Hello everyone
I was thinking last night how much this whole debacle reminds me of Alice in Wonderland.
Perhaps this might be one time where one could say it is not so much the journey, but the destination. Last night I fell sound asleep watching netflix and could barely drag myself to bed.
That never happens to me, in fact through all of this I have been taking meds to make sure I sleep well every night. A whole new level of fatigue that for the time, is rather welcoming. To just lie down in bed and fall asleep, what a concept.
Anyways the thing about chemo is that it is the devil I KNOW, radiation was the one I was not familiar with. I feel I have more to help me deal with chemo.
With regards to radiation, it does appear as though the lesions are healing, in fact they have all healed except one and it is looking much better. It still hurts a lot to pee, but Dr Cook told me that it takes 12 weeks to fully recover from radiation. I will be seeing my surgeon for a followup from radiation, and I guess to see whats what. I gather at that visit we will determine
how often I will see her in "followup"
My health care bill at this point is at 72 thousand dollars. 10 thousand of that was paid out of pocket, fortunately for me, having health care insurance AND this "episode" occurred over one year I have only had to pay 10 thousand dollars. If I was one of the 50 million or so uninsured people, I would have had to pay it all, and I likely would have made several compromises along the way. Some people in my position might well have foregone the chemo and radiation, because they could not afford it.
If I was in Canada, I would have paid for nothing except the medication I took at home. I would not have had to wait for surgery (my sister went through the same thing and the only thing that delayed her surgery was her BP was too high). My family tells me of several people on chemo and radiation there and there do not seem to be any significant delays. Don't believe all they would have you believe about the Canadian health care system. Please support single payer health insurance. It would be good for everyone except ceos and stock holders in pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies.
So please consider how best you might help others who might end up in a similar situation to me, but not have insurance....thanks
If you are wondering why all these pictures, I am trying to show off all the hair I have. :)
love and peace
Janet Bates
jankenb @ gmail.com
