Hiyas! so we're all moved in now in TN. today i had followup & the doctors decided i am able to continue herceptin every 3 weeks. So we have now setup tons of appointments for dec & march. I'll be back for a week Dec3- 8 for tests & followups. whoo-hoo... but i got all set up too for appointments @ UT for a doc there. lates for now!

Sorry its been forever, but going ever day for radiation has taken up alot of time! today is my last one- whoo-hoo! I'm really excited becuase the treatments have really messed with my skin and have caused burns under my armpit and on my chest bone. Very painfull and only way to explain it is like getting a tatoo in your armpit... all the time...
But the other news is that we're moving back to Tn in one week. its sad but exciting at the same time becuase now I actually get to start working again! Whoo-hoo!
Other bit of news is that my herceptin that i recieve every 3 weeks was put on hold last week after getting a echo done. The echo showed that my heart function has dropped abit(14%) and that meaunt that i have to hold off on it for a month. The hope is that it regains strength in that time and I can continue. But if it doesn't then I'm done with the herceptin. The docs were quite surprised that it took this long for my body to catch up to everything they've been doing. They didn't seem too worried and said I got a lot of herceptin in and thats a good thing. Additionally the radiation played a part in the lower function, but when i asked what i could do to strenghten it that said just to keep on what i'm doing.
Well i'm off have many things to do to get ready! keep on keepin on :O)

So i tried posting this earlier but my new phone hated me at the moment and I lost a lot of it... But anyways my luck! I have to postone starting radiation this week to next wednesday as my insicion isn't healed yet. Almost but not yet and if i start radiation before its healed it can not heal right. The bit that hasn't healed is where i hadd two strings/stitches that fell out and the skin around them healed and was trying to heal over them. I had them cut about 2 weeks ago but the skin took a long time to realize hey we need to start healing! It was kinda of pussy and bloody-- funny how i like that stuff after everything... but now its not doing that stuff and just healing. The doctor felt pretty bad about having to tell me i could tell but I really rather have it heal properly and not get sick/infection again! He said it's taking its time because my system is still rebuilding after all the chemo *darn you chemo again * shakes fist* but he said its very superficial and would be better to wait one week.
 So i scheduled all the rest of myappointments for when i can start "hoping". The scheduler felt bad when i told her what happened becuase the doc tracked me down to talk to me more about it, since when he first told me i was on the table that they do the radiation on lets just say kinda of akward! I told her whats one week compared to the rest of my life healthy, she replyed- WOW most people don't have that great of an attitude. I told her I'm upset about having to wait but what can I REALLY do to change the situation?


So I have one more week of healing. Today's project was getting ready for cake class which meaunt making A TON of frosting to use tomorrow... I don't think i will like frosting after this class...
Tomorrow no plans other than class at 7pm... And the rest of the week not very much either. I'm trying to let my grandma have me drive her out friday to visit her bros/sis's in Owosso which is like an hour from us. I'm hoping it works out.

http://stories.barackobama.com/healthcare/stories/...

Katherine's health care story

Hello,
I'm a 25 years old and was diagnosed with breast cancer at 24. My insurance though my workplace did not cover cancer as it was a preventive plan, therefore it only covered 50% of cancer treatments as long as they were in network. Not to mention my workplace had changed my plan 3 times in 6 months in order to cut their expenses on the cost of healthcare for employees, this meant my co pays were 50$ a visit no matter what. Additionally because of the constant changing the benefits the plans provided changed constantly. Since my age and the type of cancer/size was very concerning to me, I sought help at one of the best hospitals I would be accepted to. I tried several and was rejected due to my insurance. However after I was accepted I checked with the insurance company to ensure it was "in-network". It was so I sought medical care at the hospital. But unfortunately after I received my first bill the hospital was no longer in network! I called and the company had let the contracts lapse, leaving me with having to cover 70-100% of the bills not to mention battle cancer at the same time! I was able to get on my parents insurance just before my 25th birthday which is the cutoff date for using the insurance. I now pay 580.00$ monthly through COBRA because

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I found it again..plus some people emails them. Vote that people should hear it!

Hi Y'all!
Today i went to my first appt for radiation. They positioned my body just like they would in a normal appt and took a ct scan to decide on the position of the beams. I appear to have been picked in the study as part of the group that gets to hold their breath for 25 seconds and during which the radiation beams are shot.It repeats till the amount of time the doctor likes is met but at 25 second intervals. So i'm excited that's the one i really wanted as its trying to see if holding the breath decreases the chance of heart damage from the radiation. They hooked me up to a machine that looks kinda of like a scuba breathing tube so i feel pretty at home with all the swimming experince i've had. They scanned me holding my breath and then that was all. The whole process took an hour! It didn't seem like it but it did. I also met with the nurse and study coordinator. Tomorrow I have a lung test and pulamary test to get a baseline for the future to see if the radiation does do any harm. I figured i'd be in this bunch as I will have to have follow up care for the rest of my life and this gives them a chance to watch me for along time compared to most patients. This also means that for The next few years my only vacation will be to doctors visits to MI from TN just about every 3 months, so on that note lew and I decided to hit up mackinaw next week since who knows when we'll be able to vaca again.
So I have another heart test and then we're off! I offically start the radiation on the 15th. Well I' m out for now.

