After much drama involving an initial denial of my chemotherapy pills, temozolomide, the ball is finally moving again on my next round of cancer treatment. If you watched me melting down in real-time on Twitter, I’m sorry you had to see that. But even more sorry I had to endure it. There is nothing particularly pretty about cancer or the state of healthcare in the United States.
I’m super groggy after taking a new dose of amitriptyline last night to help me sleep better and lessen my anxiety, so I’ll just briefly summarize where I’m at:
- The hospital’s specialty pharmacy will mail 28 doses of chemo to me this week
- Monday I will have a telemed appointment to go over my treatment
- Palliative care is helping me adjust my meds to handle the additional stress and anxiety I’m dealing with
- I will be doing treatment here in Urbana through Carle this time instead of in St. Louis like I did in 2017
- My mom was planning on coming Sunday before I even knew about the chemo, so I think we’ll get the house in order (well, closer to it) before Dan and I are completely exhausted by everything
- Dan still doesn’t have an approval for coverage of his meds (which we really need him to have before he starts helping me through this). Once again we are at the mercy of an insurance company that simply doesn’t give a shit.
- I’m worrying at normal intervals about getting treatment as we ride into another wave of this pandemic. (Dan and I were both vaccinated back in March; I’m more concerned about the availability of hospital beds. Last time I did chemo, I had to go to the ER and also get IV fluids.)
I’m eager to get this round of chemo behind me and reluctant to take the first dose all at the same time. I’ll update again when I have more news to share. If you have questions in the meantime, feel free to ask. Replying to comments might give me a place to channel my nervous energy. 🙂
Love you all. Get your vaccine.
