Monday, March 22, 2010

Feeling a Bit Better, Just in Time for Treatment #2

Mom has had an uptick of energy the past two days. She's feeling a bit better, just in time for treatment #2 on Friday. We sat down yesterday and walked through all of the side effects that she has had in the past two weeks. I wanted to have this list when we talked to the doctor on Friday morning (before her treatment). It is a pretty long list, but thankfully, it was nothing that couldn't be dealt with with the nausea medication or the pain medication. The roughest 2 side effects are the body pain (especially in her legs) and the fatigue. I'm not sure if the leg pain was from her neulasta shot or if it is a regular side effect. I'll ask the doctor about that. She also had pains in her head, like someone was pulling her hair, which is the signal that the chemotherapy is going at the new cells (or hair growth).

The most visual side effect is starting this week-hair thinning/hair loss. Mom has noticed today, where she didn't notice it before. She went to lunch with 2 girlfriends today and they didn't notice anything different. But, now mom will be self-conscious. I told her to start wearing the cute hats that we bought last week at Elegant Essentials. She had some training on how to tie a scarf, but I don't think that she remembered how. She looks cute in the hats, so I think that she will lean towards that.

I wanted to give an update on her battle with her insurance company for her stomach medicine, protonix. After spending most of Friday on the phone with the insurance company, she finally got word from them that she can have the stomach medicine (at the higher rate, of course) until September. She was given a reference number to use if she gets another letter next month from the insurance company that the drug won't be covered. Oh, the joys of insurance.

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