Radiation problems!!!

Now we come down to it. The industry standard, or current guidelines evidently state that people who have tumors larger than 3 cm are not eligible for PBI. There is no reason given, that was just an arbitrary number that was decided upon during early PBI clinical trials and it stuck.

So insurance companies won't pay for PBI unless the tumor size is 3cm or less. Mine is 3.3 cm. So screw me, the insurance company says. Too bad for you. You have to have your whole breast radiated every day for 7 weeks, and a corner of your lung will be scarred, and hopefully the radiation won't harm your heart. You will be so tired you can't work full time. And oh, yeah, once you've had your whole breast radiated, if breast cancer comes back in that breast you can't have a lumpectomy, you must have a a mastectomy. All because you are .3 cm over the limit.

But PBI? That only takes 5 days and you won't be so fatigued you can't work. And it is just as effective as WBR, at least that is what the trials say. Statistics can be twisted and misread and even altered to say anything. And they certainly do where breast cancer is concerned. But that is another post.

Oh, you found a doctor who will do PBI on you? Oh, he is a pioneer in the field of PBI and has done clinical trials with women over 3 cm? He says 3 cm is an arbitrary number, but your surgeon did such a great job leaving markers that he has no problem offering you PBI?

But your insurance company says no? They don't care if you don't have any radiation at all, they have to stick to 3 cm? Current guidelines keep changing, and with breast cancer they are changing even more rapidly. My neighbor had breast cancer 20 years ago. She had chemotherapy once a week for a year - and ended up with open heart surgery to repair the damage. That is not a guideline anymore. There are still PBI trials going on - companies are making newer machines - doctors are being educated. This is not experimental, not investigative, not out of the box. PBI is an industry standard! 

So if I found a qualified doctor whose letter says that 3 cm is an arbitrary number and my surgeon wrote a letter supporting PBI for me, why won't you pay? Why are you making my stress level go up? Why don't you see the big picture? If I do radiation now the odds of recurrence go down. PAY NOW, OR REALLY PAY LATER - ALL OF US!!!

Why are you doing this to me????? Why do you make me cry????? God I hate Regence.