Nuelasta on August 8th

What a day. The first thing on my agenda was the Blue Cross/Blue Shield. My labs now are running at 500.00 every 3 weeks. My blood is being watched very closely. I'll have a Nuelasta  injection tomorrow. This is to keep my white blood cells from falling and making me susceptible to any infection going around. My red blood cells are low. I thought I was just being lazy then as time went on I realized that all those breaks I needed were a symptom of not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen around my body. I'm not short of breath and for that I'm thankful. My insurance company has to approve the epogen injection I need. It, of course, is another expensive item.  I'm not lazy! I'm fatigued! Pshaw...really? I can rest without feeling guilt? Who knew? 

In the course of checking on a claim denied by Blue Cross, they explained to me the phrase "not covered  because of the  place of service". It was coded as an office visit which is not covered by my insurance company. After a little investigation it was discovered that the 500.00 charge was the charge for my labs. I was amazed to learn that as long as the labs were done on the same day as my chemo, the insurance company would cover them.  Ah, 1500.00 worth of lab costs were wiped out today from that one conversation. I was pumped. 

I have dreaded calling the insurance company about anything because of all the costs incurred by this sickness and the payments they have made. My insurance premium is 560.00 per month for both the husband and myself. It's the Blue Value plan that is a "catastrophic" policy. I'm sure I misspelled that word but I'm not going to obsess too much right now. The costs to them for this little policy has been catastrophic! I feel bad but at the same time I'm very grateful for the payments they have made. I try to think of all those years I paid a premium and never used my insurance policy. I've been a healthy person most of my life. My bone breaking years of skiing and soccer were years gone. 

After my conversation with the insurance company, I started on the yard. I've only been cutting the grass while the husband has been gone. Today it got the full treatment. Mowing, edging all the concrete and using the blower, I cleaned the patio, carport, sidewalks and driveways. It lookedmarvelous!

A quick shower and I was headed out to finish errands. A visit to State Farm Office, a stop by the bank and off to lunch. A huge chef salad with ham, boiled eggs adn lots of greens, this cold lunch was perfect.

My IPad is giving me fits. I have to reboot occasionally and on this blog, it wono't scroll down to let me see what I'm typing so it's a hit or miss propostion. I will have to clean this up on my lap top later so I'm tacking this to the end and hope it resembles something somebody can read. I'll fix it tomorrow. 

I'm waiting on the fatigue to hit.
I'm done here for now.  G'night.

August 5th/ Chemo on August 6th

Three weeks have quickly passed and it's time once again to spend a few hours at the clinic. Cytoxin and Taxtera time. I'm noting this on my blog so I can reference back to it should I need dates and times.

I've spent most of the day on the road with Pat. We are still working on her mobile home for her son's return. It's kept my mind occupied most of this day and this evening was spent with a guest and Carrie. Carrie and I hit a few tennis balls using the racket I found at the Goodwill Store. What a bargain!  1.99 per racket and one of them was made by Head. I used to ski on Head ski's. I didn't know they manufactured anything other then ski equipment. My Head racket  blue and I found a pink racket which is smaller and just right for Carrie.

Pat had to go to Goodwill and I tagged along. I ended up buying more then Pat. The tennis rackets were my big score!

We made a pot of sticky chicken tonight. It's more commonly known as chicken stew and it was delicious. Chicken stew is much like gumbo but the roux is thicker and there is no sausage in it. While Carrie was busy at the counter painting wooden Christmas tree ornaments, I was at the stove. All in all, a good day and a great afternoon with friends and family.

It's way past my bedtime. I'm ready to snuggle down and get some rest. The husband is leaving Texas and heading directly to another job in northern Louisiana. I'll meet him there on Friday and hang out while he does that job. I'm out of here and to bed. It's been a long day!

Transition is Over, I have Arrived

Ok, so Louise and I went to the salon and had the pixie cut. Well, Louise kept her long thick golden hair, while I was the one getting the pixie.

For the next two days, I would run my fingers through Miss Pixie cut and retrieve handfuls of it. I would stack in a pile at the bedside  and continue to lift more away from my skull.

You've seen elderly gentlemen with that fine mist of hair covering their skull but clearly see through to the roots? That was me.

