The Cost of Breast Cancer

Bye bye money.

My insurance company has a website where I can monitor claims submitted by the hospital. I have always heard insane stories about how much chemo costs and how expensive cancer is to treat, so I have been watching the claims come in. This is by no means representative of what Mike and I actually have to pay (I feel lucky to have good insurance). How much the hospital charges the insurance company isn’t exactly what they get paid, but it is all interesting nonetheless.

  • Total amount for claims submitted for my treatment since the first of this year (several claims haven’t been submitted yet): $135,597
  • The cost of my bilateral mastectomy: $65,789
  • Cost of a single chemo treatment: $3,468 (all of my chemo drugs are not new and have generic versions)
  • Cost of a single Nuelasta shot: $6,935 (yes, that teensy little shot I get costs double what my chemo costs)

Yowza! Expensive, but not quite what I had thought it would be (believe it or not).

So far this weekend Taxol has been pretty good to me. I haven’t been on a huge regimen of pills to battle the side effects of Taxol like I was on with Adriamycin (I was told that Adriamycin is a 10/10 on the nausea scale and Taxol is a 5/10). Thus I am only really dealing with the side effects of the chemo itself, rather than the side effects of the chemo plus all of the other drugs (one of the drug’s primary use was for treating schizophrenia, I kid you not).

I have been a bit achy, which I can’t specify whether or not that is the Taxol or the Nuelasta shot – but so far it has been fantastically bearable. I am going to be so excited if I don’t get the fatigue I got with AC, but my first dose of AC did not give me any real side effects until the Monday after, so I am just waiting to see how this goes. My limbs have been getting “tingly” like they are falling asleep every now and then (which worries me a bit as this can become permanent). I am taking Glutamine three times a day as some studies have shown it to combat the ill more permanent effects of Taxol treatment.

All in all, so far, so good!

I hope everyone has a very “Hoppy” Easter!.

Author: Mandi

Share This Post On