Breaking the news at MDA! - April 9, 2010

Despite the sad news the Oncologists shared with us at St. Luke's about a confirmed Cancer, my family and I were somewhat comforted with my referral to MDA, as we knew I'd be getting top of the line treatment, specifically for Sarcomas.

When there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, God would reveal Himself to us and open doors we didn't know existed: He got us a meeting with the Head of the Oncology at MDA at noon on this Friday!! It was a miracle, as we got to sit with him and his nurse for over 2 hours!

If you don't believe this is a miracle, please try booking an appointment with the Chairman of the hospital you're currently insured with, and see what happens! ;)

They gave us the good and the bad news. All our questions were answered and things were starting to clear up for us. We were pleased with the progress. They confirmed it was a Sarcoma, but were still unsure about the exact name of this Sarcoma Cancer....however, the doctor mentioned that my Cancer was extremely rare.

Out of the yearly 4.5 million new Cancer patients, only 300 carry my Cancer. For the math nerds out there: 300/4,500,000 = less than a fraction of a fraction of a percent.

When he said this, my mind immediately thought of God performing a MIRACULOUS HEALING for a RARE DISEASE. He is faithful to do so, and I will Trust Him non-stop!

The bad thing about a rare Cancer is that research is scarce and doctor experience is limited. Other more common Cancers offer a myriad of resources and research, as more time and money is spent on mastering these diseases.

Regardless, we knew God is always with us, every step of the way. The rarity of my disease did not sway us from being in the negative camp.

I was very supportive of my family and made it a point to not show weakness, worry, fear or unhappiness as I did not want to affect them either. My mom is very weak and emotional, and I do not wish to add to her misery. The rest of the family is very emotional too, and so am I. Genes do work after all ;)

But the more they see positivity from me and within me, the more they'd be obliged to be positive around me, because Im sure they would not appreciate or accept to bring me down with them. But so far my family has been superb, and as supportive as can be. They are truly the perfect family to attend to a sick person.

After picking up some prescriptions from MDA, we immediately headed to a restaurant for a late lunch, early dinner. We were starving because we skipped lunch due to our long meetings.

Halfway through our meal, I get a call from MDA and the nurse tells me my insurance DECLINED that I be treated at MDA. MDA therefore halted their work on me. We left their office with the promise that they would get a "treatment plan" started, and that they would schedule a PETScan (Positron Emission Tomography) as soon as possible.

[The PETScan basically determines the Spread of the Cancer in the rest of the body, as well as the Staging and the severity of the Cancer.]

My dad had been fighting for a PETScan since the beginning of the week. St. Luke's confirmed they do not have a PETScan Machine; we thought Insurance would easily approve my request of doing it at MDA, but they circled back with us telling us that they subcontracted a company and that St. Luke's now has a PETScan Machine. Unbelievable. So sly.

It was Friday afternoon, around 4:15pm. We were crushed in a few seconds, and our short-lived happiness was now facing another giant: Corporate America Insurance Companies and the dirty games these companies play.

My Insurance company told MDA that whatever was not offered at my Primary Clinic, I could do at MDA. But MDA does not accept patients who bring files, documents and test results from other hospitals as they need their patients to do the full work from A to Z at their hospital. That makes total sense, and the Insurance Companies know this, but that's what they're good at: creating unsurmountable mountains to climb. We needed to find a loophole.

We left the food in our plates and ended our dinner early. We rushed to Kelsey-Seybold (My Primary Care Physician + Clinic) before they closed. It was 4:40pm, 20 minutes before the start of another miserable weekend without answers.

My dad and I managed to get into the back-office of the Oncology Department and I run into my main Oncologist who made the initial referral request to MDA. After chatting with her for over half an hour, we basically concluded she would be of no help in this Insurance claim even if she requested a FULL REFERRAL to MDA. She was not that helpful. But I will admit that she wasn't as dry as she had been in my hospital room when she announced the heartbreaking news.

She did say "Sorry" a few times and understood our miserable situation, on a Friday afternoon.

She took me aside (without my father) and told me these words: "Daniel, you NEED to go to MDA asap. You cannot stay at our clinic as we cannot treat you and we don't know how to treat you. You will not make it here. So whatever it takes for you to get to MDA, you and your family have to do, even if it means taking a loan." At that, I knew the severity of my case and knew that MDA was my only hope.

I joined my family shortly thereafter; they were sitting in the waiting room and were very disappointed and upset. I could sense fury and failure in their eyes. We carried each other to the car. We were feeling heavy as time was ticking and my pain was increasing by the day.

Friday afternoon proved to be a very busy one. My brother, my father and I were making all sorts of calls until we sat for dinner around 8:30pm. The reassuring part was that all 3 of us came up with the same solution to my Insurance problem: changing my Primary Care Provider and getting a full referral to MDA. Obviously, I would choose a PCP that was much smaller-scale and one that didn't practice Oncology. The PCP would also have to be in my Network. This plan seemed very silly, but we got various confirmations about its authenticity.

I started making phone calls to Physicians we knew and checking CIGNA's website to see if they were on the list....I couldn't find anyone that met the criteria. The reason we needed to use a connection was because we would need to set up a meeting over the weekend or very early on Monday morning to get things rolling again at MDA without delay.

A few minutes later, a dear friend named Joe and his wife came by for a visit, and we shared with them our problem. It wasn't long before Joe's cousin came to our minds, and she happened to meet all the criteria. Joe promised me he would call her early morning and let her know of my situation. In the meanwhile, around midnight, I switched my PCP to Joe's cousin's family-run clinic.

By the time I slept, I was neither a patient at St. Luke's, nor at MDA and I had a rare, aggressive and complicated Cancer that needed to be treated as soon as possible.

Today was an extremely long day, and we went from valleys to peaks and from peaks to valleys within seconds, but we trusted the Lord and remembered His providence over this earth. He was good, at all times.

Sleeping time: 4 hours.