Author: DOuG pRATt

For the half-dozen of you who visit here, new postings are probably going to be slim for a while. As I approach next Friday’s cancer surgery, I’m stressing much more than I did with the melanoma six years ago. That was on my head, and this is where the sun don’t shine. As a bonus, I have a-fib to worry about.

You want to see what recovering from cancer looks like? Here. I won’t embed it.

https://dograt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ScalpWound.jpg

That was well into the healing process, after plastic surgery. When the wound was closing up and looked good.

A couple of helpful things came my way this week. First, an actual get well card, sent by snail mail. You know who you are. Thank you!

Second, word got around about my diagnosis at my former place of employment. Yesterday, I exchanged messages with a former colleague who, it turns out, had the same diagnosis, and who happened to have the same surgeon I found. The final result in that case was, no chemo was needed. Here’s hoping I have the same luck!

An important point is that I have regular Medicare with a Medigap plan for Part B. This means I don’t need no stinkin’ referrals. Medicare Advantage plans, aka Medicare Part C, are administered through insurance networks, and referrals to in-network medical providers are required.

If I had needed to go through that rigmarole, who knows what doctors I could see, or how much of a delay and additional hassle there would have been? What I don’t know yet is how much my out-of-pocket costs will be, between the cancer and a-fib. For now, I don’t want to know!

One week from tomorrow will be my cancer surgery. Watching my fake fish will help to keep me calm.