Yowsa, WHAT a week!
First, I have had tingling in my left hand and some in the foot for about 6 weeks now. Thought it might be a pinched nerve or back problem. You know... school, lack of money and all that jazz... thought I'd go get it checked at the end of the quarter. So then two nights ago I run my hand up the back of my neck and there is a gigantic LUMP there! Instant adrenal surge. "OMG, I have a malignant tumor on my spine and I'm going to DIE" said my amygdala. Shit!
Got it checked out yesterday and the best guess is that it's a sebaceous cyst. It's not in the lymphatic area, rather directly over bone, so it's unlikely it's a tumor. I had blood drawn this morning and I'm in the works to have MRIs of brain/spine/neck shortly to cover all the bases. Hopefully the numbness and lump are unrelated and both will be easily treatable issues. In the mean time I swing from carefree to sheer terror every few hours. Nights are worst so I stay up late and keep busy. Not a huge effort for a student.
Then tonight I logged onto my puter only to find my school was closed due to a nearby fire. Hard to say now if the same will be true tomorrow night for my class. I think my landlady has evacuated, too. While I have no desire for the fire to keep burning, I confess that having my class canceled wouldn't break my heart.
All that and it's only Tuesday!
******************* UPDATE **************************
Wed night now and my school is in the mandatory evacuation zone (so much for being secretive about where I am) and is closed through Sunday. No teaching tonight, but I'll have to figure out how to make up the time with my students.
My insurance company is refusing to pay for my MRI studies because I don't have a primary care physician. Sigh. I go to an urgent care place for GP kinda stuff because I already have too many doctors to see annually and rarely need anything that I wouldn't have to go to an urgent care place for anyway, even if I did have a PCP. My GYN pretty much covers the primary care role for me, so I've never seen a need to add another doc to the mix. I contacted an internist who is affiliated with the urgent care place and is a family care practitioner. Hopefully he can order the same tests and my insurance will pay. I'm waiting for my records to be transferred to his office so that they can schedule me. Anyway, I'm steamed that they would play games like this over something so serious. I honestly believe that insurance companies and our medical system in this nation cause at least as many illnesses as they help to heal! So you might have a malignant tumor on your spine? Ok, just go see this doctor and keep seeing him consistently for a couple of years and we'll think about helping you pay for some tests... gimme a fucking BREAK!!!
I can pay for all three MRIs if I have to, and will if they jerk me around much longer. It will be a major financial blow though. It just sucks to feel so utterly unsupported. Yeah, I can pay for these tests, but if the results indicate heavy duty medical interventions then it looks like I might be SOL in the short term simply because they object to my choice of a medical team, which is NOT anywhere in my policy that I can find!!! This is a PPO, not an HMO. Oh pooh, I'll just try to think positively and assume there's nothing much to find anyway...
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10 comments:
Oh my, I sure hope things work out with the cyst. Just what you don't need right now is more stressful stuff.
And I wondered if you were down there where the fire is. I've been getting TV station updates by email and it sounds like it's more in the hills than the last one, thank goodness. Let's hope they get it out before people lose their homes.
Geez, it's too early. That was my comment above, not some random stranger!
Donna
HAHAHA Donna!! But don't "blog-friends" count as "random strangers" anyways?!? At least until you meet them (if you meet them) in 3d?
mamabeek...I can totally relate to being happy that school was cancelled. A couple months ago there was a suspected shooter at the high school in the town where my Uni is. The high school football field borders the uni campus. My very first thought when I walked outside and saw the helicopters hovering over campus was "are classes going to be cancelled?". :P Oh...and there was no shooter...just a "joke" call to 911...on exit exam day of course!
(((mamabeek))) definitely hope it all gets better soon and turns out to be nothing at all
I've put on my "medical biller" hat for this comment...
Can you designate your GYN as your GP with your insurance? When I was billing, that was very common, in fact, it was pretty rare to have a woman with both a GP and a GYN designated (which was also allowed). Another thing...if you are able to see specialists without referral by a GP, then those specialists should be able to order tests, also without referral. Have you spoken to a supervisor at the insurance company yet?
Battleweary, THANK YOU!!! I had wondered about my GYN and was thinking maybe I should designate her. I'll call back today and talk to the urgent care place to see if that will do. I'll still see the internest since he fills in at the urgent care place and my GYN is 30 miles south.
I'll call the insurance company and see what they say to that.
God, I hate insurance companies. I don't understand how those people can sleep at night.
And since my last comment to you, things have definitely gotten worse yesterday afternoon and night with the fire. Just tragic, but I'm glad you're not there.
Donna
Well I have an appointment Monday with the new doctor's Nurse Practitioner, who has the power to order tests in his name, essentially, so hopefully that should solve the problem. Why a nurse practitioner in a doctor's office has more clout than a Physician's Assistant at an urgent care center full of doctors is beyond me. Neither is an MD and both are supervised by MDs. The urgent care, on the other hand is full of doctors who know me for years. I'm just glad I can get the tests done soon.
The fire is insane. It's leaping and jumping all over the city. Crazy days!
How scary, you're in my thoughts and I'm hoping it turns out to be nothing serious.
I'm glad you're going to get the tests and I hope all goes well with the insurance company.
Insurance is the devil. I worked for a company for a short bit....and I wasn't a fan. PPOs are usually solid...I miss mine. :(
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