Check Up On Monday

We are back from our Hawaii trip and what a shock to the system! It's much nicer to wake up to birds singing and palm trees rustling in the breeze versus snow plows barreling down your road. But as always its good to back to your own bed.

I have a check up on Monday with Dr. Yen. It has been 3 weeks since I have had to see a doctor and it has been nice. It has been over a year since I was diagnosed and I have been in a doctor's office somewhere every week since then. It's been a nice break. According to Yen I have to wait for about 4 months or so before my final surgery's begin so I will probably just wait until next fall so that I can enjoy the summer and the water without restrictions.

My oncology check up on the 8th of February went well. All of my blood work was good and apparently my chest x-ray came back ok because they haven't called me to tell me otherwise. I told them that if there was something there NOT to call me in Hawaii. No reason to spoil an otherwise great vacation.

Mol was able to get her class requirements completed ahead of time so she joined us for about 5 days in Kauai. This was her first time flying alone and she did a great job. I must admit that I was sure she would end up in China or somewhere else, but she did fine. Not only on the way over, but we were on different flights on the way back and we were about 2 hours into our flight when the pilot announced we were turning around and being diverted to Honolulu due to mechanical problems and when we finally landed there was a message from Mol that her flight never left Kauai because of mechanical problems and she was being taken to a hotel by the airlines for the night! So not only did she fly alone, she stayed in a luxury hotel on Kauai alone and then flew out the next night. We finally met up at the Des Moines airport about 24 hours later than planned, but she performed well under pressure when put to the test by the airlines!

Well, the plan from here on out is to remain under surveillance by the oncologists which requires a visit to them every 3 months, continued visits to Dr Yen the plastic surgeon and every 6 month visits to Dr. Ortell. In addition to that I have to fit Dr. Haas in there as well as my primary care physician. So for at least the next 5 years or so, I will continue to spend a great deal of time with doctors. This makes them think they can catch something early if it does pop up again. So hopefully things will stay boring and there won't be much to report. I must say that my hair has grown back pretty quick and although it is curly and unruly much of the time, I still say that a bad hair day is better than a no hair day anytime.

One last note, I met a gal on Kauai who was diagnosed with breast cancer just a short time ago. She and her husband was going around to different businesses and sharing all of her medical reports and asking for donations to help her with her expenses. I asked her if they have insurance and they do, but they have about $13,000.00 in unpaid medical bills and they need money for transportation and lodging to another island for her care. Couple of scary things about her progress, she had already had a mastectomy, she had never seen an oncologist yet, she had however seen a plastic surgeon for reconstruction, she had never heard of the Susan Komen Foundation or the American Cancer Society and had seen the "pink ribbon" on things but didn't know how it came to be or why it was there, and she had just been told about the Relay for Life in the last couple of days. Needless to say I shared contact information with her and encouraged her to call these organizations for guidance. I guess my reason for sharing this story is threefold: First, I am grateful to live in an area where medical care and community education is very attainable and competent, Second, that we should never take for granted that everybody knows about organizations and foundations that can help them in a time of need and you need to take every chance you have to share information with others and never assume that someone knows something that is so "everyday" to us and third, that I am grateful that I have never had to sit on a street corner and ask every stranger passing by, "Would you donate to help my wife who has breast cancer?", while offering to share copies of her medical reports." We wondered if we would ever be humble enough to do just that and we are grateful that this has been one challenge we haven't had to meet (yet).

It is always Just 1 More Thing....