Playing Chicken With A Great White Shark

Day 72

So, no news from the insurance company. We were told on Monday that we would definitely get a call on Friday. Long story short, our social worker at the BMT clinic contacted the insurance company and was told that our case worker would be out until Tuesday. Professional courtesy doesn't even begin to cover how I feel about our new case worker. It's beginning to feel moot, but a life is hanging in the balance here. The insurance company has had our appeal for two weeks now and we still don't know what our status is. I could start ranting here, but I don't feel like it would serve a purpose. I'd just like a chance at living past forty. So to sum everything up, it feels like we're playing chicken with a great white, and I have a feeling that the shark isn't going to flinch.

We did have appointments today, which is why this is so late. I apologize for that. I had blood draw and review this morning. My counts continue to fall. My magnesium was lower than normal, so they ordered another baby bottle. We had to go to the ATC clinic to get it and I have to say that everyone was in a really foul mood. We had to wait two hours for the order to get filled and then we had to wait another hour for a bed to become available. I did get to listen to another patient snoring like a lumber jack for the better part of the wait. He was very impressive. When we got in, the nurse wanted us to stay for the five hours that it would take the baby bottle to empty. We managed to convince her otherwise and only had to stay for half an hour to prove that the balloon was emptying.

On a positive note, the LSU Reveille ran our story in Friday's edition and Chris and I are grateful for the coverage. We'd like to thank the reporter for taking an interest and getting our story out there. If you'd like to read it, here is the link to the LSU Reveille's story. For those of you who have been following the blog, you'll notice a few mistakes in the story, but they got the main gist of it right. Our reporter was genuinely concerned about what we are going through.

I do have some fun new side effects to report. While I was in the hospital the last time for chemo, I ended up retaining more fluid than I was eliminating. Four pounds to be exact. I didn't realize it at the time, but my fingers had swollen to the point that my rings wouldn't come off. By the time I was able to remove my rings, the skin underneath had been rubbed raw. This is the first time since I got married that I've removed my wedding band and anniversary band. It's been over a week and because of my condition, my fingers still have not healed sufficiently for me to start wearing my rings again. It's a very disconcerting feeling to be without my wedding band. On the bright side, the doctor couldn't find any sign of infection in either wound, so I should be grateful for small miracles.

Dr. Keeler asked me how drug induced menopause was going and I honestly had to think about it. She was concerned that I was experiencing the worst side effects. I haven't had any serious mood swings and I promise, I checked in with Chris on that one. I have experienced hot flashes and that is absolutely no fun. Out of nowhere in an air-conditioned room, you'll start to feel like you're sitting in a sauna. Then there's the sweating. This is separate from the hot flashes. I'll be sitting in a waiting room and for no reason what so ever, I'll start to sweat like I just ran a marathon. It's not because I'm hot, in fact in most instances I'm fairly comfortable. Now imagine wearing a surgical mask and sweating like a fiend. It's pretty disgusting. Then there's the whole "shaped like a potato" thing. That could be genetic, but I'd like to think it has something to do with the drugs. Other than the above mentioned, I haven't had any other menopause related side effects. This leads me to hope that when I have to go through it for real, I can say the same.

No appointments scheduled for tomorrow. We'll keep you posted if anything exciting happens. We'll probably post if nothing happens. Who am I kidding, we will post even if nothing happens.