I am being shorted on chemo, why?

[Chelee]

I was suppose to have 18 weeks of chemo. I am stage IIIA, Her2/Neu 3+++, Er & Pr positive. So I have been having one full cycle of chemo each month on Mondays...followed by weekly herceptin.

But my very first month of chemo...the oncologist I had never gave me any Neulasta and landed me in the hospital with a wbc of 116. I was SICK! I was in there 10 days...and if you add that to the time off when I got home to let me lungs recover. I missed an entire month of chemo! (Which I was told right off the bat that we didn't want ANY inturruptions in my tx...yet he let my counts get that low.)

So now I have been with a different oncologist. I just saw her last week and she informs me that I have ONLY one month left of my chemo. I said what about the month I MISSED due to the other oncologist landing me in the hospital? She said that didn't matter...it still counts.

(The heck it does!) Am I crazy or what people? Its NOT like I enjoy chemo...but I did NOT get my full chemo as I was told I would.

How does she figure that month he landed me in the hospital counts? I know I was so worried that month...I kept asking them "isn't this giving my cancer time to run rapid? They said "No...and for me not to worry.

The HMO I have makes it so I am STUCK in a group...I can't change. Its not fair these HMO's make it so you can't switch out of the network with all new doctors. I am fighting for my life and they don't seem to take anything serious. (Sometimes they make me feel like I am NOT worth treating since I have stage IIIA) Sorry...but I am really down tonight.

Chelee

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stage IIIA, Her2/Neu 3+++, Er & Pr positive, 5 of 16 positive nodes.

DX Dec. 20-05

Herceptin, Taxotere, & Carbpotin...

[AlaskaAngel]

I'd want a clear explanation too, Chelee. If you can't get the free consultation mentioned and you can't get a good understanding of the reasons for the shorter treatment plan from the HMO, then you might need to consider paying yourself for another opinion -- preferably at a well-known cancer center.

Others who probably experienced a break in treatment are those patients whose treatments were disrupted by Katrina. Why don't you see if you can find out if there were any general recommendations about it for them, and whether most of them were recommended to have the full number of treatments?

A.A.