I’m currently on the second bag. I’ve finished Perjeta, and now I’m getting Herceptin. I have a new nurse today, and he is on top of it. We’re moving through treatment pretty quickly. Tim is in the building working, and I feel like I need a nap. 😂😂
My treatment was scheduled through lunch today, so I bought a “Think” high protein bar from the café to sustain me. I am a thinker, so it’s appropriate. It’s called “lemon delight,” but the bar looks nothing like the lemon bar pictured on the package. And, it doesn’t really taste like it either. The Atkins bars are more true to taste. I hate falling for false advertising! 😫 I bought it because it has zero (0) sugar.
Speaking of sugar. They draw blood every time I come, so I get to watch it on a regular basis. Today, my glucose was in the normal range! I wasn’t fasting and it’s still normal. It’s the first time in a very long time. I’ve been 100-110 in the “at-risk” range for a while, which is just above normal, but it has been slowly creeping up. I was concerned it might turn to diabetes some day, since it’s so common in my family. This was a nice surprise. Maybe those new supplements are working. 😁
I hear my BD AlarisTM Pump is beeping, so I should be going home soon. Have a wonderful day everyone! And remember, you are only as sweet as you THINK you are!
Dr. Kovitz, my medical oncologist, called me today. Apparently he spoke with my surgeon and they decided I can go ahead with my infusion on Thursday. The surgeon was following her regular protocol which is to stop all chemotherapy infusions before surgery. But Dr. Kovitz reminded her this is not chemotherapy (even though we call it chemo and it’s infused in the chemo infusion center). It’s immunotherapy. Dr. Kovitz said we really don’t know how long we would have to wait for it to get out of my system anyway. So…we are back on schedule for treatment this week.
Oh, did I forget to tell you I’m scheduled for surgery? 🙄
It’s been a busy week. We helped move our daughter’s family out of their apartment into a storage unit until their next place is ready. They can move in tomorrow. She has been staying with us (and her two kids) in the meantime. The kids are feeling the transition. They are five and three, and they are good at it. 😂 Did I say they can move in tomorrow? 😂🤪😂 She also starts a new job tomorrow. But that’s a whole other story for a different blog.
Surgery, oh yeah.
My colorectal surgeon, Dr. You (not to be mistaken for Dr. Who), called me after the failed polyp procedure. She said we have two options. Since the biopsies did not show cancer (they are precancerous adenomas which may or may not turn into cancer), we can “wait and see.” In other words, go in every year or so and take more biopsies to see if progresses to something more. If it does, we will do surgery then.
OR …
If I “can’t sleep at night” because I’m concerned about it, or I just want to be certain, we can go ahead and do the surgery. Remove part of my colon, appendix, and of course the polyp.
I weighed the options. Hmmm. I don’t like the idea of waiting and watching something grow. We did that with my breast cancer the first time, and look where it got me.
And then Dr. You gave me the blueberry pancake analogy, a/k/a her “caveat.” That sealed the deal for me. After talking with hubby and friends, we all agreed.
What is the blueberry pancake analogy? I’m glad you asked.
Basically, when they do biopsies it’s like pulling pieces from a blueberry pancake. If they find blueberries, we know they exist. However, there is no guarantee there are no blueberries just because they didn’t find any in the biopsy. Her caveat is that. Unless we remove the whole pancake, we don’t know if we missed any blueberries. But don’t worry, she added. There are several stages before it hits the cancer stage. 😳😳
I like blueberries, but not when they are compared to cancerous growths. I didn’t like the idea of the slightest possibility that something could still be lurking underneath this giant thing. The only way to know for sure is to remove the whole pancake, er, I mean, polyp.
Besides, my insurance is changing to Medicare in July and we still don’t know what all that means. All my out of pocket expenses are currently met for the year with my current insurance, so we can let Cigna pay for it.
All that to say…we decided to go ahead and do the surgery. It’s scheduled for Tuesday June 7th at the downtown MD Anderson Cancer Center. I have pre-op in The Woodlands on Friday May 27th, a Covid test and labs on Sunday June 5th, bowel prep (of course), and then I’ll be in the hospital from June 7th until after surgery for 3-5 days (depending on how quickly I poop💩). It looks like recovery is about 6 weeks but she said I should be feeling pretty good after 2-4 weeks.
I will be speaking about my journey on Sunday, May 15th, in both morning services. It’s not about breast cancer (although I will share some pictures and stories of my journey). It’s not even about surviving or thriving (although those are good things as well). It’s about living life on purpose.
We will take a look at some heroes in the Bible, how their faith journey stayed strong in the midst of life’s suffering (and even death). We will also look at the sovereignty of God. One of the hardest parts about praying for healing is praying for God’s purpose. We want what we want, but it may not always be aligned with what He sees through his omniscient lenses.
Faith is trusting God regardless of the outcome.
If you want to come and hear me speak, I would love to see you in person at Parkgate Community Church, 3715 Preston Road, Pasadena Texas. Or you can catch the message online live at 9:00 or 10:45. (https://www.parkgate.church). The recording will be there for you to watch later as well.
Please comment below and tell me the “word” that stuck with you.
