Cocktail Date 02/25/11

This morning at the doctors office was crowded as ever. There were no seats left about 10 minutes after I arrived.... thank God I got there 15 minutes early. Ms. M., the front office receptionist, compliments my hair again. While it has grown a bit and grown on me, I'm still upset at the reason it had to be this short. Cancer and Chemo are a Bitch.

Visit with Dr.S.

He is always so happy. He makes me smile every time he comes in the room or whenever I seem him scurrying around the office. No, I'm not in the least bit attracted to him physically... He has a job that he loves, and he does it well. I admire him for that. His compassion for his work and his patients are exemplary.

He goes over my mammogram results, remember they are good, listens to my chest and then we chat. Dr. S explains there is another drug he wants me to take; Lupron. What it does is inform my brain to suppress "Penelope" and any hormones related to it. It would in essence tell my body to go into menopause and NOT feed any tumor that ever return. humph... 35 and in menopause, well I've done the early menopause thing already so guess this will be the final time. From what I understand it'll be a shot in the abdominal area every 3 months. Still want to do more research on it.

I also mentioned to him about my uncle who may now have brain cancer. He, just as I are a bit surprised. Him because brain and breast cancer are in the same family, just learned that today, and one of my early test showed no BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, family gene that carries cancer cells. Me, cause...I know my uncle as a loud, proud Jamaican; and to imagine him in the state he's in now is heartbreaking. I pray his biopsy comes back benign.

Remember the insurance company denied the Muga test requested from my doctor?...well he's doing a work around. Since they wont pay for that test, he's rescheduled my echo's to be every 6 weeks instead of every 3 months. Any additional change would be detected quickly and adjustments can be made.

The treatment room

Surprisingly, there were only 2 other patients in there. cool! :) I asked the the ladies present "do any of you ladies mind if I turn on the TV?" One lady says "I don't like TV's" so I asked if she had turn it away from her; it was in a catercorner position. She says" No, turn it to you... I don't trust it." OK. I was guessing she was referring to any radioactive rays or something of that sort, but then she turn to a TV tray next to her and turns on a laptop and clamps on some earphones. LOL! I have no real idea what that was about. shrugging my shoulders

The other lady and I got involved in conversation. About 45 minutes worth. Don't worry, I won't get into detail about it but from that I suspect I'll hear from her in the future.

Denied AGAIN!

My provider had rescheduled the Muga Scan for this past Thursday. They called on Wednesday to inform me they had to canceled my appointment.... again, due to denial from my insurance. hhuummm! guess my heart has to be really damaged before they pay for that. shaking my head.

I did however get some good news Saturday. First, the Merrick's are please to have 2 new assistant instructors and 1 new head instructor on our team. They did an awesome job during their certification and made me proud to be their instructor.

Second, upon my review of the mail that evening, I saw an envelope from Dekalb Medical. "oh lord... what now? missed bill, E.O.B., denial... what is this" were my thoughts. I ripped it open the moment I got upstairs and found the results from my last Mammogram. It reads "Thank you for having your mammogram at our facility. Your mammogram films have been carefully reviewed by one of our board-certified Radiologist." See, if I weren't the seasoned patient I am today, I would have thought this was a setup. I've learned... when there is an issue, the doctor will go through some hoops to get you; even call you from their cell while driving. Yup! that's kinda how it went in the beginning. That part of the story is missing from the blog simply cause it was too painful to describe... maybe later I'll share some with you.

I've gotten off track with the letter from Dekalb. The next paragraph reads "We wish to inform you that the results of you recent mammography examination are normal with benign findings." :D WWWWHHHHAAAATT!!! Both A.D. and I were overjoyed with this news. Finally, good news for us. Exciting! still can't stop cheezin. :D :D :D :D :D :D

Looking forward to some celebration with friends and family. and my photo session with J.D., a friend of mine.

peace and love,

Mel

I really should have listened

A couple of weeks ago A.D. and I had a meeting at a potential location for our M.A. school. It went well and faster than we anticipated. On the way home, I had this urge to go out and see a friend of mine play some music at a downtown night social. :) The kids were with their grandparents and we really had nothing to do. We toiled the idea of going but decided we were both tired, so we headed home, had some leftovers, popped in a DVD and had a nice quiet evening.

Next morning while cruising Facebook.... as usual :D, I saw a post from that friend I wanted to see play. He was sending out his reminder that he was playing at a particular venue and the show was dedicated to his late grandmother. Breast Cancer had claimed her life early 2010. My heart dropped. I hated that I didn't make it out. I felt that actually showing up on such a day would have been some kinda special. So sorry I missed it. Shoulda listened to my gut feelings.

Just in case you missed it, this was the friend who had invited me to speak at his performance intermission back in November.

February Update

Several weeks have passed and I have a bit to share with you. First let me fill you in on that friend I told you about that has been fighting Cancer for a year.

They didn't make it over that weekend cause she wasn't feeling well. I learned that while chemo is no longer working for her they are still treating her with something. Whatever they're giving her had her glued to her bed for the week. Her husband did make it by to get the water for her though. He's adamant they both feel it's benefits. Glad to hear that and I pray she pulls though this.


As for me, well all is well for the most part. Still waiting for this test ordered from my doctor called a Muga Scan. I was actually scheduled to have it done today but my insurance company denied my doctors request. Let me explain why. Dr. S. ordered the test cause my last echo showed a possible change in heart function. The medication they still give me actually can cause heart damage so he has to look closer as of to why there is a change. Based on what they find, they may have to either slow down or stop that medication. NOW, understand that despite the change in echo results, my reading is still that of a healthy heart. The insurance company sees that as a healthy heart and a patient too young to have heart trauma. Guess they want to wait till it gets really destroyed before approving it. Insurance companies!!! Dr. S has filed an appeal, so I just need to wait for the approval and go get the test done.

This pass Wednesday I had an appointment with the cosmetic surgeon. :D She was ever so pleased to see how well my skin has healed. "If I didn't know your condition and all you've been through, I would have thought this little discoloration was a birthmark... I'm really impressed." Love it. So my next thought was "when can we do surgery cause I wanna be ready by spring." After little discussion we decided on May 9th. A little longer than I wanted but I figured it best this way as well. Dr. F. pushed it back cause she is expecting... she's due late March. :) So, while she can do the surgery now, she doesn't want anyone else taking care of me while she on maternity leave. In essence, we just have to wait for her little one. I'm cool with that.

I've been trying to decide what to do with my hair. Should I keep it short short or let it grow out? The hard thing about letting it grow out is that in between stage. where I am. LOL! So, I let A.D. go ahead a cut it for me. Yea, I warned him to not "F" it up since I'm keeping some this time. :) Now he wants to taper the back so it won't look like I have a shag. It's getting curly and I had hoped the cut would lay it down. No such luck... shagging it. LOL! Sie, my daughter, says to me "I like your haircut mommy but don't cut it again. You need to let it grow so you can have long hair like me."
Gotta love the little ones honesty.

That's it for now. I promise no long hiatus for the next one. :D Until then...



Live, Laugh, Love!

Mel



p.s. Happy Valentine's Day!