Pre-Transplant Schedule

Just got this schedule from Lana and Joe for the pre-transplant testing.

It is going to be grueling to be sure....(please remember Lana & Joe live 90 miles away from the hospital itself so their days begin around 4 am). Also, many of these appointments take place in different buildings, sometimes on opposite sides of the MD Anderson campus. There are "shuttles" available in some sections but others Joe is literally pushing Lana in a wheelchair for a good mile to get from place to place. Quite a workout.

9/18/09 -
9am........Fast Track Lab Collection
11am.......Dr. "C" appointment

9/23/09 -
8am........Dental appointment
9am........ITT Pre-Procedure Assessment
9:45am...Blood/Speciment Collection
11am.......Echocardiogram
1pm.........Bone Marrow ASP/BX W/PreMed

9/24/09 -
7:10am.....Check In/Prep for CT Exam
7:40am....CT Scan, Head/Neck Area
9:15am.....Chest, PA & LAT
10am........Recipt HT/WT Storage Consent
10:30am...Dr. "C" appointment
11:30am...Business Center Follow-Up (the money people)
12:30pm...EKG - Resting
1:00pm.....Complete Pulmonary Function
2:00pm....Dr. "Co" appointment

9/25/09 -
8am..........Transplant Coordinator Visit
10am........Social Work Visit
2:15pm.....Stem Cell Pre-Admission Class

9/29/09 -
10:30am...Blood/Specimen Collection
11am.........Recipt HT/WT Storage Consent
11:30am...Dr. "C" appointment

9/30/09 -
8:30am....Subclavian Catheter Insertion (ouchie)

10/1/09 -
Scheduled Admission (more details to come)

10/7/09 -
Transplant

The Transplant

This morning at about 10:00 M. D. Anderson called Lana and told her that her bone marrow transplant has been scheduled. The donor is to donate the bone marrow on October 6th and it will be transplanted into Lana on the 7th. One day next week she will be admitted for preliminary testing and begin the process necessary for the transplant, chemotherapy etc. At last the waiting and uncertainty is finally over. Tomorrow she will need platelets again but we will go to Seton Medical Center in Austin for that. This week she has felt quite energetic for a change. She even walked into St. Marks here in La Grange Monday morning for her blood test instead of using a wheelchair.

Joe Mole

The Financial Assistance Process

July 16, 2009: The five page financial assistance package arrived from Tonya, of the Bone Marrow Transplant Finance Office. I filled it out and found all of the supporting documents that day and the next day.

July 30, 2009: Tonya called to say that it was incomplete. All of the income sources had to be verified as well as a copy of my birth certificate and Texas drivers license. This required calls to Social Security and my Union pension plan. The shock of hearing that our application had been rejected nearly gave me a heart attack.

August 8, 2009: The requested information arrived in the mail and I photocopied them. At this time I redid page one and three of the application.

August 11, 2009: Lana and I saw Tonya at M. D. Anderson and presented the additional information. At this time as we were talking about the application and the income sources and I mentioned where the "other" income came from. I was immediately told that the income donor had to sign a notarized statement saying they were the giver.

August 12, 2009: the donor faxed the required statement to Tonya.

Unknown Date, but between the 12th and the 18th: Someone called my bank and asked for my balance. Mind you I had to sent them four months of bank statements. They were given my balance as of that minute.

August 18, 2009: the "Denied" letter was typed but not mailed.

August 25, 2009: Lana and I saw Tonya again and in a very low, soft voice she read a short blurb at the bottom of the application:

"Your application has been approved for $500,000 for a transplant. You will be required to pay $11,600.00 in cash." Neither Lana or I remembered the amount correctly, but we did say that we would be back in Houston in one week. ( In fairness to Tonya, I admit that I am hard-of-hearing.) But we were not in a position to pay that amount on the spot. Money market stocks had to be cashed in.

August 26, 2009: I went to my stock broker and signed the necessary forms.

August 27, 2009: The Denial letter was mailed by Elvira at MD Anderson.

August 28, 2009: The money market check arrived in the mail from Edward Jones.

August 29, 2009: Lana and I received the Denial letter. Just a short while after receiving the letter I called my daughter, Colleen.

She immediately fired off emails to: The American Cancer Society, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Congressman Lloyd Doggett. Colleen was aware that the Senator and Congressman were acquainted with me, and she felt they could be of some help. They both had copies of my book "The Saga of Old La Grange".

September 1, 2009: Lana had an appointment with her transplant surgeon. I had forgotten to take my checkbook with me. We also did not know the status of our financial assistance application other than it was denied. We again saw Tonya. Both the surgeon and Tonya said that the money needed to be paid before the application would be approved. We only had an approximate idea of the amount. I asked for the exact amount. She made a phone call and said the amount was: $11,619.05. I asked her to please write it down for me. She did. Lana, Tonya and I went to the finance office together and I presented my debit card. "Sorry we cannot take an debit card," was the answer. "That's all right" I replied, "I will return tomorrow with a check."

September 2, 2009: At three in the morning I had the thought that I should not write a personal check but rather get a certified check at the bank. Lana was adamantly opposed to my getting a certified check, saying that she did not have time to waste. I did not listen but rather left twenty minutes early to go to the bank which opened at 9:00am. It only took five minutes for them to make out the check and three more minutes for me to photocopy it when I got home.

We arrived at M. D. Anderson at 10:50am, parked the car, put Lana in a wheelchair and took the sky bridge to the Main Building. Who should be standing just inside the door of this mammoth facility but Lana's surgeon. She immediately took the certified check out of the envelope and waived it for him to see. He was talking on the phone but smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. Now we knew everything would be OK.

Lana and I went alone to the finance office and gave them the check. The teller did not know what to do with it since we had a zero balance. I explained that it was front money for a transplant. She made a phone call, seemed satisfied and processed our check. She was pleased that it was a certified check. There would be no waiting until it cleared our bank. She gave ma a receipt and I asked for two additional copies, one for Tonya and one for the transplant coordinator. We went to the 8th floor, transplant department and asked them to call Tonya and the transplant coordinator, that we would meet them in the waiting room. Five minutes later Tonya arrived, this time she was all smiles. That too was reassuring. I gave her a copy of the receipt and she said she would give the other woman hers as well. Finally we were officially approved. They mentioned that the donor would be called immediately.