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Cancer- it’s always an emergency

by Robin Dunn Bryant on March 1st, 2007

I wasn’t prepared to talk about preparedness. See, today’s my first day and I had illusions of a “welcome me” post telling you (hopefully soon to be) loyal readers the back story that got me, your humble narrator, here.

Once I realized that the other bloggers here in the Science & Health were writing for theme day, I didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb. And, yes, the irony of not being prepared to write about emergency preparedness isn’t lost on me.

Either way it’s not like I had my fab first post written anyway. You see, the past several days I’ve been digging – with the help of my husband – through the mountains of insurance bills and claims forms that are inevitable with a cancer diagnosis. I’d decided that I would get everything straightened out before the end of February. Luckily, Eric in my claims’ department was patient and after thirty minutes of starts and stops, we got all of my claims routed to the correct places for payment. It was a huge relief, because before I talked to him I was looking at over $31,000 worth of bills that I was to be responsible for.

So there I was, unprepared and looking for a way to talk about being prepared for the emergency that is a cancer diagnosis. Like that’s actually a possibility. Most of the time, unless there is a history of a particular cancer that runs through a family, most folks get blindsided by the diagnosis and spend at least a little bit of time walking around in a fog.

Then I realized that there is one thing that’s really important that could easily count towards the idea of emergency preparedness: keeping your paperwork in order.

I have seen six doctors since this all started in May 2006 and have been to at least ten different facilities for tests, appointments, or treatments. Each place, of course, kept their own files and records. Since I moved (you’ll hear more on that later) I have some records in Maryland and some in Florida. In a couple of the offices there is more than one person I might need to be in contact with, which means a good handful of phone numbers. And of course these folks use several different labs and vendors, so the bills can come in from several different places.

Should you or someone you love be in the midst of dealing with cancer (or any other illness that will require long term care) it’s important that you establish a good way to keep your information together before it gets as bad as mine. A loose leaf notebook is a great way to keep everything in one place. That includes questions, medical records, bills…really anything that has to do with your condition. My husband helped me build a spreadsheet to track all of the bills which is much better than rustling though piles of papers.

I know that by the time the bills have been delivered, the feeling of emergency may or may have not passed, but having a way to deal with them early on will keep you from feeling stressed when you’ve let them sit for far too long.

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