Chapter 8   The Stats

Over the 17 days I was a patient at MGH, I had countless tests, scans, pokes, prods and procedures. I kept track of as much as I could…mostly for the fun of it and I had nothing else to do!

So here you go:

5 MRI’s- 2 Brain, 1 Heart, 1 Upper Abdominal, 1 Lower Abdominal.

5 CT Scans-1 Brain, 2 Chest, 1 Upper abdominal, 1 Lower Abdominal.

5 Echocardiagrams

3 sets of chest X-rays

1 sigmoidoscopy requiring 2 enemas…as if I really needed that!

10 separate IV’s over the 17 days…2 of which blew during procedures thus requiring emergency IV insertion=pain!

Over 200 needle sticks for blood draws.

Lost count of how many pills I took but my morning meds were over 30 pills…so do the math!

The stats I don’t have yet are the costs of this adventure. I can tell you that just one of the meds I take twice a day costs over 17 thousand dollars for a 30 day supply. The Keytruda infusion that nearly killed me cost over 25 thousand dollars for one infusion (I had 3). The daily immunotherapy drug Lenvima was over 15 thousand for a 30 day supply. 

What do people without insurance do? I am very fortunate to have a very good insurance plan that has paid for all of this. I have not gotten the hospital charges or the doctor’s fees. I can not imagine what the total will be… 

But all of this added up to the most important thing…I survived!