Merry, I spoke with Liz and she is okay with me using her name in this forum. (btw.. I am Bob) She also reads this thread and I will leave the PM stuff up to her..... She has had chronic back problems for many years. The cancer may be weakening her bones and making it worse, we just do not know yet.

We had a disappointing and frustrating day today. I am sure that there will be more in our future, but I hate them all the same.

The disappointment came early during our initial consultation visit with the local Oncologist. We arrived early as is our habit to complete paperwork. Our appt time was 10:15 a.m. and at 10:45 a.m. I asked the front desk when we could expect to see the doctor. A nurse apologized and promptly escorted us into an examining room. After another 20+ minute wait the Dr. showed up and we began. This is a real pet peeve with me and I have walked out without seeing a doctor/dentist/etc. when the wait is this excessive. I believe that our time is as valuable as anyone else's. If I am running late I let the person(s) I am supposed to meet know of my delay. To the Oncologist - Strike One.....

On a more positive note, the Oncologist informed us that he has seen Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) spread this rapidly and we will not know until after the biopsy. We are hoping for an appt for the biopsy next week, but this may now be delayed due to circumstances I describe next...

The frustration came later in the day when the Diagnostic center informed Liz that her P.E.T. scan for tomorrow afternoon was being canceled because they had not received approval from our insurance company yet. I called our insurance company and they informed me that they had not received the approval request until 10:00 am this morning. It seems that when our local doctor made the referral last Friday afternoon and then I made the actual appointment Monday morning, the Diagnostic center did not seek approval from the insurance until this morning. They sent the request at 10:00 am and stated that they expected an answer by 1:00 pm from the insurance company. My insurance company (BCBS) told them that the request was under consideration and that the normal processing time was 72 hours (3 days!!) The real tragedy in this is I knew last Friday that pre-approval would be required for the P.E.T. scan and I could have told our doctor to file the request last Friday, if I had known approval was not going to be sought until the day before the test and it was going to take 72 hours to approve.

Through a fluke of circumstances during my calling everyone I could contact, I spoke to the P.E.T. scan technician at the Diagnostics center and he told me Liz was still in the "queue" and that once approval was received, Liz would fill the next available slot. Unfortunately, this will not be before next Tuesday. I will be calling every day to see if approval had been received and if so, to ensure that Liz gets the first open slot. AAAARRRRGGGGG!!!!!

So, over a week will pass without any concrete corrective measures taken. I may be taking this too seriously when considered over the long haul by more experienced individuals, but since nothing else corrective will happen until results of the P.E.T. scan are available, this seems like a really big blow at this stage.

The lesson I learned from this is to make sure that ANY potential delay I am aware of is voiced ASAP to anyone who will listen.