We've had a quiet few days. On Friday we visited my brother Boyd and his wife Yvonne. We planned to call out for pizza, but Barbara wanted to bring the leftovers from our Christmas dinner. So we had two extreme opposite culinary delights: pizza and bastilla. I have to admit that I would give up pizza if I could have bastilla when I wanted. But, alas, I will have to settle for pizza except on special occasions. We all watched the movie "The Birdcage", and found it hilarious.
When we first arrived, Barbara was hit by one of her pain attacks. It can be frightening to watch. Boyd and Yvonne saw first hand the routine from initial onset of the pain, through the easing of pain after the medicine has taken effect. Luckily, we brought Barbara's heating pad, which she holds against her side for some relief. Seeing me apply pressure with my hands, Yvonne fetched a firm pillow, which is intended for lumbar support. It worked nicely: Barbara placed it between her and the sofa arm to create a distributed pressure. Yvonne insisted that Barbara keep the pillow - what an angel.
On Monday we went to Norris. Barbara delivered more of the gifts to Norris workers who were on vacation last Wednesday. She met Dr. Lenz in the hallway, and they agreed to skip the office visit that day; there is nothing new to discuss, and Taline is on vacation, leaving Lenz shorthanded. The important office visit will be in two weeks, when Lenz will have the results of the cat scan scheduled for next Monday.
During chemo, we remembered that we had not asked Lenz for a new prescription for Oxycontin. He had already finished his clinic hours, but a nurse offered to take me to his private office. I feared that he would be angry at my invading his inner sanctum, so I approached him speaking German. It seemed to work, and he wrote the prescription with only mild chiding. He did remind me that I was "still in the dog house" for wearing a T-shirt last month saying "Biggest Upset Ever", in reference to my alma mater, Stanford, beating USC in football this year.
Back at home after chemo, Barbara started feeling rotten. This often happens on chemo day. She had a bad headache, which was helped by Tylenol. She also had her side pain, which spreads forward to her abdomen and backward to her back. For the pain, she takes Fentora. I find it interesting that Fentora, a high strength opiate, doesn't do anything for her headaches. Instead, Tylenol, available without prescription, works quite well. Barbara explains that some drugs cannot cross the "blood-brain" barrier. Makes sense to me.
Today, New Year's Day, we watched the Rose Parade, and the Rose Bowl game. Barbara had only minimal pain, and did not need the Fentora. She still takes Oxycontin twice a day - she tried to back off the Oxycontin several months ago and paid the price, with serious pain. The Pain Management people urge her to take the Oxycontin regularly, and the Fentora for breakthrough pain.
Tomorrow, things return to normal after the holidays. I go back to work, and Barbara will unfortunately go back to fighting our Blue Cross insurance.
We stayed at home most of the week. Barbara has spent many hours compiling her complaints about Blue Cross in preparation for submission to the State Board of Managed Health Care. She is limiting the complaints to the difficulties with Avastin, since that is the most expensive denial from Blue Cross. Unfortunately, the paperwork in voluminous: for example, one treatment resulted in eight separate notices from the insurance, first denying, then approving, then denying, then denying the appeal, etc. The work is exhausting for Barbara - it's horrible that she must devote so much of her meager energy to these wrongful denials.
We got lots of rain in the last week. We love to sit in the warmth of our home and watch the rain splatter in the swimming pool outside. At night we listen to the rain hitting the roof, and fall asleep to its soothing sound.
Yesterday, we went to Norris for another cat scan. Barbara was feeling punk before we left home, and it just got worse. After the cat scan, we delivered some of the remaining Christmas presents. We both got very tired, and we got into a spat. I decided that it was time to limit our losses and head for home. It was the right decision; at home we were able to rehash the misunderstanding and clear up the problem. Today things are a lot better.
