The one thing no one really tells you when you get the “C” word is that it becomes all most like a second job. The number of appointments, labs, imaging, reports, consults, etc becomes overwhelming quickly as I have already stated in prior posts. I had my post op follow up appointment two days ago and I felt like a student waiting at the front door for my mother to pick me up, and I was hoping for an A+ today. I had the normal essentials…cell phone, license, insurance card, but I also had this heavy binder. This binder has become likely the most helpful, yet most burdening item I possess right now. Ever wonder what your life looks like suddenly jammed in a binder? I’ll show you.
This book contains all of the information on my medical history, my entire care provider team, every image, blood test, genetic panel and pathology reports, dietary guidelines, tips for the upcoming treatments, support services, and a variety of other informational data. I lug this along to every appointment so I can file away the next relevant document. It gets more chaotic and thicker by the week. I hope this volume of my life is able to be shelved at some point as only a small part of my series.
On a positive note, from a post-surgical perspective, I did receive the A+ from my surgeon. Although the physical exam was just minutes, the time she took with me to talk over my future path and lingering fears was far more valuable. My surgeon was Dr. Paramjeet Kaur. She was on a temporary basis with UPMC Pinnacle while they sourced a replacement for their retired surgeon. Unfortunately, the slot has now been filled, and she will be returning to the West Chester area. I wanted to hug her. For her, this may have been a routine procedure, but for me, she saved my life.
For those going through the lumpectomy process, you will be happy to know that this procedure was far less painful than I had planned for. At eight days post-surgery, I have pretty much returned to all normal activities with some continued limitations on heavy lifting for a few more weeks. I stopped over the counter pain meds around day four. My bruising is almost completely gone. My steri strips are still hanging on, but the edges are curling, and I hope to see them fall off in the next few days. I have roughly 97% range of motion back in my arm from the lymph node incision. If I overdo it, it will remind me. We still have another waiting stretch yet. This time for the oncotype DX score. If you are not familiar with what that is or when/why it is done, you can find all the details at the Susan G Komen website. This will take a few weeks to return. I am preparing for both my oncology and radiation consults in two weeks.
During my surgical recovery, I had a lot of time to continue researching on general health and factors that contribute to “C” and it’s possibility of recurrence and all of the various treatments available. One thing I have learned is that this journey is expensive. I can’t even begin to explain how quickly the bills arrive. For every procedure I have in a hospital, I have a bill from the hospital itself, and then one from an external company that was involved. In the beginning, I tried paying them as they came in to be a responsible adult, but then they come so quickly that it’s almost better to wait and let the insurance payments settle out. Tracking your deductibles and out of pocket max is hard when the claims come in out of sequence and vary in processing times. It’s ok to hold off. They can’t force you to pay them immediately. I really feel for patients who don’t have the financial means to get the right treatment. The fight is long and hard to get to a place where people don’t have to choose between their families and their lives. In my case, I was assigned a case manager from my insurance company. I guess they pick up on a sudden increase of usage of benefits, but I was happy for their proactive reach out to see if they could help me secure the services I needed. Advocate for yourself to find the resources available to you!
Now let’s talk about the cost of “clean and healthy”. I have been analyzing every product I consume, whether it’s food, beauty products, cleaning supplies, or paper products. It blows my mind how using more sustainable products with LESS ingredients costs MORE money. I hope as the world becomes more educated, and we see this continued increase in illness that this tide shifts a bit. In my next posts, I’ll provide some updates to my protocol and products that I recommend as I continued to stabilize my new “norm” of self care.
Until then, I have the new season of “You” to begin binging now on this rainy weekend.
Leave a Reply