Stuck in Insurance Limbo Right When I need Surgery or Chemo

Zenmushroom

I don't know if this is quite the right forum, but I'll try here, and if this isn't right, I'll post somewhere else.

I am a 29 F. Got diagnosed 11/16. Had to do some tests to find out more. Now I know I'm stage 1, 1.8cm lump, Her2+, Est+, Proj-

Doctors say I will need chemo, surgery, radiation, and hormone blockers in that order.

Trouble is I'm in some weird insurance limbo. My Anthem insurance ends at 12/31/17. The only individual insurance plan in my area now is Kaiser. So next year, I'll be starting with Kaiser 2018. Because of that, my oncologist changed her mind and said that surgery might be better first because they don't want the insurance situation to cause delays in my treatment.

This sounds backwards to me, since doing chemo first is supposed to shrink the tumor and make the surgery go better.

What do people think? All advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Luckynumber47

I'm sure you'll get plenty of answers but I don't think a 1.8cm tumor is that big. It's still considered stage 1. You will have chemo because the tumor is Her2 positive, not because of the size. I think the oncologist has offered a great solution. Surgery first and then after a month of healing they'll start chemo.

Zenmushroom

The other problem is my doctors originally told me I could wait to do the genetics test, since they thought surgery would be months away, but now that they've changed their minds in light of this insurance mess, I don't have any BRCA test results, and it would take me 2-3 weeks if I ordered it now. I don't know how comfortable I am with doing surgery without the results of my BRCA test.

SpecialK

Since there are numerous labs doing BRCA testing now (when I had it only Myriad did it because of the patent) it would be worth it if your doc could find out which one has the shortest wait, and request expedition, and then overnight your sample. Was your chemo and targeted therapy going to include Perjeta? You are just below the size guideline for it, but close enough when combined with your age the oncologist may have felt it is needed. If so, you might inquire with Kaiser to see if they will cover it adjuvently since there is currently no FDA approval

Zenmushroom

Yes, I'll try and call my doctor and see if they can do some overnight rushed thing. That would be good.