Almost every day in the last week, Barbara has had intense pain. It usually starts just after she has something to eat in the morning. The pain is so overwhelming that the Fentora takes longer for some relief, and some residual pain lasts. She is almost always holding her side. We see Pain Management in two weeks, and we need to explore our options. She shouldn't have to go through this pain.
Barbara and I spent the weekend on Catalina Island. Every year at this time, I support the Avalon Benefit 50 Mile Run, a running race from Avalon to the Isthmus and back. I do the computer stuff, keeping track of the runners using reports carried by ham radio from the checkpoints. Then I publish the results and send them to UltraRunning magazine and the web mistress for the Avalon 50 website, and posting them to my website here.
Barbara and I both ran the race in earlier years: five times for Barbara, the most recent being in 2004 just before her second surgery. She loves going to the race and seeing all of our running buddies. It's a yearly reunion. This year, one of our buddies, Tom O'Hara, captured an image (click here) from the Catalina webcam. It shows Barbara throwing away trash as she keeps the finish line neat and tidy. My head is barely visible looking out the door of the "Burro" trailer, where I have my computer. On a runner's blog, I found another photo showing Barbara at the finish line.
Barbara was afraid that she might have a pain attack while in public on the boat. Indeed, she had an attack as we were waiting to board the boat, but we got it under control with Fentora before we boarded the boat. Later on Friday she had two more attacks. I can't remember her having this many attacks in one day. We thought that we might run out of Fentora, which would have been disastrous - they probably don't have such special medicines on the island. Luckily, she had no pain on Saturday (race day) or on Sunday as we sailed home.
Today was our usual day at Norris. Dr. Lenz reported that the cat scan shows nothing new. He reflected that there has been no clear-cut positive finding of cancer in any cat scan since her surgery (there are always lots of blemishes, which are passed off as possible cysts, warranting continued concern). So, Lenz feels that we are reaching a crossover point where the benefits from the chemo may soon be overshadowed by the negative effects on Barbara's body. He points out that he is more aggressive than most oncologists: most of them would have only given Barbara 4 cycles of chemo after her last surgery. He has given Barbara 32 cycles. After some discussion, we all agreed to discontinue the Gemzar, but to continue the Avastin and Xeloda. Since the Avastin takes only 10 minutes to infuse, we were out of Norris before noon. This also means that Barbara will have fewer after-effects from the chemo - we think that most of the sick feeling after chemo came from the Gemzar.
After leaving Norris, we had an Anniversary brunch at Foxy's restaurant. Today is our 19th anniversary! It was wonderful for Barbara to be feeling so good. She is sleeping right now, but that's because she hasn't been getting enough sleep lately, what with compiling insurance problems for submission to the state regulatory agency.
On Friday, Barbara and I set out for Arizona in the motorhome. We wanted to be there for Sandra when she was released. We took it easy, staying overnight in Blythe to break it into two smaller days of driving (200 miles each day).
We were outside waiting for two hours. Then, just before her release, her husband, Michael, arrived unexpectedly. When Sandra came out there was joyous celebration. Click here for a few photos. We swept her into the motorhome and went straight to Wal-Mart to get her some things. Unfortunately, we were unable to have a quiet little reunion, since Michael was with us the entire time. Barbara was disappointed not to be able to have a long talk with her daughter. We wish that he had been this attentive during the last six months.
We took her home, and picked up a few of her things. We brought her computer home with us, as she is not allowed to have a computer in her home now. We also got a couple of Jaedon's toys that he has missed (specifically, his bug maker). We will see that he gets the toys soon.
We left with a feeling of great emptiness. We both wanted to hold her and comfort her, and we didn't get to do enough of that. Later, we agreed that we should have stayed another night or two - hindsight...
On the way home, Barbara had several bouts of pain and some nausea. Each time we stopped for a while to rest. The ride in the motorhome is rougher than in a car, and the bumps and vibration aggravate Barbara's side and back.
We wish that we could go right back, but it's hard on Barbara. I may go back alone in a week or two. We want to reassure her that we love her and want her to have a wonderful future.
