Living with lung cancer - Introduce yourself & come say hi

Thanks Merry, I joined the Caregiver group. I have family who check in on me to make sure I'm taking care of me. I will share this website with my husband. He actually went to the bowling alley for a mental health night out and met up with an acquaintance who is down the road a few months and he really got to share so now this will be his weekly night out, if he is up to it.

Mayo in Arizona will. It accept Medicare or other governmental insurance. I have tried before but they are a separate corporation from Rochester. Most seniors in Arizona have given up on Mayo there and I also am very disappointed. I am receiving excellent care in Chicago and when I go to Arizona this fall I will go elsewhere At this time I am very disappointed in Mayo Arizona. For $8,000 they will provide concierge health care. That should tell you something.

I miss typed. Mayo in Arizona will NOT accept seniors with Medicare.

I think maybe they won’t accept Medicare for a new patient. If you are an existing patient that transitions to Medicare, you can continue to be a patient.

@woodedareas the acceptance of out-of-state medicare differs between the MN, AZ and FL campuses. You can read more about Mayo and Medicare on these pages:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-visitor-guide/billing-insurance/insurance/accepted-insurance/medicare
https://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-visitor-guide/billing-insurance/insurance/accepted-insurance/medicare/more-on-medicare
Mayo Clinic accepts new Medicare patients. Mayo Clinic is one of the largest Medicare providers in the country. Unfortunately, Mayo Clinic cannot honor all requests they receive from Medicare patients who want to come to Mayo Clinic. Medicare patients are accepted in all practice areas where there is capacity (appointments available) to accommodate them and most importantly, as the medical needs of these patients require.

@woodedareas it must be very frustrating to not be able to continue the care you received at Mayo Rochester at the Arizona campus when you go to Arizona this fall. How long will you be in Arizona?

I go to Arizona for about 6 months but periodically return for business reasons.Most seniors in the Phoenix area have given up on Mayo and there are some very hard feelings. I tried again and they usually respond by saying they are not taking any new patients, then if pressed it really is that they will not accept government insurance (Medicare).There are a few departments that will accept but very very few. Further when I reviewed their staff physicians they do not have the same high quality educational backgrounds in residencies and fellowships as the major health care facilities in Chicago where I live or as in Mayo Rochester. Ironically for $6,000-$10,000 they will accept you as a concierge patient.So I will continue to be treated in Chicago where we have far larger and more comprehensive health care providers including Northwestern, U of Chicago, and Rush. I will simply fly back as needed. I respectively disagree with you comment that Mayo takes patients based on capacity as my past 12 months of research and numerous telephone calls, and emails proves that to be incorrect. It is predominately cash flow. If you lived in Arizona you would hear the same thing from allonym senior neighbors.

I am new to the site, Diagnosed Stage IV adenocarcinoma lung cancer. Had obe chemo treatment Keytruda, Carboplatin & Alimta. Having no side effects and wondering if it is working. Just feeling a little tired.

Enjoy the tiredness. Only had that once. Had trough up and diarrhea 8 times. 3 pet scans two were fine and third one was about 2 hours ago. No results yet. Same meds you’re getting.

@rlmaronye- Good morning and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Unfortunately we can not diagnose or tell future forecasts. However what you describe as your symptoms sound very normal. Did your oncologist tell you that you will be getting regular (maybe every 3 months or so) scans to see how you are doing? This is the way, with blood work that your doctors can tell the efficacy of your therapy.

Each person reacts differently to chemicals. Some people like @richcolleen can be ill and others have it very easy. When I had chemo it was a while ago and it was rough for me but I was never really ill. I took meds to help with that.
Would you mind me telling me more about when you were diagnosed and how long you have been treated?

@rimaronye Last year I went through 4 rounds of Cisplatin & Alimta and remember reading in "the fine print" that how you feel is not related to how it is working, even though people always think if they are sick it must be working or if you aren't then it must not be working. I was like you with very few issues so I remember being glad to see there wasn't a correlation. Anyone on your oncology team should be able to confirm that for you- I recall those who did the injections were well versed in side effects of the different meds, such as most people with my combo didn't have hair loss (which I had just assumed would happen and was happily surprised to not experience!)