The power of personal contact 7/6/2017

I had a regularly scheduled follow-up appointment with the rheumatologist yesterday, which I used to discuss the issue of continued care without Medicare's final decree regarding payment for services. My rheumatolgist doc (RD) told me that there are strict Medicare prohibitions to taking money from Medicare  patients while a claim is being handled, and severe penalties for fraud. We had a good discussion regarding the possibility of having my hematologist take over infusions, and follow-up care. After all was said and done, he agreed to continue rituxan infusions, with the proviso that if, for some reason Medicare denied coverage, he would bill me. (He couldn't have made that decision a week ago???) At any rate, I'm not sure whether my considerable sales skills 😉 convinced him, or whether I just appeared incredibly pathetic, but he agreed to continue infusions this week and next.

I am also elated that my prednisone dosage will be substantially decreased over the next several weeks.

I see an RV trip in our future....