Today Sandra called and let us know that Michael refuses to buy any food. He says that if she wants to eat, she must get money from us (Barbara and me). He hasn't worked for more than six months now. Sandra is surviving on popcorn and Top Ramen, the only food in the house. She says that the situation is worse than what she endured for the last six months. Michael insists on being with her every moment, and doesn't want her to contact any of her friends. Now I understand why he surprised us with his presence on Sunday. We are sick with sadness that she must go through this ordeal.
I drove back to Arizona on Thursday to help Sandra. The trip last week was hard on Barbara, and she decided to stay at home instead of go with me. Sandra was naturally very happy to see me. I fed her, consoled her, and helped her take care of several tasks, including a visit to the health department and welfare agency to set up free health care. We also paid the court clerk a visit.
It was my first chance to spend some time with her in many months, and we made the most of it. We even played Sudoku against each other and against Barbara who was on the phone for the competition. Sandra seemed more relaxed when I left - click for photo. I have hopes that things will be better 'real soon now.
On Friday, Barbara went to see Pain Management. They feel that she is waiting too long to take the Fentora, and then it takes a while to overcome the rampant pain. She has always wanted to wait, in hopes that the pain will subside without taking the Fentora. She wants to avoid the side effects, including tiredness and constipation.
At the end of the session, Dr Nemat mentioned that his feet were hurting while running, especially during races. Barbara joked, "Who's the doctor here?" She urged him to go back to our podiatrist wizard Dr Dan Altchuler. Dr. Nemat has seen Dr Dan before, and the stretching he recommended helped immensely. Barbara thinks that a return visit is in order.
Monday was a normal day at Norris. Taline couldn't believe all of the stressful situations in Barbara's life. "Welcome to Barbara's world." We had a pleasant chat with our favorite volunteer, Judy, who, like Barbara, is very active in cycling, running, and being with her grandchildren. Judy has fallen from her bike almost as often as Barbara has, and the two have compared "war wounds", raising lots of eyebrows in the day hospital.
Barbara is continuing on a reduced chemo schedule with Avastin and Xeloda (no Gemzar). Since Avastin takes only ten minutes, the bulk of the time at Norris is spent waiting for the lab results before getting the Avastin. On the way home we stopped at Trader Joe's, but Barbara felt tired and we hurried home. She slept much of the afternoon. Today she still feels tired. She had two bouts of bad pain this morning. It took a while to get the pain under control.
I forgot to mention that Barbara's CA19-9 level was 58 two weeks ago. Not much change from the last measurement of 61.
News from Arizona: Sandra has regained her independence. We're happy because she can now focus on improving her life. And now she can get food to eat.
We suffered a blow from the City of Glendale. Barbara wanted to enclose the patio outside the lanai where she spends most of her time. Combining the lanai and the enclosed patio would have provided one large room, with plenty of space for the grandkids to play, and for us to entertain guests. Included in the plans was a bathroom close to Barbara's hospital bed. The city required measurements of every room in the house, including the garage. We assumed that they wanted to make sure that we conformed to limits on percentage of the lot that is covered by the dwelling (we have a big lot, and we didn't anticipate any problem). We were surprised when the city rejected our permit, stating that our garage was substandard. It is 16 feet wide, whereas the current code requires 19 feet width. How does the size of a garage built in 1936 affect the patio on the other side of the house? Well, apparently they feel that any increase in our square footage means that we will be housing more people in the house, and we will need a bigger garage. To go forward with the plans, we would need a zoning variance, which includes hearings with all of the neighbors notified, and will cost between $2000 and $3000 and take at least a year. Even then, there is a low probability that the variance will be granted. The time delay, by itself, makes the project ill advised, given Barbara's condition. We have reluctantly decided to give in to City Hall.
