I No Longer Seek Approval

     The appeal and the special Dr. Ray Donc letter and the good juju did the trick.  The insurance has approved IMRT, and I will have my first radiation treatment on Wednesday afternoon.  I'll have a baseline pulmonary function test done tomorrow morning and an echocardiogram done Wednesday morning.  And I'm guessing that if I don't know my extended radiation schedule before Wednesday afternoon, I'll find out by the time I leave the facility, hot off the radiation machine and sporting my 3 new tattoos (okay, just 3 purple-blue dots, but I will be able to say honestly that I'm rocking some ink).  Sooooo edgy!
     I have to complete 20 sessions; ideally I would have treatment Monday through Friday for 4 weeks; however, because I do have a few days here and there on which I absolutely cannot make an appointment (my daughter's college orientation day being one), it won't do any harm to miss those few days and then tack them on at the end.  As long as I'm not skipping out on a whole week.  So I hope to be all finished well before the end of June.
     All in all this is a very short course of radiation--radiation for treatment for breast cancer would run 6 weeks or more.  My aunt had 44 radiation treatments--does she rock or what?!?
     To say I'm happy that the approval came through is an understatement.  I have to refer back to Redthreader's comment of a few posts ago about this phenomenon of insurance companies having the power to determine the course of a patient's medical treatment, overriding the expertise of the medical practitioner:  I agree with everything Redthreader said.  I can't imagine how maddening and frustrating it is to be a doctor, make recommendations for your patient's care and plan out the best course of treatment, and have your patient's access to tests or treatments denied. 
     It's surreal and bizarre and it sickens me that medical insurance companies can deny a patient coverage when that patient has been paying premiums to ensure that, when the time comes, their care can be paid for.  In 2015 the CEOs of the top 10 for-profit medical insurance companies each made anywhere from $10 million-$15 million dollars through a combination of base salary and bonuses.  I wonder how many denials it takes to make $10 million?