Medical woes and BUPA not helping

Having a quiet time getting used to the idea that my mammogram has discovered a trace of something and what that might mean.

Bee read me the letter calling me to repeat the tests (perfectly normal they said) on Friday. I rang the hospital to see whether this meant they had lost them or muddled me up with someone else. But no, it seems the mammogram has a trace of something. It might be deodorant or talc, I suppose, as these days they tell you not to use it just before and of course I forgot. I was given a wipe to get rid of it, but who knows whether it did. As Bee said, isn't it wonderful in these days of computer imaging that they can't tell the difference between deodorant and cancer.

The radiologist also redid one of the plates so I didn't have the nuisance of coming back because of a dud plate, and the second time it was supposedly fixed.

It seems I can't have a second mammogram (too many Xrays in a short period) so I have to have an ultrasound and maybe if the news is bad, a biopsy.

So having the all-singing all-dancing BUPA International Health Insurance* I assumed it would be a cinch to get my fare paid home so I could be treated quickly on the National Health. I was not sure I really wanted it done in Georgia (to be honest, I have had no dealings with the health service yet) and in any case, if the result was likely to be bad, I wanted all the records in the same place, at home. So while I'm sure I could have it done in what BUPA call their centres of medical excellence (perhaps Lithuania, more likely Vienna), I was sure that this would cost more, what with the air fare, the hotel, the medical treatment, compared with a simple return fare home.

But no, I had to spend all Friday afternoon wrestling with their call back system (more likely call back, then get cut off and have to start again, this is even worse than a call centre). Then I was told my policy only covered evacuation not repatriation. Now where on the BUPA website does it tell you that? I also was told my policy did not cover outpatient treatment like ultrasound. At this point I could hear the familar sound of an insurance policy trying to get out of paying for anything at all just when I needed it. It's strange, because when I have needed it before, they have always been very friendly and helpful.

So I booked the flight anyway.

On Saturday I began again threatening a formal complaint. My policy (all singing, all dancing Lifeline Gold) explicitly states it covers outpatient treatment. However it seems their interpretation is that you cannot be evacuated for outpatient treatment. So we are in a Catch 22 situation. I cannot be paid for outpatient treatment either at home or in Georgia (not a centre of excellence) nor can I be paid to go anywhere for it.

I had already emailed all the contact details of the hospital and an explanation of why I needed to have the ultrasound in the UK. Now they are expecting me to produce the mammogram for them, rather than making a telephone call from Brighton to Oxford to check the problem themselves. You would think that a British health insurance company would know that the NHS does not handover Xrays etc for stupid patients to lose, it prefers to lose them itself. Actually I do have a big paper bag of the last 7or 8 years worth of mammograms, because other countries prefer to let you lose them yourself.

So next week is going to be a bit busy (hence the quiet day today):

Tuesday broken night flying to UK
Tuesday night possible good night sleep or a lot of worry
Wed broken night flying to Georgia
Thurs 4am arrive Tbilisi; 7am leave Tbilisi for 6 hour drive to Batumi; 4pm deliver training course.

Still we managed to justify an extra day on the Black Sea for Saturday.

After that I have two really busy weeks while the boss and the rest of the team comes from London and we all review progress so far and plan the next six months.

If you think I am taking this rather calmly there are two reasons:

1. Nothing like a good battle to get your money to distract from unpleasant thoughts;
2. My mother got breast cancer at roughly the same age as I am now. She survived another 15 years till she was 77. So it has always been a possibility, with the odds of 1 in 9 women getting it in the UK. And nobody (in the UK at least) dies of it immediately.

On the bright side, I would probably lose some weight and if my hair drops out, when it grows back I will find out how grey it is under the colour I have applied for years.

On the other hand there still is a high probability nothing is wrong. I have been standing in front of a mirror, rolling, squeezing and poking the flesh to find anything different and still can't find anything.

* the only reason I have this is that since 1998 I have lived permanently in places with poor health services. I could have stopped when I came back to the UK, but you know how medical insurance is, they won't cover you for any existing conditions so it didn't seem worth the risk, if I moved away again.


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