Post surgical update - near final for this stage of treatment [View all]
Ahead of surgery, the largest dimension of the tumor was estimated at between 1.9 and 2.1 cm (either Stage 1 or Stage 2. 2 cm is the split).
The grade was also split ahead of time. Two pathologists reviewed it and offered an opinion. All 3 components of grade run from 1 to 3: similarity to normal structure: 3; nuclear size: 1 or 2 (the pathologists disagreed); amount of cell division: 1. Total 5 or 6 - with 5 making it grade 1 and 6 making it grade 2.
The final post-surgical info:
Stage 1: Maximum dimension - 1.3 cm (60-70% of what they expected based on an MRI. I should not have been able to detect it yet, but I did.)
Grade 1: Similarity to normal structure: 1; nuclear size: 2; amount of cell division: 1 - a solid grade 1.
Yay! Happy dance!
Now I have to figure out how to do radiology that doesn't require a 1.5 - 2 hour round trip every single day for 8 weeks. Ugh.
The fun news of the day. Seriously. I got fired by one of the doctors I'd run screaming from. And it cost him $6.46 to fire me by certified mail.
His office was the next-to-last straw that drove me to the surgeon an hour away from home. My former surgeon had an administrative staff that could not get anything right - but insisted on being in charge of arranging my cancer life. They set up an appointment with the plastic surgeon for me (and, par for the course, called to "remind me" I had an appointment with him - when they had not yet told me about the appointment and, also par for the course, tried to set up a back-to-back appointment to "save me a trip" with a doctor in a facility way across town).
At any rate, I had no contact with his office ahead of time. When I walked in (the only appointment they had open for weeks), I was handed a piece of paper to sign and the word "facilities" was part of the gibberish the admin staff spit out. I made her slow down - and she informed me (when I insisted on concrete information) that I would be charged an additional $95-$200 every single time I visited this doctor.
I was livid - having just calmed down from the last set of miscommunications with my surgeon's office. I had to choose between waiting weeks for another appointment, or paying fees they couldn't even estimate, without the opportunity to get an assessment from insurance about their arrangement with this particular provider. All of that could have been avoided had my former surgeon's staff bothered to warn me so I could make a phone call to insurance and see how much of a disaster it might be and make a calm, reasoned choice, in advance of sitting in his office with only bad options left.
I kept the appointment, but made my feelings about not being informed in advance - and about the practice in general (which I consider unethical for routine office visits). I also sent a note to the practice - since his office insisted he could do nothing about it - even though he expressed some empathy for the patient's position - and is a physician owner of the practice.
Never got a response to my note. I assumed that was the end of it, since I'd moved on. Until the little certified letter arrived today.
Am I wrong to be a bit gleeful that they felt they had to fork out $6.46 to protect their arrogant little hineys?
= new reply since forum marked as read