T4

Sorry for the delay in posting ... I have been pretty zonked (I'm using a thesaurus now so I don't always say "tired"). Treatment went ok... The first thing they do when I go in is draw blood. My port decided to not cooperate. It was super sore and the lab guy couldn't get the blood to come out very quick. The last two times were super smooth so this was frustrating. I attributed the soreness from the muscle pain I was having. You see, its on my right and that is my FAVORITE side to sleep on. So I sleep on it but my boob and armpit fat pushes on it and makes it sore. As much as I try to avoid this, I can't help what my body does while I sleep, I try to catch it but oh well. So he finally gets enough blood drawn and I head in for my exam. I tell the doc about the soreness and he didn't think much of it. Then I head to treatment room (they are almost done remodeling-finally!) and the nurse starts the pre-meds (stuff to make me all mellow). I can feel them going in and it stings a little. I have never had this sensation. So she goes and talks to my doctor. As a precaution they stop treatment and have me go to the hospital to get an x-ray with pigment to make sure there are no leaks in the port. So I head over there (a small walk), go through all that nonsense and it turns out everything is fine. The doctor that analyzed the images said he didn't like the placement of my catheter but other than that everything was ok. SO, I went back and finished treatment. I forgot to mention that during my exam the doc told me that even though I had a few extra days between T3 and T4 (since I wanted to go out of town and have treatment later), that my white blood cell count was really low. So the next day (yesterday) I had to go in for that booster shot. I had one after T2 and knew it makes me feel CRAPPY so I was not looking forward to this. Then he goes on to say that I have to have this shot the day after every treatment so they can keep me on my 14 day treatment regimen. UGH, chemo is bad enough but I have been doing really well with it. This shot makes me achy and gives me digestion issues. I hate it. The kicker is that its $10-12K per shot! Yes, thats right folks. I crapped my pants when I got the "This is not a bill" statement after the first one. Thank goodness for insurance! Sorry for being frank, but I think people should know how much healthcare costs... that means if I didn't have insurance I would be SCREWED. So now, each treatment plus shot will cost about $15-18K. Can you believe that? However, my insurance has a contract rate for all these things and only pays about half of these costs so the billing party writes the rest off. What this says to me is they are overcharging in the first place if they can afford to only be payed half of what they are billing. Sorry for the rant, but all the experience I am now getting with insurance and healthcare is really eye opening for me.

People keep asking about the hair... I have lost about half and have no idea when I will be ready to shave, but will keep y'all posted. I feel like a clueless man that has lost the hair on his crown (which I pretty much have) and does that nasty comb-over thinking nobody will notice. Luckily I'm tall.

So, this week and next is all about school. I have a lot to do... with no motivation to do it. I woke up today to work on stuff but feel so crappy that now I'm online writing this. I shouldn't complain, I got to get out of town this weekend. Bend was awesome! I am so glad I could make it happen. The concert was really good... despite rain and thunderstorms. All the bands rocked it pretty well. Natalie and I were pleasantly surprised to see that they were selling wine by the bottle in the beer garden so we shared one of those and all the nasty, wet and cold went to the back of our mind...

OK, now back to reality. . . or a movie . . . or a nap . . . hmm