We had the first-ever graffiti show up in our neighborhood. It was a painted design on the sidewalk and was repeated up and down our street and another adjacent street. I thought that it was Chinese or Japanese character, and I emailed a photo of the design to my co-workers Xiuqin, Loi, and Yi (all Chinese) and to our friend Junie (Japanese). Nobody recognized the character. The police arrived and pointed out that I was looking at it upside down - it was merely stylized initials. The police said that the initials don't correspond to any known gang. They think that a lone "tagger", or a wannabe, did the mischief. The city will clean it up. It's disappointing to us that someone would mark up our quiet neighborhood.
On Saturday, Barbara and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. We probably walked a mile, and Barbara did quite well. She never complained, even though I know that she must have been tired at the end. She keeps talking about walking another marathon, but she admits that the LA Marathon it too soon (less than a month away).
Barbara is experiencing more frequent episodes of pain, and the pain seems to be getting worse. On Sunday we watched the Super Bowl at my brother's. Barbara had cooked fajitas and salad, etc. and we brought it with us. But, by the time we got there, she was in pain and had to remain sitting with her electric heating pad against her side and back. Yvonne graciously took over and heated the food and served us. It took some time before the Fentora did its job, and only then after she took a second dose. Still, we all enjoyed the game (and the commercials). It's nice to get out of the house and feel normal again.
February 3 was the five-year anniversary of Barbara's first surgery. Wow! We've been fortunate.
Barbara's CA19-9 was 62 on Jan 28. Again, no significant change.
It's been a quiet week. Barbara's pain is occurring less often. In fact, she did not need any extra pain meds like Fentora for three days, until this morning when she had a short episode of pain.
Friday evening we had dinner at Michelle's. Jessie surprised us with some engrossing conversation. Her class is having debates, and she chose "euthanasia" for her topic. We had a wonderful time talking about the pros and cons of the issue. We also talked about other topics on her teacher's list; including school prayer, abortion, and American flag desecration. We sure don't remember discussing cutting edge topics when we were in eighth grade.
On Saturday we went to Kanan's basketball game. We always enjoy watching him. Here he is (less a few teeth), awaiting instructions. from the coach, playing guard, and just playing.
Our yard is a mess. The retaining wall which holds the swimming pool in place was cracking. The breach was caused by a Bird of Paradise plant, which was planted in 1960. Although the plant was periodically cut back, its roots had grown without being noticed, and the roots were pushing the wall over. So we hired a contractor to replace the wall with a more substantial one. The old wall comes out and the new concrete goes in from a pumping truck in the street. Hopefully, it will be completed in a few days.
We are planning a short getaway in the motorhome (Sherri will enjoy house sitting). It will be nice to have a change of pace.
Soon after I wrote the last report, Barbara took a turn for the worse. For two days she had multiple bad pain attacks. Each time it took drugs and painful waiting for relief. Since then she has had a pain episode every day, but her spirit remains up.
We had a great phone conversation with grandson Jaedon in Colorado. He is so talkative, and he doesn't want to end the call. With me, he discussed astronomy and told me all about the planets and Jupiter's red spot. He is upset that Pluto has been declared a non-planet. "It's not fair to kick Pluto out of the family." I let him know that plenty of others feel the same. He is so bright for a first grader.
Conrad came by with Jessie and Kanan for a visit. Barbara hasn't seen him for a while. Jessie brought her queue cards for her debate speech on euthanasia, and she gave us the speech. It was a good speech and quite persuasive.
We've invited Lexi to come with us to the bicycle rally in Paso Robles in May. Michelle, Brent, Jessie, and Kanan will be there in their motorhome and Lexi would sleep in our motorhome. It would be fun to have the grandkids together. We're hoping that she can come.
Michelle and Brent ran a 50K trail run near Oakland. This is the first long race for Michelle since she had a lingering illness. She is ecstatic to be able to do significant events again.
