Chemo Lite

After a week and a half of waiting, I am finally approved for my new medication protocol.

I always choose not to read about the drugs I am being given, because I don't want to imagine myself experiencing side effects.

I let Dave read all about the medications, and then I ask him if something I am experiencing is listed as a potential side effect.

We did this all through a year and a half of IV chemo treatments, and it worked for us.  Maybe I was not sick from chemo because I didn't expect to be.

As a result, I have not read about the new medication I will be taking, and so I did not realize previously that it IS a chemo protocol.

i thought it was just a different way of blocking the hormones that stimulate the cancer cells.

I found that out the other day during a rally of phone calls that I had to make to get everything set up so that I could be approved.

Dave calls is chemo lite, so I will go with that.  He did read that alopecia (hair loss) is NOT one of the potential side effects.

Be that as it may, I still experienced a wave of intense anxiety upon realization that I AM, indeed, going back into chemotherapy.

The oral med should arrive at my home on Tuesday, and I get my first injection on Thursday.

Please send all of your good thoughts my way so that I can stay healthy and strong as I have all along.

The process of getting the oral medication was quite involved.  The doc said that it's new, which may be why the process was so crazy, and it is apparently VERY expensive.

I had to spend an hour on the phone with the specialty pharmacy branch of CVS (CVS is who our insurance requires us to use).

The rep who was getting me set up said that the co-pay amount shocked her, and she refused to tell me what it was, since I do not currently have to pay it.

Our deductible and out of pocket were met in January of this year, thanks to the extreme expense of my chemo treatments at the beginning of the year.

This "shocking" co-pay in my future has me VERY worried about January when we go back to $0 paid on our deductible, out of pocket, and co-pays.

I may have to do another fund raiser in order to be able to pay for my medication next year.

Great.

This is not helping my anxiety.

In other news, the Cubs did not lose their first game in the National League Championship Series.  They have, in that sense, made it further now than they did last year, when they were swept by their opponents.

We were at a little bar last night for a watch party for the game.  We were the oldest people there, and also the loudest.  It was fun.

We sat outside, and it was breezy and in the upper 70s under a bright Hunter's Moon.

The weather has been un-seasonably hot, and will be again today.

We were putting up Halloween decorations yesterday in 90 degree weather.  Ick.

We're heading out for a little walk in the only nature preserve in town.  Then, later, I have a couple of cooking projects.

Time to get going on the day.....