Multiple Battles of Lung Cancer

March 3, 2009

Dealing with lung cancer is more than just battling a disease.  It changes life forever after the words “you have cancer” have been uttered.  I have been fortunate in my battle.  I’ve faired much better than most patients with lung cancer. I’ve survived almost 8 years after being told to expect 6 to 8 months!  It’s been a true battle, every step of the way.

Dealing with cancer, though has it’s own set of rules.  There are issues with health insurance. Getting treatments and drugs approved.  Getting surgeries pre-authorized.  Paying for things that insurance doesn’t cover. The insurance company will approve some things and randomly deny other things.  Like approve my chest x-ray I had at UCLA, but deny the radiologist to read it, stating it was ‘out of network”.  How else would I get it read?

My life insurance has tried over and over to drop me.  So far, I’ve been able to win that fight– I still have the life insurance I had when I was diagnosed– and that is a good thing because I’m now “uninsurable”.

One of my biggest battles has been with my disability company.  This one ranks right up with the disease itself–it takes just about as much out of me as being told I’m going to die.  I work part time in a position the hospital created specifically for me.  I only do triage in the ED, thus allowing me to work shorter hours in a small office interviewing and doing quick assessments on patients a couple of times a week.  I want to continue to work and so far have been able to so at least in this limited setting.  I have been fortunate that I had private disability with a partial disability clause that said if I were unable to work my 40 hours a week, they would pay the unworked hours up to 60% of my salary.  The insurance saleman sold me the policy by saying to me, “imagine what you would do if the worst possible thing was to happen.  How would you provide for your family”. 

Well, the worst possible thing happened.  It’s called lung cancer.

I’ve been on partial disability since my 2004 surgery.  I was never able to pull full time hours since then.  Too much pain,  too little lung tissue.  Then I had the surgery in ‘05 and they took another lobe.  Then the RFA in ‘08.  Last summer, however, the insurance company-Lincoln National Life Insurance– decided that I was better and could work full time again!  Oh, how I wish!  One part of me wants to believe everything is OK and everything is normal.  At the end of the day, however, I know it’s not.  I’m exhausted, and I’m in such pain I sometimes can’t eat dinner.

One of the notations made in the Lincoln National notes stated, “given the length of survival, the initial diagnosis is doubtful.”– as if they think I made it all up!!??!?!  Oh, right, and I got all the different pathologists to agree to read it as cancer so I could claim disability?? How do you battle against this kind of logic? We appealed the decision and as expected, in November the insurance company retracted and awarded my benefits again. Or so we thought.

Last month, I got another letter from them.  Again, as of January, they are denying benefits. Same battle all over again. According to them, I’m better again.  I’m not sure how they make their decisions– maybe they don’t understand lung cancer, or metastatic lung cancer or maybe they think that lung tissue grows back after it’s been resected.  Maybe they think post thoracotomy syndrome is a short term illness such as strep throat is. Maybe they don’t believe that people need oxygen to survive and feed the body. I don’t understand how they can ignore my doctors who are world renown specialists and state that I can just go back to full time work after all I’ve already been through.  It’s just not that simple.

My guess is they don’t care what I’m capable of, as long as I’m gone and off their records.  Their term for me is ‘loss’.  Not client, not patient, not insured, just “loss” because that’s what I am to them. Lost revenue. 

What do you do when the worst possible thing happens to you?  It might be cancer–metastatic lung cancer, or it might just be battling the insurance companies to do what they promised to do when they sold the policy.

It’s all overwhelming.