Who Knew Seeking Cancer Treatment Was So Much Like Dating?

Yeah, the American healthcare system is horrendously bad and puts the onus on individuals to pony up for care. Yeah, insurance companies are out for themselves. Yeah, other countries have it so much better because they have free healthcare. But then again, in other countries you have to wait for medical care and that blows. But not here in America, nope! Here we have privatized healthcare, so you can get treated in the blink of an eye. Sure the healthcare system is a mess and people go bankrupt because of their medical expenses, but you can count on getting immediate treatment…or can you?

Apparently not if you're my mom.

Does this have anything to do with her healthcare plan? No.

Is it because she's flat broke and has no money? No.

Is it because she isn't making an effort to seek treatment? No.

Is it because she's not an emergency case? Who knows!

So what is it? Well, from what I can tell, the people at the doctors' offices and cancer treatment centers don't seem to think treating a new patient is something that should happen in less two month's time.

Suffice it say, I'm mad. I'm angry. I'm frustrated. And I'm not even the one with cancer!

Essentially, she was diagnosed and told that she would get treatment shortly, but hasn't been able to get a hospital to admit her (or even begin the initial testing to determine what kind of cancer it is and how aggressive it is…and well, figure out what kind of treatment plan she should begin—all things that should (and apparently usually) occur within a week of being diagnosed).

Instead of having this work smoothly, she just has to wait by the phone for someone to call her and inform her of her initial appointment. It's kind of like going on a date with a guy. You like him. He likes you. He says he'll call. You wait. And wait. And wait. You try to call him just to remind him you exist. He doesn't pick up. You wait. You bump into him on the street, and he tells you that he's really busy but REALLY wants to get together soon. You wait. You go out with someone else. The same thing happens. You wonder if you're an ugly old hag. You wait. You get annoyed. Yeah. It sucks.

So here's how it all went down (and continues to):

Way back in the early-mid July, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She called to tell me about in mid-July and explained that she was going to a well-respected cancer hospital in Texas. She had been told that she'd head down in the next week.

The next week came, and she hadn't heard hide nor hair from the hospital. After waiting a few more days (and calling her own doctor several times), she called the hospital. According to them, she wasn't in their system. She was told that they never received her information; therefore, she was not in their system as a new patient. She called her doctor who said that wasn't true. Then, she asked the doctor about her biopsy reports. Apparently, the radiology center didn't send the reports. That's when she called the radiology center, and they claimed to have no record of her being a patient and told her she never had a biopsy (despite the fact they billed her for it). After being shuffled from person to person, she finally found someone that was willing to look for her information and send it to the doctor.

Once the radiology reports were sent out, she called the hospital again. They told her that it would be at least 8 weeks before they could set up an initial appointment. Feeling like that might be too long to wait, she ended up calling a local doctor. They were on vacation. No one in that office was able to return her phone call because the doctor, head nurse, and main scheduling person were out for two weeks.

After making a few thousand more phone calls and researching other treatment centers, she received two phone calls in the same day: one from the local doctor and the other from the cancer hospital in Texas. The local doctor didn't have an available appointment for a couple weeks (and the doctor was still on vacation), but they offered to get her an appointment with the newest doctor in the practice. Being that she has lupus, my mom didn't feel comfortable being a new doctor's guinea pig (and feels, much as I do, that her treatment may be a bit tricky…you know, having an auto-immune disease and all). The hospital called her and asked her to send her reports from her surgery. When she told them that she hadn't had surgery, they were shocked. They couldn't believe so much time had passed without removing the tumor. The nurse promised to expedite the process and get her in as early as mid-August, but no later than the end of the month.

We were all pretty hopeful that she was making progress. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. She waited for an answer about her appointment, but heard nothing. When she called to get a status update, she was informed that the person in charge of scheduling was on vacation for a week.

Okay, really? There is no better method of dividing up the workload when someone is out on vacation? No one else can do that one job? No one can pick up the slack? No one can return a phone call? No one? Absolutely no one? Really? Do they really think that's a good system? And to chastise someone for not starting treatment sooner when NO ONE IS WILLING TO SET UP AN INITIAL APPOINTMENT? Really?

Time passed. Mom called the nurse on Friday to see about that appointment (since that was the day the nurse was back from vacation). The woman put her off because she needed to look into the file and see what they could do. My mom demanded that she call her before the end of the day. The nurse agreed.

Then she waited. While she waited, she looked up some other treatment options. And that's when she found out that Johns Hopkins will admit a patient within 48 hours if they have already been diagnosed. My mom wrote them an email, and within minutes of writing that email, she received a reply (from someone that was on vacation, but happened to check her email and took the urgency of my mom's situation to heart). In the email (on which a few people from Johns Hopkins were copied), the woman told my mom that they would set up an appointment for her as early as next Tuesday.

Wanting to be fair (and probably preferring to go to Texas which is closer to home), she called the nurse back at the hospital in Texas. Yes, it was 4:45, and no, the nurse didn't call at all during the day. There was no need for my mom to introduce herself, as the woman knew who she was. The answer she gave was rather unfortunate. Apparently, she had no answer, and even if she did, the earliest appointment wouldn't be until close to the end of September. My mom politely told her that she could just toss out all of her paperwork because she was going to go to Baltimore, since they are willing to actually treat her in a timely manner.

And that's where it stands. My parents are headed to the East Coast for a very exciting vacation in which my mom will be poked and prodded, and my dad will sit around, watch Fox News, and eat crab cakes.

From the beginning, my mom would say, "I know it's frustrating for us because we feel like this in an emergency. I guess for them it's just another day at work." While I see her point, I still think it's shameful. No one should have to wait this long to find out basic information about their disease. Especially when the medical community sends the message to the public that time is of the essence when treating cancer.

This better work out. My mom really needs that second date.