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I was told that the Herceptin was $5000 for the dose that I received today. My mastectomy bill for the hospital alone was over $16,000. I had to stay 4 days because of a fever. I am on medicaid (and thankful for it) through the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program. I have yet to receive a Neulasta shot although I have had Arinesp twice and Procrit twice. I have noticed that you are more likely to get Neulasta if you have private insurance. The cost of these varies a lot from clinic to clinic. Of course billing and reimbursement are apples and oranges. Medicaid reimburses so little that many doctors will not see you if that is all you have. I have been fairly lucky so far, but my latest oncologist said at the beginning that he might as well be seeing me for free. It is not a good system. but it is all I have right now.
Leslie
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In the world of destiny, there are no statistics.
Jan. 26- mammogram and ultrasound- suspicious lump
Mid-February- lumpectomy, infiltrating ductal carcinoma ~4.5 cm and a 1 cm DCIS, did not get clear margins, did not check lymph nodes
ER+/PR+, her2 +++, nuclear grade 3 of 3
February 20-PET scan showed something on liver. No biopsy.
March- Started carboplatin, herceptin, taxol on a four week cycle
May 3- Pet scan, with intent to do a biopsy, found nothing, liver or breast- no biopsy because there is nothing to biopsy
June 21- new onc, very concerned that there had been no biopsy,
June 18th-CAT scan, bone scan-negative
August 7th - Brain MRI-negative
August 9th- mastectomy, all pathology negative
January 2008 still NED! New oncologist -herceptin for full year after chemo- until July, and tamoxifen---negative scans since May '07
July 2008-Finished Herceptin!
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