Signed, Sealed, Delivered

On Tuesday, I spoke with the MD Anderson Cancer Center and discovered that I had three options for receiving a second opinion: in person, by phone or by mail. I would have to wait more than a month for face-to-face time or three weeks for a phone consultation, but I could have my mail order treatment plan in seven to ten business days.

This was, of course, seven to ten business days after they received my records. I called the City of Hope medical records department and learned that it could take up to ten days to process my request. That meant the entire second opinion process could take nearly a month.

But I don't have a month. I have less than two weeks with the clock ticking before I'm scheduled to start Hyper CVAD at the City of Hope on March 26. If I wanted to get a second opinion treatment plan before that date, I knew I would have to do some major "bird dogging."

This morning I received a serendipitous call from a friend who once managed the medical records department at Cedar Sinai. She encouraged me to walk in and request the records in person. (If that failed, she had a direct connection to the CEO at CofH, but I had a feeling I didn't need to bother the "big guy" with this problem.)

I took her advice and headed straight to the City of Hope. My assigned representative in the records department wasn't available, but Lisa jumped right in and wrangled my records. One down, two to go. I still needed my pathology slides and a CD of my MRI, PET scan and CT scan. Lisa called to let radiology know that I'd be coming over for my records, and they had the CD waiting for me when I arrived ten minutes later. I found the same fast and friendly service in the pathology records department.

I was in and out of the hospital in just under an hour with my complete cancer medical history in hand.

The experience reminded me of my first corporate job in marketing for AT&T. When a demanding client requested (or should I say insisted upon) an expedite from three weeks to three days, I would hand carry the order to ten different departments involved in the process. Then I 'd put on my tightest skirt and sweetest smile and drive to the central office, where I'd sweet talk a supervisor into moving my order to the top of the list. I'd usually follow up with a bottle of Chivas Regal as a thank you. (Hey, you do what you have to do for a client.)

Today, I managed to shave nine and a half days off the front end process at the City of Hope. The records will be on the desk of the MD Anderson consultant by 9 am tomorrow morning.

And I didn't even have to spring for a bottle of Chivas.