We have been in the motorhome at the beach for several days. We've had an enjoyable time. It's rained several times, but we love to sit in the motorhome and hear the rain hit the roof. The skies cleared long enough for one great sunset, and last night we were able to watch the eclipse of the moon.
The first night at the beach Sherri came by and shared dinner with us. We had take-out from the Claim Jumper restaurant, which we love. Each night we have played Sudoku with Sandra via telephone. She's feeling pretty lonely, and we enjoy sharing the time with her. I will be driving to Arizona next week to be with her.
We received news that another person close to Barbara had been diagnosed with cancer. Barbara is very concerned. More on this later.
Tomorrow we head back home. In the evening we will be attending Kanan's talent show. He wants to surprise us with his part in the show, so we are eager to see what he is up to.
Barbara's brother Tommy has been diagnosed with bladder cancer. He has already had a biopsy confirming the diagnosis. He will be having surgery shortly. Hopefully they can remove the cancer without taking the entire bladder. The news hit us hard. We love Tommy and we are hoping for the best.
We saw Kanan's talent show. His class put on a skit where the students were walking to school. Kanan's part was to become so engrossed in a book that he almost got left behind. He did a great job, as one might expect - he is such a "ham".
Barbara gets some pain relief with heat. Last week, she wanted to cook a meal, but still wanted her heating pad. Here she is, tethered to the wall outlet.
Last week I drove to Arizona to visit Sandra. She has done a nice job decorating her new place: notice the nice area rug which was a gift from Barbara. Here we are grabbing a bite to eat. She does not yet have a car, and we ran a lot of errands. I got her some new running shoes since she has started an exercise program. I also bought her a FAX machine so that we can share Sudoku puzzles. Since she is not allowed to have a computer, we can FAX her copies of web pages that she needs.
Barbara is changing her email address. Somehow the spammers obtained her address, and they are sending out spam with her email address forged into the "From" field. Since most of the spam goes to non-existent addresses, Barbara gets lots of notifications of undeliverable mail. She is getting over a thousand messages each day. Her spam catcher deletes them, but only after they are sent to her email program. When we are in the motorhome, we usually have a slow internet connection via the cell phone, and the spam is a nuisance. She will be sending out notices with her new address. If you don't get the notice, email me at the temporary address barbrequest@live.com and I will pass the request to her.
A week ago, Dr. Lenz was the guest on a two-hour phone-in radio show discussing abdominal cancer. When the subject turned to insurance coverage for cancer treatments, Barbara couldn't resist. Presented here for your listening pleasure is Barbara's segment of the show. She got in a few swipes at insurance in general, and Kaiser in specific.
Last Sunday, Michelle and Brent brought Jessie and Kanan for a swim. With the weather turning warm, I had heated up the pool, and we all had a great time. Pity the people who live in the snow!
On Monday, we had a routine day at Norris. We did not see Dr. Lenz or Taline, but Barbara had her infusion of Avastin. She found out that her CA19-9 level last week was 55. The level is fluctuating up and down a few points, and it's not clear if the changes mean anything. The main indication of disease is the continually increasing pain. We have a cat scan next week, but we've learned not to expect a definitive finding. In her extensive research on the internet, Barbara has seen many instances where the cat scans and pet scans were negative, and then the patient died.
While at Norris we visited Pamela, the Nurse Practitioner in Pain Management. Barbara asked about nerve blocks, in hopes that such a treatment might help with the pain. (When Barbara was in the hospital recovering from her last surgery, she received an epidural pump which puts anesthetic directly into the spine. This greatly relieved the pain without sending Barbara into a stupor, like the customary pain medicines.) Pamela felt that we should first try using the Fentora on a more regular basis. Since the pain frequently follows eating, Barbara is to take Fentora before meals to combat the pain before it has a chance to start. Barbara doesn't like this notion of taking yet more drugs; they always have side effects, like drowsiness and constipation. We'll try it for a couple of weeks, and then perhaps schedule a visit with Dr. Nemat, the Pain Management specialist.
