No News is Good News

I hope no one panicked yesterday because there was no blog. My track record might make people think I had some complication or went into the hospital. Thankfully that is not the case. Yesterday, I thought I would wait until later in the day to write a blog entry, but by then our internet connection was out and remained out until after we went to bed at 11 p.m. It's back this morning, so I'm jumping right in to write something early. It's only 6:45 a.m. and the internet is still working!

Yesterday was the day after the fourth chemo infusion. I felt quite good all day. Because they only gave me a 75% dose, I think my nausea and fatigue levels were lower than in the past. I'm not complaining about that! My taste buds seem to be doing better, also, because coffee is starting to taste a little better. I had enough energy to clean up my side of the bedroom and reorganize a lot of stuff that had been accumulating. The only complaint I had all day was more indigestion than usual, but a few Tums throughout the day helped.

In the afternoon I went to the hospital for my neulasta shot. That shot is saving women a lot of infections and blood transfusions. Even though my cell counts plummeted enough to give me neutropenic fever (also called febrile neutropenia), the neulasta drastically brought it back up. Without that shot I would have needed a blood transfusion.

I also got some Explanation of Benefits forms from our insurance company yesterday. I learned that the neulasta shot is a shockingly high price, $4,134.15! The insurance company reduces charges, often by large amounts, but in this case the price was reduced a paltry $82.68, so the insurance company paid $4,051.47, which is 100%, leaving nothing for me. WOW! I had NO idea this shot cost so much. The chemo infusion itself costs far less at $1,792.42, reduced by $35.84, so the insurance paid all of the remaining $1756.58. I had been warned that chemotherapy could cost as much as $40,000, and I knew my insurance in Florida would only cover 75% out of area, leaving me a whopping 25% out of pocket. Now that I'm seeing these numbers, it would seem that the total bill could run as high as $46,464.40, leaving me out of pocket expenses of $11,616.10. And that's only for the chemotherapy. I have not seen hospital bills yet for the two inpatient stays, plus the radiation therapy in the spring is also expected to run in the neighborhood of $40k. I am SO glad I'm doing this up here now when I can get 100% coverage of these things.

Last night Lowell joined us for dinner and more episodes of our show, How I Met Your Mother. I had missed that last week. We watched six full episode of season 3. We also ate a very, very special dinner. We had what Mark and I refer to as our Honeymoon Sandwich. For our honeymoon back in 1975, we spent 10 days in Miami Beach. The weather was FREEZING down there that winter, so we did not have any pool or beach time, but we had plenty of time for other sight-seeing and restaurant opportunities. One afternoon we went to a kosher deli for lunch and ordered a specialty, three-decker sandwich on Jewish rye bread and baked in the oven until hot. It has four meats: corned beef, pastrami, salami, and chopped liver, weighing a half pound! Whoee! It's good. Mark and I used to make it now and then for dinner in the "old days." Those would be the days before we were concerned with cholesterol. In fact, we had never made it for Lowell, so that was what we did. It did not disappoint.

Today I am up and feeling good. I hope that continues! For the first two days post-chemo, I have a specific anti-nausea regiment of two drugs to follow. I take three pills at a specified time, once during the day. After the first few chemos, I needed additional pills from my arsenal, but not yesterday. I am hoping today goes like yesterday. I don't plan to go anywhere today, so I'll be well-rested and happy staying in. I might even try a walk through the neighborhood for the first time in weeks.