Ray's now 2 weeks past the end of his 1st round of chemo & still continues to feel pretty good. He continues to go each week to have his blood checked. This past week's CBC (Complete Blood Count) showed that his platelets had dropped significantly. Normal range is between 116-329 but Ray's is now at 25 (down from 46 last week). We are told that if they drop below 20 he will require blood transfusions. This is not totally unexpected following chemo but we are hoping that they rebound this week.
The past couple of days Ray has had a bout with his stomach bothering him but that seems to be getting better. And no, it's not my cooking!
Three of Ray's siblings have now completed their part of getting tested to determine if any of them are matches for the upcoming stem cell transplant. We are now just waiting to hear from the Moffitt Center on the results.
We sure had a scare this week as several hospital bills began to trickle in. They showed that OUR portion as out-of-pocket coinsurance was $2,500 per every day of chemo! Doing the math told us that the 7-day round equaled $17,500. Thus the 4 rounds planned would equal $70,000! I gotta tell you, I was freaking out. So I got out our insurance brochure & thankfully if I understand it correctly, the maximum 'catastrophic per calendar year' amount we're responsible for is just $5,000. So ok, we'll handle that amount & be ever so thankful for insurance. Ray will turn 65 by the end of this year (Dec 2) & will then become eligible for Medicare which I imagine will then take care of all these numerous co-pays. At least that's our hope. How in the world do folks manage without medical insurance!? Sadly I suspect they do not get the care they need.
On another note, Dad (Ray Sr. age 94) took a tumble on the shuffleboard courts this week. Burgered up his finger & knee pretty good. Took the skin off a finger & it took us 2 days to get the bleeding to finally stop. He's pretty sore from the jar of the fall. Thinking he may have to give up his daily shuffling because his balance is so bad but Ray & I aren't voicing that to him. Rather we are leaving it up to him to decide because he so loves shuffling & it's basically the only exercise he gets & seems to be what keeps him going each day. Our dilemma is do we insist he stop shuffling for his own safety or do we allow him to continue if he so desires because it's one of the few truly enjoyable things he has left in life? Do we toss the dice & hope he doesn't fall again while shuffling? It's tough.
1 comment:
It's a journey alright!
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