Disappointed, crushed, depression setting in!

It sounds as if you should consider private if you can afford it.  I had private health cover but things were very strained, financially (we were considering ditching the cover just before this happened).  I explained this situation to the surgeon and he took this into consideration when billing so his gap was very small.  The anaesthetists were also understanding and then I had the hospital excess.  I was diagnosed on 5/12/17 and had my first surgery on 21/12/17 - it might have been earlier but I wanted to be able to do some family things.  My cousin got her Breastscreen callback a couple of weeks after me, chose public, and didn't go for surgery until April. Chemo was fully covered as I was treated as an inpatient even though I was only there for a few hours at a time.  I went public for rads as that is not covered.