Letter: My story of cancer treatment and how much is cost

Much has been said about the lack of health care and its costs. Here is my story.

I recently underwent four months of prostate cancer treatment at Gamma West at St. Mark’s Hospital. I initially received a shot that cost $2,500.

Then I had a mold made of my body from just above to just below my private parts. This included three permanent tattoos to guide the radiation. I went to Gamma West for 28 treatments. This consisted of technicians aligning my body each time. It took approximately five minutes at a cost of $525.

Then the radiation treatment at a cost of $1,460. These lasted approximately nine minutes. Remember, this occurred 28 times.

There was a SpaceOar procedure to insert a dissolvable packet to separate the space between my rectum and prostate to lessen the chance of perforating the rectal wall, at a cost of $11,392.

The IMRT plan, $6,365.

A special treatment plan, $1,175, twice.

Brachytherapy plan, $1,000.

Hyperthermia treatment, $2,913, twice.

A simulation plan, $1,500, twice.

Brachytherapy 12-channel treatment, $3,750, twice.

Physician consult, $275 per week. These lasted maybe five minutes, max, six times.

Weekly clinical management, $900, six times. I have no idea what this was for.

You get the idea.

I never saw less than 20 molds in the closet, so I guess you could multiply all of the above by 20. This is just for the prostate guys. Gamma treats all cancer types.

My total came to $150,600.82. I have great insurance, so my out-of-pocket was only $4,900.

Make no mistake, all the people involved were highly educated and trained. After the last of the 28 treatments, I got a “Graduation Certificate” signed by all the staff. Kind of hokey, I thought.

The best part, though, was a coupon for a milkshake at Iceberg ($4.29 value). It was delicious.

Mike McManus, Salt Lake City

Submit a letter to the editor