Yesterday was my fourth chemo round. I have three weeks between chemo treatments, where I spend the first two weeks recovering and spend the last week feeling somewhat normal and getting my momentum back. But this time, I don't feel like I got my third week back. I feel like I wasn't even done with my second week when it was time for another round. Like a punch in the stomach.
Thursday started off smooth enough. I went to my appointment and saw Dr. S. He is such a sweet old man, and kept telling me what a trooper I am and how well I'm tolerating the treatment, even if I am starting to feel sluggish and run down. Before I left his office, I was stopped by the financial lady, who informed me that my bills have now accumulated to over $12,000. Apparently, my insurance is not covering as much of the chemo and infusion treatments as we'd hoped, so the office wants to put me on some sort of payment plan, after they inspect my income and bank statements. Ugh
I went down for chemo, which was delayed since it wasn't mixed or ready when I got there. Mom and Jeremy were with me this time, so it went by pretty quickly and I didn't get too stressed out. Five hours later, I was starving and needed something high in protein and low in carbs. So we found an all you can eat BBQ place in McKinney and I went to town on their meats! I had servings of brisket, sausage, chicken and ribs n topped it all off with some peach cobbler! I left their totally full and somewhat bloated. Whoot. By the time I got back to my cousin's house, they had already gone to bed, so Jeremy and I came in, settled in, and actually went to bed kind of early.
The next day we went back to the hospital for my booster shot. I think this is where the day started to go downhill. I waited over an hour for one of the nurses to call me back - just for a shot. Then my sugar began to rise, so I had to take extra insulin and snack on some jerky - even though I really wanted a doughnut. Then, on the way out of the hospital, I got a call from Dr. L.'s office, who told me that their office also got in a new bill for my account. She told me they had officially set up my payment plan (that was supposed to be done weeks ago), and my first $100 payment is due June 25th. Then she informed me that since they have new charges on my account, that they would need to increase my monthly payment to $197 a month. After I told her she was crazy to think I had that kind of money, and although she was nice about it, she pretty much blew it off. So I have 5 doctor appointments coming up in 6 weeks, and now I have to come up with the $100 to send into her office.
To top off the already bad day, the interstate home was deadlocked. After a few miles, and lots of bickering between Jeremy and I, we took a detour through some back-roads. It took a little longer to get home, but at least the roads were clear and we got home.
I've spent the last two days laying on my couch, wanting to eat, but not wanting to feel sick; wanting to sleep but not tired enough for that. I feel like I'll never get anything done. Except worry - I get to worry abut money. I could cancel appointments, but which ones? I could change doctors/hospitals, but it my be too late. I get to spend the whole day worrying how I'm going to afford being sick - how can I afford to continue to fight cancer?
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