First Taxol

I had been in a bit of a dark place since being back from Colorado. I hadn’t felt well and I was just really dropping the ball. I was only eating once a day. Not keeping up on my water or protein intake. Not even attempting any sort of exercise. I attended a Breasties meet up on Zoom and one of the gals said she committed herself to walking every single day. I decide this was a good idea and implemented it on Wednesday; Oliver and Able were very excited about this. We live at the top of a hill, so we just walked down the hill and back. Let me tell you, coming back up that hill was rough rough rough for me and Able! But we made it and will continue to do so!

At the same time, I recommitted myself to my water and protein goals. As much as I’ve always been a trash food loving queen I can not be anymore and expect to feel good. Just another thing cancer has rudely stolen, but it’s most likely one of those blessings in disguise. Getting healthy is good for everyone!

Thursday brought the first taxol dose. I was still a bit of a grump and did not want to go. I was so glad that Mitch was allowed to come with to the appointment part of chemo day. We also pulled our little trick on Dr. Wells with the temporary tattoo. She laughed and said, “is that for me?” I’ll do anything to keep this journey fun.

Honestly, after chemo was done I felt way better than I have recently! Like I’d say I was operating at least at 75%. This was because they gave me steroids as a pre-medication to the chemo. I actually get four pre-chemo meds: first up is Ativan to help with nausea; next is everything given to make sure I have no allergic reaction. This is because taxol has high incidences of allergic reactions and it’s better to not tempt fate on that one. I get Benadryl, steroids and Pepcid. Pepcid has antihistamine qualities to it for your inquiring minds.

It was beyond amazing to feel good, but that Ativan/Benadryl combo put me right to sleep when we got home; after I ate, though. Gotta keep loving this body of mine! Then last night the steroid kept me up extra late, so I just watched a whole bunch of M*A*S*H until I fell asleep. This morning I woke up with a little nausea, but I took a Compazine and that helped. I’m trying to stay away from the Zofran today, because it can cause headaches and I did have one last night that was zero fun. But overall this taxol stuff is way way way easier than that red devil. I’m trying not to get too excited yet, because the first dose or two of the red devil wasn’t totally awful (so I’m being cautiously optimistic).

Insurance Update

This morning I was on the phone with the old insurance company, Methodist, and Nebraska Cancer Specialist (NCS) for a grand total of only an hour! I had received an explanation of benefits from the old insurance company for my port placement surgery on 2/12. It seemed odd to me what they covered and at what rate so I called and asked. They said that Methodist did not do pre-certification prior to my surgery, so I was charged a penalty due to that. Old insurance claims Methodist didn’t start the pre-certification until 2/15 and that I need to call Methodist and tell them they need to eat those costs, because it’s their fault. I called Methodist and they said they haven’t received anything from old insurance yet so that bill is still “pending” status and I have not been billed yet. I then also had to ask them to refill a claim from 4/24 to the correct insurance company, because they billed old insurance and not new insurance. Then I had to call NCS and ask the same for a claim on 4/8. Everyone was really nice about everything and fixed it, but it’s a reminder to you, my warriors, to always check all the bills/explanation of benefits prior to paying anything and to follow up on it all if it doesn’t make sense. It sucks to have to spend an hour or more at at time figuring it out, but my pocket book appreciates it.

In the meantime, warriors, please enjoy this picture of me with my in-laws and grandmother. They all came over on Tuesday to have lunch together. We had grilled salmon my uncle brought from Alaska, twice-baked potatoes from Hy-Vee, a pre-made salad mix, and a cake from Costco. Pre-cancer, I would have made everything from scratch, but cancer Julia doesn’t have that type of energy any more. But I found a way to adapt and still be able to host dinner parties, which I’ve always loved to do. It’s all about acceptance and planning ahead, my dear warriors!