Day 29-31
The medical system here has regressed back to the age of bartering. We have been receiving nonstop mail everyday for the last month from insurance companies that don’t pay and bills. The latest bill was from radiology saying we owe 8000 dollars for a CT and PET scan. We had 6 months to pay the bill according to the letter. I looked at Jackie and laughed. The next day Jackie called up the billing department and asked about the bill. She told them there is no possible way she could pay that much money off. I wanted to ask her if she knew anyone that could pay that bill off. She finally said she would ask if they can give us some sort of discount. It actually did not take too much effort, but 2 days later we got a call saying that the new bill after the discount was 2000. Jackie then asked if she could pay it off in the next 6 months. The billing department told us that usually after a discount they don’t offer a payment plan. Jackie asked her if she could ask. A day later we get a message on the phone saying that we are a special case and they will offer a payment plan option. All of this was offered with minimal effort on our behalf. My lesson this weekend was that the US health care system is like shopping for a car, you can deal and barter your way down to the price you are comfortable with. Nice system we got here huh?
This weekend we went back to LA to get a haircut and try on wigs. Wig technology has really improved since the days as a child at the mall. There are two different types of wigs, synthetic and human hair. Synthetic hair is made from polyester fibers and have a rougher texture but easier to maintain. Human hair is soft and light but has to be washed weekly. The difference in cost usually is double for human hair. Human hair wigs are amazing though. There is no way anyone can tell you have a wig on. Even good quality synthetic wigs are very realistic. Synthetic hair is very easy to style and can be maintained with some baby shampoo monthly. Jackie ended up going with synthetic hair due to the easy maintenance. After that we bought lots of scarves and a turban to cover her hair. There is definitely many options for hair loss.
Side effects of chemo definitely thin your hair and possible loss of hair. Jackie went to cut her long hair off today. She came back with a very modern and stylist short hair style. I feel that a transition between long hair and short is too dramatic. She decided to have a middle ground and hopefully the hair loss will not be too exorbitant. If hair loss does happen, we are ready!