Personal Journey Entry # 23

What a stressful, patience-testing week it has been since my aborted procedure. We have known since last Friday that my surgeons had reached out to Dr. Boston at Beth Israel to perform an endoscopy/ablation. This procedure will cut the cancer cells out of my esophagus and close the book on this journey. For four days, I called Beth Israel in the morning and afternoon, being told they had no referral, and then my surgeon’s office saying they faxed it every day. Finally, my Beth Israel patient portal was populated with my medical file on Thursday. It is progress, but there is no appointment yet. At 8 PM on Thursday, I got a call from Dr. Boston’s office. Her assistant had some questions, answered some, and then she got to my insurance coverage, and, boom….the first significant setback for us. Dr. Boston did not accept my insurance, which was her final answer. I could not accept the final, disappointing answer.

I will not bore you with the details, but I made at least 15 calls to two doctor’s offices, my insurance carrier, and three hospitals, which finally paid off. Friday afternoon, I got a call from Dr. Boston that the insurance situation was resolved, and the first procedure was scheduled for next Wednesday. This will be my fourth endoscopy, but she wants to see the cancer herself before doing the ablation. We are just two procedures away from being cancer free. Our prayers, everyone’s prayers, have been answered.

I can never thank you enough for the cards, phone calls, and prayers. You have gotten Shay and me through a challenge that has tested our strength and spirit. The one thing that has carried us for nearly four months has been our faith -cancer has proven to be no match for that.

Thanks for stopping by. God Bless and keep you all.
Ray