Following the Pixie cut, I donned a wig the next day just to get used to it. I still had hair. I did well and forgot I had it on and Pat and I shopped around town. Yesterday I pulled out the engineer's hat and gave that a whirl. The hat is not striped but solid black. It's design reminds me of the blue and white striped engineers caps. With much eyeliner and bright lipstick, I was told it looked great. Meanwhile I'm still removing handfuls of hair when I run my fingers across my skull.

Carrie came to stay last night. I was apprehensive about her reaction. She was prepared by her mother and took it well. She did say, as she lay beside me in bed watching a movie, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" I asked.

"Sorry that you lost your hair. It will be alright Nonny."

..and that was the end of the hair discussion.

This morning, I had had enough of hair. I took the shears and stood in front of the bathroom mirror and buzzed it to the scalp. I have a LOT of head or maybe I should say a lot of face?

I've made the transition. I'm done. I've tried to post a pic of my new "do" but so far I've been unable to get a pic from my iPhone into email so I could upload it from here on my laptop! Check back. Hopefully I will be able to update this with a photo.

Louise and I and The Lunch Date

The phone rang with a lunch invitation. Louise thinks it is time for us to get together. Remember Louise? She is the oncology nurse that I worked with years ago on the unit. Tiny little, blue eyed Louise, of the soft voice and kind heart, everyone that meets her loves her.


When first diagnosed, Louise was the person I called with my tears and fears. She stopped what she was doing and immediately was at my door step. She accompanied the husband and the daughter and me to those first doctor's appointments, appeared at the bedside during surgery and post op. She works full time but still manages time to check on me and schedule a lunch date.

We agreed that she would appear at my house at 1100. Louise is always punctual. I waited for her wearing a house gown and holding a pair of shears in my hand.

I offered up the shears and asked her to shave my head. Big tears appeared in both our eyes; I quickly told her I didn't want this to be traumatic for her and if she felt bad about it she didn't have to do it. She was fearful of messing it up.

I said  "I doubt you can mess it up. If we cut it to the scalp, messing it up will be an impossibility."

I picked up the shears and turned them on and made a swipe above my right ear. At this Louise said

 "How about we go to a salon and just get it cut really short to kinda ease into this?"

We packed away the shears and that's exactly what was done. The salon scissor cut it to a pixie length.

In the days that followed, it has continued to fall at a rapid rate. Yesterday I slipped out of bed, grabbed the short wig and wiggled it onto my head. The remainder of the day, I forgot I had it on. Pat and I went shopping and from store to store, not a head turned to gawk. I forgot I had it on.

Pat and Kathy have both commented,

 "I like it better then your real hair!"

Not a hint of natural wave, the "hair" falls smoothly across my brow, the back fits snugly to the neckline. It's very short
and my natural color and easy to wear.

Today I'm going to try a ball cap. My cute neighbor wraps her hair up in a knot and dons one and looks wonderful wearing hers on days she doesn't have time to spend managing her hair.

Lunch with Louise was at The Olive Garden. I, occasionally ran my hand through my barely there hair but most of the time I forgot about hair and enjoyed catching up with Louise.

Louise's band will be kicking off some gigs this fall. I'll be watching the venue for this. Her husband is on the road to Nashville with The Little Band of Gold.

This weekend I hope to go to McGee's Landing to listen to the Magnolia Sisters. One of the band members I just met. She appeared as the financial advisor when I made an appointment for some investment advice at my bank. Her band was nominated for a Grammy.

These two ladies, Lisa/Magnolia Sisters and Louise/married to Dave Ranson/plays for Sonny Landreth, both got to walk the red carpet for the Grammy nominations a few  years back when there was a category for Cajun/Zydeco music.

The stories they told of their experience was hilarious. They are definitely not "Hollywood types".

I'm off to decide if it's a baseball cap sort of day, a scarf, a snood or a wig. Ah, decisions, decisions!

And yes, I'm fine now. I had to do a little adjustment there; have a few tears and get back up and move on. I have a lot of things I want to get done and there is no MORE time to waste with tears. I'm not saying we shouldn't have tears. I've had mine and I'm ready to move on.

I might just spend a few hours in this hot afternoon in a movie theatre. It's too hot to do much else!
I'm gone.