Another two weeks have passed so we get to have another infusion of carboplatin. This is week three of cycle seven. How many more of these we get to do is anyone's guess. The last time we saw the doctor, he said that as long as things are going well, we should keep doing what we are doing. So here we are. And this evening I begin week three of everolimus as well. You may remember good old everolimus . . . the $565 dollar pills that got lost a few weeks ago. Isn't it nice of President Obama to pay for it all?
Actually, he doesn't quite pay for it all; we have a co-pay ($120 out of $8,300 for a box of the pills), and DMBA picks up a piece of the action as well. Beginning in January, DMBA decided to let Medicare be the primary insurer; they would take a secondary position for all retirees. What that has meant to me is that I am now smothered in a blizzard of paperwork. I used to get two or three pages a month detailing the services that DMBA handled for me, and how much I should expect to be billed by Huntsman. And in fact, more recently I signed up for electronic delivery, and it didn't cost DMBA even a stamp. Now almost every week in the mail I get at least 6 pages of bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo along with two lines of useful information. I guess DHHS wants to use some of what it takes from the taxpayers to keep the Post Office in business. And this is supposed to be more efficient???
The infusion center is a comfortable place and the air conditioner works very well. It is 90 degrees outside but very pleasant for the workers inside. Sitting in this reclining chair, however, without any activity to get the blood flowing makes me think that it is a little cold in here. So the nurse offered a heated blanket. That was a nice touch. Keeps the patient patient while the stuff slowly goes drip, drip, drip through the tubes into my vein. As far as carboplatin is concerned, there continues to be little if any noticeable side effect. Lots of minor, little things are going wrong, or rather behaving strangely, and it is hard to pin down exactly the cause. Is it the carboplatin, or the everolimus, or just my plain stupidity in what I do? Who knows? For example, I continue to have a rash on my forehead. It gets treated with vitamin E, and will disappear for a day or so, but it comes back. My fingernails are weaker and softer than they have ever been. It is really easy to split them, and then they snag every thing they get close to. But overall, I really have nothing to complain about.
The above entry was written on July 31, but not posted until today because of our quick trip to Ohio. We decided to go to the Dayton/Englewood area to see friends from 40 years ago. It was a nice trip down memory lane. I have written a little (or maybe not so little) story about the trip, but don't know where to post it. This is supposed to be a blog about cancer, so this does not seem to be the proper place for a 5 page travelogue . . . with pictures of old buildings and a few folks. Any suggestions will be welcome.
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