Meanwhile, others of us have medical issues. Barbara's brother Tommy has had another biopsy for a second opinion regarding his bladder cancer. He will find out the results next Monday. We are hoping for the best. I (Booth) am going for a prostate biopsy this Friday. My prostate is a little enlarged and my PSA has gone up slightly. I will find out my diagnosis the same day as Tommy.
Barbara talked with the California Department of Managed Health Care two months ago, and they felt that her insurance issues were worth starting a case against the insurer. It took two months for Barbara to distill her medical records and all of the insurance rejections, and today I mailed the records to the state. It would be nice for the state to take the insurance provider to task on behalf of all cancer patients.
Our backyard retaining wall, which was being rebuilt after cracking, is finished. The workers and noise are gone. It would be nice if medical issues could be resolved in such a final and complete way.
After increasing her pain medicines, Barbara felt increasingly rotten. She was frequently nauseous. Whenever she moved, the feelings came back. She returned to the earlier schedule of pain medicines, but still did not improve much. We wonder if something else is happening.
Over the weekend we took the motorhome to Morro Bay, a four-hour drive. On Sunday, there were some trail running races; Michelle and Brent planned to run the 50K race, and Sherri entered the 12K race. We made reservations in Morro Bay State Park for all of us. Michelle and Brent drove up before us, and when we arrived, we were greeted by birthday decorations (Saturday was Barbara's 65th birthday). Later, Michelle surprised Barbara with some tasty goodies, and a birthday cake (actually another confection).
Barbara did not feel at all well during the drive, and we stopped several times to let her recover. I assume that the rolling motion of the motorhome, together with the road vibration and bumps, stirs up both pain and nausea.
Early Sunday morning we drove to the race start in Montana de Oro State Park, a beautiful setting. Upon hearing of Barbara's condition, the race director provided us with a great parking spot next to the finish line (the blue tent in this photo). We thoroughly enjoyed the day helping the runners and cheering them on. Sherri successfully finished the 12k, even though she took a fall on the gnarly trail. Michelle was exhausted, but she and Brent finished in good time. Click here for more photos.
Michelle, Brent, and Sherri left Sunday evening in order to be back at work on Monday. So Barbara and I had a quiet evening alone in the beautiful State Park.
As I mentioned before, Barbara submitted a package to the California Department of Managed Health Care concerning Blue Cross' denial of Avastin. The state department notified Blue Cross that they are opening an investigation. Immediately, we received a letter from Blue Cross stating that they will allow the Avastin after all. They claim that the doctor making the decision was not aware that Barbara had previously had Avastin approved. Either that is a blatant lie, or Blue Cross is more screwed up than I had imagined. This approval of Avastin is good for only six months. So, I guess that we will have to get the state involved every six months. Blue Cross strikes again!
On Tuesday, Barbara had another cat scan. The scan was uneventful, but before the scan, as Barbara was having blood drawn, she had a nausea attack. The nurses in the day hospital were alarmed, and they called in Pamela from Pain Management. She prescribed an anti-nausea patch to be worn behind the ear. The patch seems to be working; Barbara has not needed her Zofran anti-nausea since applying the patch. Surprisingly, she stopped having pain attacks, but the patch isn't supposed to affect pain. This morning, while preparing breakfast, she dropped a knife and jumped back to avoid it. This action jerked her abdomen badly enough that it started a pain attack (the Fentora drug helped). This is another confirmation that sharp motion precipitates a pain attack.
We plan a quiet weekend. We're hoping that our kids and grandkids will be able to come over on Easter Sunday for a swim, since the weather has turned quite warm.
A quick update: Barbara found out that her CA19-9 a week ago was 51. It has been hovering around 55 to 60, so this is good news. Now, if we only knew what is causing the pain in her abdomen.
