Hats!

There are people who knit and crochet hats that are given away for free to the patients at the Cancer Center. I love looking in the hat box everytime I'm there and picking out a new hat! There are also prayer shawls that people make also. Gilda's Club gives them away to members. I need to improve my crocheting skills so I can make things for people!

Cost of Care

As I sit here in the chair getting my IV drip of Cytoxan I was looking around and counting the other people here: there are 10 including me. The type of chemotherapy I'm getting consists of 3 drugs and costs over $10,000 for each treatment. The Neulasta injection that I get to boost blood cell production costs (if I read the bill correctly) over $7,000. Cancer is a serious money maker for hospitals.

Surgeon

Finally have an appointment with one of the women breast surgeons over at St. Mary's on Dec. 18. It took a while for my records to be faxed over but the nurse navigator helped get things moving along. I will be meeting with a nurse navigator at St. Mary's and also their financial aid guru. I heard he's great at finding grants and other forms of aid for people.

Back Again...

Had an appointment with my oncologist on Monday and I was supposed to have another round of chemo then. Oops! I thought I was done after 4. So I had it rescheduled to today. I need one more after this one. Apparently the ultrasound showed some improvement and six is the normal number of chemo treatments given. I was SO looking forward to having a good December with no treatments. Oh well....

This place is full of activity today! Met with the nurse navigator and the chaplain. Chatted with the patient in the next chair.

I didn't eat during treatment last time and felt nauseous right away even with the IV anti-nausea meds. I made sure to eat this time to see if that helps. I felt sick yesterday and actually threw up and turns out that's called "anticipatory vomiting". I have noticed that when I have blood drawn the smell from the tape they use makes me nauseous. Also, when my port is flushed with saline I get a metallic taste in my mouth. I have another anti-nausea drug to take along with the Compazine. It's called Zofran.