The countdown continues.........

Yesterday I began my final chemo cycle. I will have chemo again, with Herceptin, next week and only Herceptin the following Monday. August 14 is my "post chemo" office visit with surgery scheduled the following day. Phew! I won't even begin to touch the proposed schedule for Herceptin treatments and radiation treatments yet....it is all pretty intense and hard to track.

Speaking of hard to track......I managed to goof up my appointment time yesterday. I had 10:30 written down on my calendar and planned to take care of paperwork, etc. early in the morning before heading into Houston. At 9:15, as I was finishing up, I needed to glance at the purple calendar from the doctor's office. At that time I saw that my appointment time was scheduled at 9:00. ACK! Actually, my groan was much more like Macauley Culkin's shriek in "Home Alone!" I could not believe that I had messed up so badly - I was already 1.25 hours late with a 40 minute drive ahead of me! Later, while trying to figure out what had happened to my calendar, I discovered that I had incorrectly entered 2 times, last week's too. So, that means that when I showed up my my appointment at 9 last week, I really wasn't supposed to be there until 10:30!!! Did anyone in the office say anything to me......no.......if they had, I would have been able to fix this week's time. Oh well, humility is a good character quality to work on this week, I guess.

So, I hurriedly called the doctor's office and explained my blunder, agreeing to come in and just "wait" for whatever time might come available. However, they encouraged me to come in ("take your time driving!"), and they would get me in as soon as possible. So, I hightailed it to the office and waited my turn.

The office visit went well. The doctor continues to be pleased at the physical changes she sees. As she explains it to me, those changes are indicative that treatment is continuing to work. There are no palpable masses that she can detect, and the other issues also see to have resolved themselves. I will need to have another heart scan (MUGA) as well as a chest x-ray before surgery, but that is all.

It was a v-e-r-y slow day in the clinic yesterday; even the nurses were puzzled. There are 8 chairs, and they are almost always full with people waiting in line for them to empty. Yesterday, when I walked into the clinic, only 2 chairs were in use. Within an hour, I was the lone patient in the back. Believe it or not, it got a bit lonely back there. It was nice and quiet for napping, except dozing is really all one can expect when staff is always walking in and out, changing out drugs, etc. Another man came in about 15 minutes before I was set to leave; I felt badly for leaving him there alone!

We got an official letter from the insurance company over the weekend, denying coverage for the genetic test. I was on the phone with the testing center today to see what we need to do to have them go ahead with it and just self-pay. It's too late to get results back to make surgical decisions, but we have decided that having the information will be good for any other possible needs, as well as having more information for the children in the future. While it would have been nice to have the insurance coverage, it isn't the end of the world. God provides for all of our needs, this one included!

So, it seems as though it is full steam ahead now, with August 15 in sight as the next BIG event. There is a lot of busy work to do around here before hand, and that will help take my mind off of the surgery looming ahead. Just need to stay healthy and keep the blood counts good until then!

"My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil."~ Proverbs 4:20-27

posted by Kim @ 11:11 AM