I want to once again express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who's donated to this. We've just crossed 2 months' rent and that is a huge weight off our shoulders. We honestly didn't expect any of this. Some of you I haven't really talked to in years and I'd love to rectify that but i'm awkward and anxious about that sort of thing in the best of times, and these are certainly not the best of times. At the moment i'm just so emotionally tapped out and drained from all this cancer business and all this Covid business, i can't even check my 60+ FB notifications. I'm not likely to check or respond to messages for a while either, and i'm sorry. I'll post an update below.
Amanda
did not start chemo yesterday as we had initially expected. I guess we
were misinformed? But also the orders haven't cleared yet? We're being
told it will be by the end of next week at the latest. She's signed up
for a clinical trial, testing an immune booster that's common with
treatment of other cancers to see if it's effective with breast cancer.
We were worried that would hold up the start of chemo, since the
onboarding process for that was expected to take 3 weeks, but
fortunately (we think) she finished all the pre-chemo testing necessary
for that yesterday, weeks ahead of schedule, while as i mentioned the
actual chemo start is going to be later. So hopefully that's working
out, and hopefully she gets the treatment rather than the placebo. To
clarify: she will still be receiving the usual chemo treatment, it's
just this extra thing that may potentially be a placebo. But, it sounds
like it's very helpful for other cancers, so we're hoping it's helpful
for her too.
Yesterday
we had 3 doctor's appointments. I've already been on the phone today
scheduling more. We were told she'd be assigned a case manager, which we
hoped would be a person who would, you know, manage the case, making
phone calls and scheduling appointments and treatments for us. In fact
she's been assigned two case managers, one from the insurance company
and one from the medical group, and so far all either has done is call
her and ask more questions that she's already answered a dozen times. So
i don't know how that's helpful.
She
had her port placed yesterday, which is great, it's easy access to her
veins for blood draws and injections, but she's still getting used to
having a titanium tube in her chest (she told me that earlier today she
unthinkingly gripped something between her forearm and chest briefly and
that did. not. go. well.). She hasn't even started the chemo yet and
she's already having unusual body aches and pains. Particularly where
the port has been placed. She says her chest feels tight, like her skin
doesn't fit, and...well, it's probably because it doesn't, they just
embedded a titanium tube in it.
I
think that's all the news for now. Like i said i likely won't be
checking my notifications for a while, but please don't let that stop
you from leaving encouraging messages from her either on this post or on
her own page.
We
love you all. Thank you for supporting us through this. I know these
are weird and rough times for everybody. Hope everyone is staying safe.