Sandra finally has "wheels". She bought a good transportation car with some of her inheritance from her grandmother Alice. Michelle and Sandra's biological father went with her to Tucson to help pick out the car. Having transportation is mandatory in Casa Grande, since the town has no local bus system and no taxis. This removes a limitation on her job hunting - she can accept employment beyond walking distance from her home.
Barbara has experienced no nausea since she started using the Scopolamine patch behind her ear. Her pain is also less frequent and less intense. We don't think that the patch does anything to help the pain, but we're ready to believe anything, since we can't think of any other reason. Yesterday, she did have a pain episode, but the Fentora took care of it in less than an hour.
Barbara was feeling well enough on Thursday that she moved all of the furniture in the lanai, where she spends most of her hours. She moved the hospital bed and the sofa bed so that the sofa becomes more usable. She has always liked to change room arrangements, so this spurt of energy is a good sign. Since then she has been nursing some sore muscles, but that's a good kind of pain. We both wish that we could experience some of the good pain that came after successfully running an ultra marathon (in days long ago).
I got the results of my prostate biopsy: totally negative. So, I'm currently free of any prostate cancer. Needless to say, that's a relief.
We've had frequent contact with the girls during the last weeks. Michelle and Brent and the kids have just finished a few days camping at the Colorado River. I saw Sherri today - she wanted a recliner chair that became surplus when Barbara rearranged the lanai furniture. I took the chair to Sherri today, and we had a nice chat. And we talk with Sandra every evening as we play a competitive game of Sudoku. I got her a fax machine and I fax her the game so that we all play the same game together. Sandra has landed a part-time job, and we're happy for her.
This weekend Michelle, Brent, and Sherri are running a trail race in Malibu Creek State Park. Barbara and I plan to be there rooting for them.
Barbara's abdomen pain continues to be better than a few weeks ago. We met with Pain Management, and they have no explanation. They point out that medicine prescribed for one ailment (in this case, nausea) can often have unexpected side effects. For once, the side effect is a good one. Barbara is still having headaches, intense exhaustion and a general feeling of debilitation. For the headaches, she is taking Tylenol, which often works better than the strong narcotics (but sometimes nothing works). The other ailments seem to be brought on by too much work, like grocery shopping or cooking, or by motion in the car or RV. We're planning a trip to Colorado soon, but I wonder if Barbara can stand the long drive. I would rather fly, but she is afraid of being in an aircraft, exposed to other's germs and limited access to the bathroom. The motorhome is ideal for the trip, if (like Calvin and Hobbs) we could just "transmogrify" it to Colorado.
Barbara was expecting several important phone calls on Thursday, including one from the California State Department of Managed Health Care, which is working on our Avastin issues with Blue Cross. Two days after reversing itself and approving the Avastin, and stopping the State investigation, Blue Cross reversed itself yet again and denied the drug. So the State Department is reopening the case and insisting the Blue Cross send them everything in writing. On Thursday, as we were expecting a call from the State, I noticed that our phone line was out. Luckily, the phone company believed me when I told them that I had diagnosed the problem to be in their system, and they fixed it on Friday. But in the meantime, we disconnected the fax machine from our second phone line, and made a bunch of calls to tell people to use the fax number.
When I went into the basement to test the phone line, I came across a dead rat in one of the traps which I had set several months ago. No telling how long he was there - I last checked a month ago. Sometimes, I'm reminded of the saying, "When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember that the original intent was to drain the swamp."
This weekend we spent two nights in the motorhome at Malibu Creek State Park. Michelle and Brent ran a 50 K trail race, and they each got second in their respective age group. Sherri had intended running, but she is nursing some knee pain. Except when Barbara was battling several episodes of headache and malaise, she and I had an enjoyable time, kicking back in the beautiful place. With all of the recent rain, everything is green, looking almost like some hills in Hawaii.
Tomorrow is chemo day at Norris. We won't be seeing Dr Lenz, so it should be a fairly short day.
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