|
Hot Wheels Wednesday morning, 1-16-02. It's been a week since my first chemo treatment and everything's fine. I never got nauseated at all, let alone sick. I was really expecting that I would, considering how sick I got on some of the other medications, and the fact that they even gave me a prescription of Torecan to combat the expected nausea. It's a pill bottle I haven't even had to open! So it went a lot better than expected, and I'm pretty happy about it! I've got almost two weeks before my next chemo treatment, on January 29th, so I'm just taking it easy and resting a lot. I'm getting pretty good at that, and thinking I should try to come up with a way to include it on a resume'. Any ideas? I'm thinking something along the lines of, "Stress Management Professional." LOL!!
The pain in my leg from the Deep
Vein Thrombosis (blood clot) is still subsiding I posted a picture of me in my chair on a forum I hang out in. It was a thread where everyone was showing pics of their vehicles. Frankly, I was a little sad that I'm kinda grounded these days and doing the wheelchair bit. But my good friends picked me up by souping up my ride for me! Click the thumbnails below to see them full size:
Anyway, back to the leg... There IS progress. I got my blood drawn last Thursday so the doc could assess the Coumadin levels in my blood. On Friday, I got a call from his office instructing me that they were up to where he wanted to see them, and that I could stop injecting myself with the Lovenox. You can bet that was great news! No more sticking myself with a needle twice a day! Yay!! On the same day that I got my blood drawn, I went to see the surgeon that opened up a hole in my groin to harvest a couple of lymph nodes a couple of months ago. He had to assess the situation regarding a stitch that had grown in with the knot under the skin. The nurse in my doctor's office that managed to get the rest of the sutures out couldn't do anything with it, and they were concerned that a surgery to remove it at this time might complicate things because of the drugs I'm on that keep my blood from clotting. The surgeon had me drop trou and get up on the table while I explained about the suture still being in, and the nurse couldn't get it out, and it's all grown in under the skin, and I got a blood clot in my leg, and I'm on Coumadin and Lovenox, which keep my blood from clotting, and they're concerned that another surgery at this time might be a problem because... "YYAAAAAAGGGGHHHHhhhhhhooowwww!!!!!!!!!" I yelled, as he jerked out the suture in one quick motion. All done. He extended it toward me so I could see it, clenched in a pair of hemostats, and said that's why he has extra-thick walls in his exam rooms; so the patients in the waiting room don't hear the screams. Hahaha! We both had a good laugh over it, and then I was on my way, sans suture. It took all of about a minute and a half and he didn't even charge me for the visit. I'm not sure if that's because it didn't take up any of his time, or because he enjoyed it so much! LOL!! In the last update, while talking about the insurance weirdness, I said, "She (Candy) finally got someone there to agree to figure out how the FAX machine works and use it, and to guarantee that I'll be covered on 1-9-02. She's supposed to get a call to confirm it, and then I'm sure she'll call or email me to let me know how it's going. We'll see if they can figure it out. I'm betting they're too stupid or lazy to do it, nothing will change, and Candy will be back on the phone again or taking a ride to Kentucky (where the insurance people on the other end of the phone are physically located) to see them personally, possibly with my congressman in tow and a baseball bat in her hand!" I should have made a bet on it, because Candy confirmed I was right. No one called her to follow up, and she had to chase them down again over the phone to get it straight. Well, after more of the same stuff I've been writing about the insurance companies for weeks now, it's finally all straight and I'm finally insured again. Really. No, REALLY this time!! Speaking of my congressman, I got a letter from my esteemed representative, stating that they had received my letter, were concerned about it, and will contact me soon to get the full story. Candy said she told someone over the phone at the insurance company that we were sic'ing my congressman on them because of all the ineptitude they managed to show. I told her they were probably out behind the insurance building at that very moment, burning documents and checks that they'd found behind desks to get rid of the evidence! As another example of how tightly that organization is wired, their rep on the phone says that the Lovenox shots aren't covered. We asked why their web site listing of covered drugs includes Lovenox shots. Well, the answer is very simple: They don't know... Cool, huh? According to Candy, who is VERY up on all the procedures and laws that govern insurance companies and patients, having dealt with it for some 10 years at a MAJOR big firm, there is no doubt that an investigation will take place, now that she's started the wheels turning. Something tells me that someone's going to get crushed under those wheels. I hope they have good insurance! LOL!! Ain't karma great?
Next: Toe Jam
|
