HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Well it is happy; I am writing this and you are reading it, so we have something to smile about. This has been a rough couple of weeks. Going to the doctor, taking one test after another and then starting the new medication, Verzenio. It f–ks with your head, your emotions are all over the place and you feel like screaming and you do. And the best of all you cannot keep anything in you. Trust me it is fun!

I am also going to take this drug infusion in order to strengthen my bones. If you read all the side affects; you would never take it. These side affects are more frightening then the cancer pill’s side affects. But I am told by my oncologist and the doctor I use for second opinions that I need it. So I will bite the bullet, take it and cross my fingers that I am not one of the 20 percenters who experience the multiple side affects.

Verzenio comes in various milligrams; 100, 150 or 200. I am now on 150 mgs. But neither the doctor nor I know if I can tolerate this amount I am currently taking. The milligrams may have to be lowered. Time will tell. I also need to get a blood test in two weeks to make sure that it is not causing havoc with my bodily organs. We will also not know for two to three months if it is actually working to stop the cancer growth and/or diminish the cancer cells. You have to subject yourself to hell just to find out if you are going through all this for a reason. And in order to partake in this pleasure, I have to sign an Informed Consent to limit the liability of the manufacturer. What a racket!

The worst part about all this. I want to leave at the end of January. But in order to leave I have to have enough of the medication to take me through at least four months. The amount of time I intend to be traveling. I will first see if I can get a vacation override from my insurance company. Insurance companies are required to give the over ride by law, but not for such a long length of time and they will say and they are right that they need to know that the medication is working. I will then need a two month supply, because I do intend to come back after two months to get a Pet Scan. I also need to know if it is working. But here is the rub, they will then state that they only give a vacation override once every year. Now what? I am now actively trying to find where I can buy the medication out of the United States. In the U.S. the price for the medication is ridiculously expensive. Out of the country it can be a fourth of the price. But that requires time to get it shipped, once you know what milligram you are on. So my concern now is when will I be able to leave on my trip. I will either be going in the beginning of February or March. But going I am!

So Happy Holidays!! Go out and enjoy the season! Smile. Laugh and love life! Even though things may not be as I want them to be at the moment, I will still make plans, I will still be positive and I still believe I shall survive another day. Perception is ninety percent of reality.

Life is not merely surviving!!!!