Oh yeah. I’ll be playing that beautiful Steinway as well. 😁
I don’t talk about our finances very often; that seems to make people uncomfortable. If that describes you, please stop reading and move on to the next blog. Don’t worry, I’m not asking for money. Just reporting on our situation.
I went on disability so I wouldn’t be so stressed trying to work full-time while doing all the treatment, scans, doctor’s visits, etc. I’m pretty sure I blogged about this decision already; if you want to know more, you can go back and look for the whole disability conversation. Or, let me know and I will fill in the details.
Anyway. Here’s how it works. You have to be on disability five months before SSDI will kick in. After that, you must wait another 24 months before you can get on Medicare. I was fortunate enough to have a good job, so my health insurance (COBRA) has been hanging on in the interim. Tim has always been on my insurance, as he has been unable to get group coverage on any of his jobs.
Since leaving my employment, COBRA has gotten quite expensive to the tune of $2,500 per month (yes, you read that right), especially after they extended us past the original COBRA period. It’s a lot better than paying more than $30K per treatment. Yikes! Needless to say, we were looking forward to getting on Medicare. (Now we just have to find insurance for Tim.)
Finally, after waiting 30 months, (Woo hoo??) I got my card in the mail a couple of weeks ago, it’s official. I will be on Medicare starting in July.
For some reason, we thought this would be the “answer” to our insurance dilemmas. It’s all very confusing, however. I have not taken any action as I have been waiting for more information. Then we saw an ad for a Medicare specialist in the Impact, a freebie magazine with updates about our local area. He’s been doing this for a long time, so we scheduled a meeting.
The first thing he helped us understand is that Medicare does cost money. First of all, you have premiums to pay (based on your income). He also said that people typically purchase a supp[lement because even with the government plans there are many costs that are not covered. If you purchase “medigap” supplements, it helps fill in the gap.
Bad new. He said my options were limited until I reach 65. He said I could not get medigap supplements to cover all the additional costs. He seemed knowledgeable, and based on the information he shared, we got a bit discouraged. It looked like we were going to be out a LOT of money to pay for my healthcare costs.
I paused after starting this blog, and prayed. God, please help us discern your will. Help me understand all the ins and outs of Medicare, and help me find someone who can give me some good news.
The next thing I did was reach out to Medicare directly. It’s a government entity, so I was expecting long wait times with little support. As it turned out, my wait time was reasonable and the lady I spoke with spent nearly an hour helping me understand all our options. She didn’t seem to be in a hurry, and she provided me with some other numbers to call as well. As it turns out, we have lots more options than the other guy shared. Yes, I do qualify for Medigap insurance, and there is a number I can call to help me figure out the best plan and insurance company for me.
Here’s the interesting part. Insurance companies are not required to provide Medicare supplements to persons under 65. But some of them choose to do so. Maybe the companies the other guy sells for don’t do it, so that’s why he thought I couldn’t get it. I don’t know. But the Medicare lady gave me a list of possible providers. We just have to make sure my doctors are on all the plans.
Here’s another interesting part. The supplement you choose (for example, Medigap Part G) is the exact same coverage with each insurance company. You might pay $300 with one and over $1,000 with another. But you don’t get anything different from the more expensive company. No wonder people get discouraged! Apparently insurance companies are not limited to charging the same amount as the next guy.
So, it’s time to go shopping.
I’m still trying to matriculate through this Medicare maze, understand what they cover and what they don’t, and how to keep from going bankrupt in the process. I will spend more time on it next week. Some things can’t happen until at least June, so there’s still time to make decisions. But at least now I feel a bit more hopeful than when I first started writing this blog. Thanks to the Lord for answering my prayer.
Two people have rung the bell while I’m sitting here getting my treatment today. My room is right by the bell, so it startled me the first time. Clapping. Congratulations. Thanks for all that MD Anderson has done. Some women with metastatic breast cancer feel dejected when this happens. We will never be finished with treatment. We will never ring the bell.
Yet, I am happy for these people as they complete this part of their journey.
I’m a little tired today. Right after I took that picture I took a nap. It’s been three weeks since my last treatment, which usually seems to go by so fast. Yet this time it seems like a long time since I was here. Probably because so much has happened since last time. I had that failed procedure I blogged about, and lots of time spent with grandkids. Easter has also been in between somewhere. It’s been a hectic month.
I did get the biopsy result back for that colon polyp. It’s not cancer, but precancerous. They call it a tubular adenoma. He referred me back to the colorectal surgeon for a consult. That happens on Friday the 13th, and then we decide next steps. Most likely this means removal of part of my colon.
A Carolina wren couple has decided to make our bluebird box their home. And I came home to some beautiful roses in my planter out front the other day. Our grass and trees are loving the rainstorms. Everything is so green and growing. Spring is definitely in the air.
Life goes on. We are staying busy and living life. We are helping Parkgate Community Church until they hire a new pastor. I’m speaking about my journey in church on the 15th of May. It’s a message of hope. A message about Living Life on Purpose. Regardless of the storms. Regardless of whether we ever ring the bell.
As I’m sitting here thinking about all the storms we have faced, I am reminded of a quote I will share that week. It reminds me to look for color in the clouds.
