Day 15 - Chasing the ICD codes

Last nights sleep was as good as possible, with someone that pees many times during the night. I cheated, and used some chemicals to aid my sleep.
It is a cool, cloudy day here on the coast. We were going to get up early and walk, but somehow the bed kept us trapped for an hour after we should have been up.
Maddie just made a breakfast berry smoothie..Yummy.
Then we both sat down to make phone calls.

I phoned the PET/CT scan ladies, and the Medical Aid office.

The Medical Aid says that I can have treatment done, and claim later, but with no guarantee that it will be approved.
I then asked how my new application for PET/CT scan was doing, and the guy says that he has no record of any request other than the one they rejected a few days ago.

Then I called the PET/CT scan ladies and chatted to a very nice lady. I told her that I wanted to pay cash for a PET scan, and then claim back from the Medical Aid. She said that I could not do that.
 She explained that paying first, then get reimbursed, was only for emergencies, when there was no time to wait for approval.
She explained how in small print, on the back of some page in the Medical Aid contract it says that PET scans are not an emergency procedure, and will not be reimbursed if paid for before approval. X-rays or a CAT scan are covered, because they are necessary in many emergencies. She then explained how the long wait for approval, is hard on cancer patients, and therefore she always requests priority handling for any PET scan requests to the Medical Aid.

I asked about whether she had see the new corrected PET/CT request with the proper ICD codes. She said no, but wait a moment. After a minute,  she said she had it in hand. It had arrived a few hours ago in the early hours. She checked the ICD code and said it was for Angiosarcoma, and would require a PET/CT scan. She said she would sent it in within hours. She also said they are fully booked Monday and Tuesday. It would take 1 to 3 days to get approval, so there seems no way I can get a scan before next Wednesday, even if I paid cash. She said that she understands the waiting game is not fun, so the minute she gets Medical Aid approval she will call me and we can figure out the quickest way to get things done. She actually seemed to care.

So it looks like there is no hurry for me to get back to Pretoria, So I'll spend a few more days with Maddie, and plan on taking the bus back so I can do the wound care lady on Monday afternoon.

We had a health soup for supper.

A friend emailed me today saying that death is not that big a deal.  That makes me think, that she doesn't have much to live for. If you have no reason to live, then there is no reason NOT to die.  I on the other hand, have much joy and happiness in this life, which I am not quite ready, to let go of.