So I've been bummin this week just because I can't golf or swim and tons of others i'm not supposed to do and then I have a great day like today!
One- I heard from my study coordinator and she gave me a bunch of dates of my next tests and it looks like lew and I will be able to take a mini vacation! Whoo-hoo! We figured to have fun since it appears it's gonna be a looooonnnnggg time before we get another.
Two- we went shopping and decided to swing by Kmart and everything I seriuosly mean everything appeared to be on clearance or on sale plus i had coupons for tons of stuff! We even found a wireless guitar with aerosmith game for guitarhero for a whole 23$!!! normally 100! It was wonderful as we like to play it gets boring waiting for eachother.. plus didn't realize it was wireless till we got it home! It's just fun seeing sales!
Three- I realized thurs is 4 weeks of being cancer free and also means in two weeks i get to start radiation and glow green  j/k!
Four- Finally heard from the insurance of the lady who caused 1800$ worth of damage to my baby and they are gonna pay us back!! this one really made my day! They are going to pay our deductible and repay the insurance for what they covered! It's the best news i think! the accident happened June 4th and Thank goodness no one got hurt. It was while lew was in Walmart on day.

 

Its really funny how days can be bad and then a wonderful one comes along to make it not so bad!!


 

Sup?
So I haven't posted in awhile been kinda of enjoying my freedom from doctors and appointments! i've had a couple the last few weeks and they can take all day. I'm working my way after surgery to lifting weights again.. Just I have start at the beginnning again like i was 6months ago.. 
Anywho I go in for setting up the radiation on the 1st, learning how to lay, getting a scan done so they can map out where the beams go, and tattooed- just a dot nothin fancy tear!Then 2 weeks later I actually start the 6 weeks of daily treatments. In between the wait time I have to have some more tests as I'm part of a study dunno yet if I'm in the control or the experiment till around the 10th. But I wanted to start sooner but I couldn't... so moving back just has to wait a lil longer. 
The garage sale went super made enough to make a payment towards one of the bills. Which was more than I could do before. 
I posted a story on obama's website so vote for it so that it get heard. Laters...

Hello,
well I'm stil sore and still have a drain in. I'll have the drain in until it drains 30ml for 2 days in a row... yesterday was 35 so far looks good today so hoping to get it out on thursday because its a pain in the butt!! Not to mention I'm terrified it might pull out. But anywho I was relaxing doing crafts and thinking about how i could exercise my shoulder more cause super sore and can't lift it very far- effect of the surgery/drain. When my phone rang it was my surgeron with the results! The margins are clear and all the lymph nodes tested negative. Whoo-hoo so we set up my next meeting with her to go over the next step of recovery! I'm sooo happy i don't have to go back for a second surgery!! Well off to rest some more and eat panacakes!Laters!



UPdate on 6/9/09:
I got the drain out today- it was exciting till i realized they just cut the stitch and pull... yea it hurt for a min. But felt so much better not to have it!

I'm not sure how i'll be feelin afterwards and dunno when i get on to post how it went... but as soon as the meds from the surgery wear off I'm sure to be online as there isn't too much that i'll be able to do the days after atleast no golfing or marathons... not that i could do marathons before... LOL... ahh anywho the visit today i got the results of my last mugga/heart scan, eveything was "perfect"- whoo-hoo! I just asked a few questions about how things would be now that I'm only doing herceptin and that it's just kinda of a waterlog feeling.. like too much water in the tummy. I showed her my nails and she said sorry but that it shows the chemo truely did its job and to not swim in any lakes or rivers :O) Not that I'll be doing much swimming for the next week due to surgery she pointed out :O) But the great news was that I may be able to do my herceptin down in TN some times since I have to get it every 3 weeks and then just go to Ann Arbor every 6 months for a checkup. If it works out it'll be huge savings on the pocketbook and time. But I won't start looking into it till after surgery and know for sure when i can line that all up. So that was the fun news :O)
Off to nap... being up since 430am makes a long day plus its my cuz's confirmation party tonight, So I'm sleepy and waterlogged- best to sleep some it off for a bit :O)
laters gators!

Hello,
Not much going on here- we did a garage sale this weekend and we were able to sell alot and raise some money to pay some bills. Feels nice to be able to do. But other than that just been gearing up for the surgery on thursday. So far my first part is at 745, second 845, then the actual suregery around 10ish... hopefully. The first and second part is wire placements to create a goal post type thing so the surgeron knows where to cover. Its only 2 cm that seprates the wires, but their super important.  my boss in Tn and I both argee I shall be having one of pep/work talks with the surgeron beforehand so I know and she knows she will be getting it all on the first try because from greeneville we are number 1!! 

Additional news is on the 20th- june 20th I'm going to do another garage sale at my grandmas in the Flint area- she lives in a neighborhood that does a big sale. Soooo if anyone in the area has items they would like to donate to me so that I could use the proceeds to pay some of the lovely medical bills it would wonderful!! So if theres a plant your sick of or some plates or toys that you really don't use or have the room for please send it my way   or if you would like to come out and shop I can send ya the details. This will be going towards some of the bills that are coming in. even if its something that will get $.10 it will help out so much its hard to explain!
Well I'm off to get much needed sleep as I've been busy trying to sell my butt off laters gators and tell your friends.