Well Amy, we're pleased that you've joined out group and it nice to have some "normies" to give us perspective. I would take you up on your offer to help with financial guidance but I lucked out and got into a decent HMO (Kaiser Permanente) which has generously covered all of the tests, scans, paid for treatment at UCSF, medications, etc. And they use a teamwork approach, i.e., I have a head & neck surgeon, oncologist, radiation oncologist, dental oncologist, nutritionist, advice nurse, not to mention all of the many people behind the scenes oncology pharmacist, radiologist, and the many techs. They are also linked by computer so they all have access to my latest data. They have also been super about moving me up in the cue as far as scans and labwork is concerned. They wasted no time with the Dx or treatment. I applied for every bit of assistance I could - lower gas & electric, lower interest rate for a year on my home loan (3.95%), ELOC to fill in the income gaps and SSDI. I even applied for and got a mileage reimburement from the ACS.