Mel read my entry a couple of days ago because someone asked about it and she skimmed it before sharing. She criticized it and said I needed to close loops in my story. She was talking about when I said cancer is expensive and did not elaborate on it. One of the pills that I take after chemo treatment helps with generating white blood cells I believe. We have private insurance through work so it is covered but if it was not there is a different version that is available. The cost of the drug is $1500 per time. We are lucky that we do not need to pay out of pocket, but if you did, this is why people struggle with cancer treatment. If we go to Henry Ford the laparoscopic surgery is 12k USD and that is without the chemo portion of the treatment. They would go in and look around first and then give the chemo. If they drain the ascites that is another payment. Overall the costs might be similar to Spain as that cost is all inclusive with 1 flat rate. Once we hear back what the fees would potentially be we will decide on a consult. Talking to the doctors for a consult costs between $1000 to $1500 each time with no promise that they can help. This is why our oncologist is so hesitant to recommend for us to seek outside treatment. It can bankrupt a family and the end result is not necessarily guaranteed. We are also quite lucky that we have had people off ler to help out paying for this. I think for 3 or 4 treatments it will end up costing us 150,000k. It is not an insignificant sum of money. Everyone has suggested that we start a GoFundMe to help pay for all of this and it is something that we may look into. I am not sure what work it entails and all of the logistics involved. I have heard of instances where the person who set it all up and organized it took a cut of the money intended for the recipient. I would like to believe that every one whom I have surrounded myself with would never do that, but if so my concern would be why they felt the need to do that. I have shared this story before about when I worked at the hospital I always left spare change around as gentleman do not jingle with change when they walk. I noticed that I had some money missing and asked my coworkers about it. My coworkers knew that if they ever needed some change or money they could have taken some and I would not have cared. It seemed like someone was taking my money. I left a note with some money and wrote if you need money that you need to steal it you can have this. After that event it stopped. Be good to everyone because you never know what they may be going through. I would like to believe that people are inherently good.
When you read the side effects of the chemotherapy they are awesome. You can either get constipation, diarrhea or both. It disrupts your bowels. For the most part I do not have issues but for the last 2 days I have not had a bow movement so I have been taking restoralax to help out with it. I have not been able to eat as much as it is quite uncomfortable. I need to drink and remain hydrated. My weight has been stable which is a good sign at least. I was going to report that I think that the treatment is working as I have not thrown up mucous since I have started nor have I had that sensation. I do have quite a bit of discomfort if I move around walking for 15 to 20 minutes. I need to sit down and rest as it greatly fatigues me. The pain in the abdomen seems to just suck all energy out of me. I need to make sure I do my mouth rinses daily and put on all of my creams. I think that the key is to set up all of my alarms again.
Xavier was invited to a 7am ice time that lasted to 9am. With daylight savings and times switching Mel thought it was unwise for me to drive him. I said it would be fine and I could try and get him a ride back home afterwards. Mel had mentioned that if I could not get him a ride she would go. She is not a morning person and sets alarms every minute for 20minutes in the morning. I drove him without an issue and he texted me right away telling me not to go far. They were not sure if they could go on the ice. There was a fire the night at the arena and the lobby area was closed off. After some consultation they could go on and they would cancel the rest of the ice times for the day. I drove back home and went back to bed. My dear wife talks and replies to me in her sleep all of the time. So when I asked her if she could get Xavier she murmured ok. I have been with her for 21 years and know what that means. I had gone back to bed and set an alarm for 8:45. I woke up at 8:40 and saw that she was deep in slumber. She does so much already and this is something that I can do so I drove to go pick him up and drive him home. In the vehicle we discussed whether she would be awake or sleeping. Originally Xavier thought she might be awake as the time was 9:40 but I reminded him of the time change and he agreed she would be sleeping. When we arrived she was still sleeping, though if you ask her she will say that she was just resting her eyes. She deserves the rest for everything that she does. I struggle to cook now as long prep times and cooking bring me discomfort so I need to sit down. I use to eat standing at the island but the last couple of nights I have had to sit down. Mel is responsible for all of the clean up now as I am pretty useless. She barely lets me go shopping on my own and we should really look into getting something so I can move around. I feel and using those motorized scooters at stores as I am sure that there are people worse off than myself that do not have other options. If I get a manual wheelchair I am not sure if I have the strength so we would need Xavier to come all of the time. Cancer is a burden on everyone and even more so on all of the caretakers. Today is not as bad as the other days and I think I will recover well for this week. I just need to get a better understanding of the new normal and adjust.
QHM