May 2017

Don’t open the oven door with your wig on!

The biggest tip I can give you in the “wig” department is….. “don’t open the oven door with your wig on!” Both of the wigs I purchased were synthetic. I had no idea that synthetic wigs are HEAT SENSITIVE and I was just going about my business pulling dinner out of the oven and then I noticed when I walked past a mirror that my bangs were standing on end! Never to look the same again! The heat from the oven scorched my bangs 🙁 So then, I was on to wig number two.

If you are going through cancer treatment and chemotherapy is part of your medical treatment, losing your hair may be part of the deal as one of the chemotherapy side effects of some of the chemotherapy drugs. Keep in mind it is temporary and the chemotherapy hair loss, eyebrow hair loss and eyelash loss will grow back rather quickly once chemotherapy treatment is complete.

There are two main types of wigs:

Synthetic Hair Wig – generally less expensive than real human hair. You CAN NOT use hot styling tools on a synthetic wig unless it is a heat safe version. There is no styling necessary for synthetic wigs, since they come already styled. When wearing a synthetic wig be very careful to stay away from BBQ grills, ovens, stoves, and fireplaces!

Real Human Hair Wig – generally more expensive than synthetic wigs and has a higher quality texture of hair. This type of wig will allow you to be able to change the hairstyle and use hot styling tools on it.

It is recommended that you wash your wig after wearing it every 8-12 times. Don’t brush your wig when it is wet. The fibers in wigs are fragile and should only be brushed with a wig brush and only when the wig is dry. There is special wig shampoo that you can purchase at any wig shop.

The bangs on wigs are purposely left long so that each person can have them trimmed how they would like, since some people wear their bangs longer than others. After you purchase your wig you can take it to a hairdresser that has experience in cutting wigs and have the bangs trimmed how you would like. I also put hair clips in my wigs to make them look more like how I actually wear my hair.

Save money on out of pocket Hospital bill co-pays

As you go through cancer treatment you will accumulate a lot of various individual bills for hospital services. These services may include lab work, MRI, PET scan, echocardiogram, ultrasounds, X-rays, Mammograms, biopsies, genetic tests, surgery, and any other large test performed at the hospital.

The costs of all these tests can REALLY add up! Usually your health insurance company will have negotiated the rates on these services with your hospital, but you may still have quite a bit to pay out of pocket on your co-pays.

The amount I owed the hospital for my out of pocket co-pay cost for all my breast cancer related hospital expenses was $1,594.88. Thankfully, I learned how to apply for a discount on these costs and luckily was able to receive a 54% discount off of that amount, so then I only owed $726.22!

When you also have out of pocket co-pays and deductibles to pay for chemotherapy and radiation treatment, all the out of pocket costs can really start to add up! So anywhere you can save money helps a lot! Thankfully, there is financial help for cancer patients!

If your “Fairy Godmother” could give you cancer treatment advice

She would say….

“You must let your friends and family help you whenever possible during your treatment. This is the time to take friends and family up on any offers of help!”

If a friend or family member says…..”What can I do to help?”…. You NEED to say “I could use help with…”

Have a list ready of things that you know you could use help with.

Here are a few suggestions of things that others could DO to help you while you go through treatment:

Deliver a meal or two through your meal train
Clean your bathrooms, vacuum & dust, or clean your entire house 🙂
Do your family’s laundry
Mow your lawn or weed flower beds
Water your plants
Pick up your groceries
Babysit your kids so you can take a nap
Wash your car

If things are in order around your home, you will feel less stressed and be more at peace which will greatly help you through your treatment.

The further along you go into treatment the more tired you will be and the less energy you will have, so it is really a good idea to let people start helping you right away because if you wait until you really need it you may be way too tired to even try to schedule the help you need at that point. Better to get in a good schedule of receiving help from the beginning of treatment so that friends and family can slowly work helping you into their own personal schedules too so it is easier on everyone.

Bottom line is…..your friends and family will want to help you and you NEED to let them help. It is good for all involved because you need the help and it will let them give you the gift of helping and give them something to do that will really help you.

Cancer Butterfly has a lot of FREE Resources available to help you get through cancer treatment more comfortably.

How to save money on chemotherapy treatment

Chemotherapy treatment can be VERY expensive depending on what type of insurance you have and how much your health insurance is contracted to cover of your chemotherapy treatment.

Chemotherapy grants and drug co-pay programs can help! Chemotherapy grants and drug co-payment programs have specific time deadlines and depending on the program may only go retro for 30-360 days from your “approved” date, so it is VERY important to apply for these right away.

The co-payment programs are available according to the type of cancer you have (example: breast cancer, colon cancer, thyroid cancer, etc.) and are also available according to the type of chemotherapy cancer treatment drugs you are receiving for your treatment.

The following are all drugs I received as part of my breast cancer treatment: Evista (hormone blocker), Emend (very expensive anti-nausea drug), Anzemet (chemo drug), Adriamycin (chemo drug), Cytoxan (chemo drug), Taxotere (very expensive chemo drug), Neulasta Injection (to ward off infection, very expensive!).

Actual cost for above chemo/drug expenses: $42,690.19

Contracted amount my insurance paid: $3,489.70

My “out of pocket” cost: $4,402.74

Amount I saved on my “out of pocket” cost by applying for cancer grants and co-payment programs: $2,076.17

I could have saved thousands of dollars more had I found out about these programs earlier in my treatment….ugh!!

Amount I actually paid out of pocket on my chemo: $2,326.57

So, you can see it is well worth it to apply for cancer grant programs! And saving on your chemotherapy treatment is just one piece of the savings puzzle, you can also save on your radiation treatment out of pocket costs, and on your hospital out of pocket costs!

Why keeping your cancer medical paperwork organized is important

Once you are diagnosed with cancer it is very frightening and overwhelming to just process all the medical information you are receiving, not to mention everything you need to now keep track of as far as paperwork.

It will be much easier for you if you just start out organized from the beginning of your treatment (or at least start where you are now) if at all possible. I remember once I started and continued through chemotherapy for breast cancer, it got more and more difficult to concentrate on things like reading a book, watching a movie, or focusing on any kind of paperwork.

Keeping things simple and having a specific place for everything will make things much easier and you will be able to stay on top of your paperwork much better and find what you need when you need it if you are organized.

There are several money saving programs available to help cancer patients with their cancer treatment related out of pocket co-pays. These programs require specific information from your medical paperwork (EOB’s – Explanation of Benefit) forms from your health insurance regarding each of your medical visits in order for them to determine your out of pocket expenses. Once you have all your information in order you will be ready to apply for Cancer Grants and Cancer treatment medical discounts.