out all the paper work the day of the procedure.

Miss X and I play phone tag a few more times during the week, she calls trying to find out when I can come in and my last message to her was this, "Hey Miss A! Im so sorry we're having a hard time connecting. Im not trying to avoid you. As you know, I work in Cincinnati and there is NO time during normal business hours that I can get up there. I take enough time off for appointments and chemo related sickness that I cant really afford to take a half day off to fill out this paperwork. We're just going to have to find another way to accomplish this. Fax me the form, email me the form, whatever. I will fill it out, fax it scan it, email it, WHATEVER YOU NEED ME TO DO, but I cannot make it up to Dayton before Friday."

Miss A calls me after work today and informs me that I HAVE to be there to fill out this preliminary paperwork (Um, Yeah - I have Breast Cancer and Im not allergic to shit, thats all you need to know. Sure sure, I read your HIPAA waiver, where do I sign, blah blah blah) "AND I KNEW from the beginning this is what was expected of me blah blah blah."


I say, "But you cant just FAX me or EMAIL ME the form and I cant JUST FAX IT OR EMAIL it BACK TO YOU???"

"No Ma'am, our system SCANS these forms and you have to fill them out here."

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?

Im still actually willing to give this woman the benefit of doubt....maybe this some kind of magical machine that only reads handwriting from the fresh ink of a warm pen. Who frigging knows. THE IRONY OF THIS DELIMMA IS THAT THEIR PROCESS IS SOOOOO ADVANCED THAT THEY ACTUALLY HAVE A MACHINE THAT SCANS DOCUMENTS AND IS SO COMPLETELY HIGH-TECH THAT IM REQUIRED TO TAKE A HORSE AND BUGGY AND SHOW UP IN PERSON TO THEIR OWN INKWELL TO START THE PROCESS.

Now, Im a complete tard when it comes to computers, but let me guess here? Even if I scanned the document and sent it to you and the PDF file I sent it to you in was NOT compatible with your high-tech system, couldnt you, just couldnt you just print the mother effer out and THEN Scan it into your system AS IF I FILLED IT OUT THERE IN PERSON????

Good Grief! Am I taking crazy pills here? SOMEBODY in the medical profession PLEASE explain what process would be that dependant on the registree showing up to fill out the redundant medical history form??? Im open to explainations here, she just didnt do a good job of it.

THEN, Im all, >insert loud frustrated sigh here< "Well, what if I came up there tomorrow morning and filled it all out?"

She's all, "Oh, there's no way I could finish the pre-cert in time for your Friday appointment." (she's had my medical card for A WEEK NOW)

So thats it. I lost my appointment for Friday. I was also supposed to have some sort of heart scan that after noon but Im going to have to cancel that because Im not coming up for just that. Ill have to reschedule that one.

Luckly I dont have chemo for another two weeks, so I have time to have the procedure done, but I can tell you it WONT be Dr. X's office making a sweet dime off my insurance policy!

Now I have to see if Romers office can schedule me somewhere at Bethesda in Cincinnati becuase that was simply REDONKULOUS.

Im not trying to be difficult, but last year, of my two weeks vacation and one week sick/personal days, ALL THREE WEEKS were taken for Dr. Appt's and chemo related sickness. Our weekend at the in-laws in NC at Thanksgiving was the closest thing we had to a vacation and it would be nice if I could salvage ANY DAYS for something other than a Drs appointment this year. We havent been on a real vacation since we went to Florida two summers ago!

In happier news, Ive been kind of working on a diet for this "Biggest Loser" competition Ive been in and I am now teetering just above and below 200 lbs! I havent been under 200 since college. Everything is fitting better and Im pumped.

I havent really been doing anything other than cutting out Red Meat and pork (and fast food) and for the first time really watching my sodium intake. Is absolutely AMAZING how much sodium is in soups and a lot of these frozen lunches we take to work. One can of soup in our pantry looks innocent enough, right?

But look! 1740mg of SODIUM!!! Did you know that the reccomended daily allowance is at 3000mg??? And thats one of the higher numbers Ive seen! Since I started paying attention to the sodium intake, Im wondering if that is why things are fitting better, Im retaining less water. Also, Ive had issues with REEEELY high blood pressure in the last few months, so this is something I should have been doing a long time ago.

And for your addtional public service announcement for today, you can find tips HERE for reducing your sodium intake.