Thompson's Find Alternatives
Our family wants to start off by saying thank you! After our message went out last week, the out pour of help and support was nothing short of amazing. Last Tuesday we felt pretty low, by Wednesday afternoon after reading emails, wall posts, text messages, and returning phone calls we were reassured our fight wasn't over. It took us the remainder of the week and weekend to respond to everyone and contact every person on our recommendation list. We went at this thing at all angles; we have been in touch with natural healers, other hospitals, different countries, support sites, cancer foundations, pharmaceutical companies (thanks Sarah), and worked on the appeal for insurance. By Saturday afternoon we felt like we had ran around the world and back just to hear nothing. Countless voicemails, non responsive emails, dead ends, or just plain "Can't help I'm sorry", was exhausting. Trey decided we needed a break and should pick back up on Monday. Shandy finished responding to any emails or responses that came in while our weekend wrapped up. Today started out as our normal Monday. Trey went to school, Shandy went to work, and Kasen went to daycare. By 11 a.m. we started to see our efforts start showing. WE HAD RESPONSES! Doctors outside of Florida were willing to see us, we set up our first meeting with a natural healer (thanks Julz), and loopholes in our insurance were being uncovered! We saw this as a sign and Shandy started moving. She made her follow up calls with our doctor at Mayo and to the pharmaceutical companies to see where we stood with our appeals/forms. Appeals were standing still, after all it was only considered 3 business days since our information was sent. Shandy then proceeded with the pharmaceutical companies, GSK and Merck. GSK our assistance request was declined. We had a feeling this was coming due to the lack of assistance on their "assistance line". Next phone call was Merck. A gentleman answered and quickly informed us he just left a message for our doctor, he forgot to date our request form. Shandy then asked "How long once he resends will it take to view our claim?" His response was all we needed to hear "We are hoping to get these back today to finish processing your request Mrs. Thompson." About three phone calls later plus an hour and a half of hang time, we called Merck to confirm they received our assistance request. When the best news of the day was given "Yes Mrs. Thompson we have received the request and it has been approved for financial assistance. We just got done leaving a message with your doctor. We are needing his prescription sent to our pharmacy and the hard copy of the request forms sent in. Once the pharmacy receives the prescription it will be sent to your home." Insert happy tears and a million thank you's in this phone call, and you were there! The agent was unable to tell the price at this time, but laughed when Shandy asked if it was going to be more than a grand a month, he said it would be nothing close to that. "Our goal is to make it as affordable as possible." Trey has now officially been "approved" for one CHEMOTHERAPY! Although we are not done with this battle, we have made leaps and bounds. We owe all of this to our supporters! Without the kind words and giving us a sense of direction we truly would not be where we would be today. Thank you for all the shares, we still have a long journey ahead of us. Cheers to one down and one to go!