So LadyBug visited Dr. Chemo today. He says she will have six treatments, spread out three weeks apart, for a total of 18 weeks. This throws my original information off a bit. She will not be done with treatments until mid-May at the very earliest. As soon as she is done with chemo, she will begin radiation treatments, which will last for five weeks. This means LadyBug will be continuing this well into June. After this is all done, she will finish up reconstruction. We are looking at the possibility that she may not be done with everything until this time of year 2011, or later into 2012.
In the mean time, although she is recovering nicely, she is still not ready to go back to work. I definitely do not want her rushing into it and ending up worse, so we will wait until the doctor clears her and she feels ready. We are not sure how we are going to manage on a single income until this happens, though. The bill collectors sure aren't worried about this. We had someone call from the anesthesiologist's office yesterday asking us to start paying on their bill. LadyBug informed them that she hasn't even been back to work yet. They made a note of that, thankfully, so maybe we will get a grace period before they really get anxious.
Most of the costs are being paid by my insurance, which I cannot complain about too much, since it is taken care of, but I am still upset, because my coverage has gone down while my costs have gone up. Several years ago, my insurance would have made it so we only paid a small amount. Makes me wish we had gotten the cancer insurance. The costs at the time seemed ridiculous, but one teacher was able to have them remove most of the useless stuff, making his costs much easier to manage. Oh well, live and learn.
To answer one question, yes, LadyBug will be losing her hair. We don't know exactly what other side-effects she may suffer, since some of those vary by individual, but we have a whole folder full of literature about this that Dr. Chemo gave us. Knowledge is power, so I will be doing some reading soon.
On a completely unrelated note, I have been experimenting with almost every meal I have cooked lately. I am trying to avoid all the bad stuff that can kill me. The other stuff is boring though, and I'd rather die young than live bored, so I try new things all the time. Tonight I made a sort of Stir-Fry (using Olive Oil for healthier cooking). It was almost exclusively vegetarian, except for the egg I added at the last minute.
I used about a teaspoon or two of "Chinese Extra Hot Mustard" which sounded exciting, except that I've tasted hotter mustard on Pretzels! I also added Srirachi sauce, ginger, and curry. The resulting dish, served on brown rice, that being the healthier choice, was a little spicy. A little. Very little. I've made spicier spaghetti (no, really). It had a nice flavor, though. Not the best stuff I've ever had, but better than some food I've had in restaurants. What I really need is to get my sister Delirious to send me some ideas (okay, ANY of my siblings that have tasty, yet healthy meal ideas!). I am convinced I can make this healthier diet work, but only IF I don't end up wanting to baste our DOG with butter and garlic sauce!!!
3 comments:
I would buy some apples/ or other fruit, to eat to fill up those hunger pangs. :) I can't remember, are you supposed to eat low salt too? If not, pretzels are a good low fat snack that will fill the empties. :)
Call me. I can help with the low fat stuff. Olive oil is a good start Smith's has an extra spicy Mrs. Dash substitute that really adds some good flavor. If you don't have a salt restriction, your basic salsa is a good way to add flavor that is low in fat. Cheese is a big fat supplier that you need to avoid, but Parmesan is better than other types if you have to go that way.
Try doing a green smoothie! Works for me. Fast, Easy, Nutritious, Filling, and my two-year-old will eat it. Can't hurt might help! Oh and BBQ fish with a little garlic and lemon.
Post a Comment