MrbLOB9000

Had an appointment with Dr. Dragon today to go over where I’m at and what treatment I’ll be going with and whatnot.  Well, from the CT scan he said (maybe not in these exact words) that I wasn’t as bad as he thought.  I do have lumps in my chest and abdomen but they aren’t bulky, I only have bulky ones on my neck.  He said he was going to go with the regular treatment instead of the more aggressive treatment that has more potential for side effects, like a higher chance of infertility and like 1-3% chance of leukemia in 10 years.  So definitely good that it’s not as bulky everywhere else (which was his expectation and that their’s no reason to go with the more aggressive treatment that has more potential problems.

I start chemo on Thursday.  They have to put in a port (also called port-a-cath) in first, it will be in my chest below my collarbone.  It’s a thing they put the needle for the IV into that has a tube that goes into a big vein in my neck/chest that goes straight to my heart (think they said jugular).  It’s a surgery procedure obviously, the port ends up under the skin.  It’s to save your arm veins from being affected by the chemo.  You saw what the IV from the CT scan’s meds did, chemo would obviously be worse so putting the port in is the best option.  The port’s getting put in on monday.  I have to get a breathing test and an echo cardiogram as well.  The echo cardiogram will be monday before the port, the breathing test is on wednesday.

As I’ve said before, I have no insurance but treatment at the hospital I ended up picking is going to be covered under charity care through the clinic at a 100% discount.  So I’ll have no out of pocket expenses doing anything through that hospital, which is totally amazing.  Dr. Leon Dragon apparently made it happen.  He’s been pushing for me the whole time basically.

Pretty sure I’ve said this but I’ll say it again.  A friend of my parents had some kind of lymphoma (some kind of non-hodgkin’s lymphoma) and saw Dr. Dragon for treatment and has been fine for like (more…)

Did the CT scan earlier today.  Drank the “smoothie” thing last night like I was supposed to and like I said in a comment it wasn’t that bad.  The thing I had to drink this morning was worse, not quite bad enough for me to kinda gag on it but was close.  At least I got to dilute it in some water and at least it was only 8oz of liquid total I had to get down.

Got to the hospital and they did some stuff on the computer then gave me a gown and showed me where the men’s locker room is.  I went to put the gown on and it was way (more…)

Well, I just opened a another bill I got today from the hospital I had the biopsy at, this time it was dated January 9th (rather than December 30th) but the most important and odd thing is that it says I owe nothing.  So apparently I actually am approved for charity care so whether they can get me medicaid or not I should be fine.  Oh, they basically can’t get me medicaid, I’m not young enough, not old enough, don’t have kids or dependants, and am not disabled or about to die from the disease very soon, so I’m out of luck.  I’ll call again tomorrow and see wtf the deal is, but definitely a good sign.

was talking to Reflex and decided to post the reply here rather than on IM, since I typed a shitload:

(3:59:17 PM) David: I am more worried about your mental state
(3:59:58 PM) bLOB: how so?
(4:00:12 PM) bLOB: or anything specific or whatever
(4:00:35 PM) David: I don’t know what kind of support you have.  I don’t know what your thinking.  You are always “It is what it is” but somewhere you have to be freaking out

ok, as for the support I have, I’m real close with my mom and not as close but still pretty close with my dad, my folks are concerned and supportive and whatnot.  My dad’s been my right hand man doing (more…)

Well, if you’ve got a little time to waste and someone offers you a free bone marrow test, decline with prejudice.  It does fucking blow, the rumors aren’t for no reason.

They did a blood test first.  The nurse took some blood in the little vials, she hit the vein directly no problem.  As soon as she pulled it out of my arm she goes, “Wait, did they want *some_shit* as well?” it apparently wasn’t on the sheet but she figured they’d probably (more…)

Well, I was told that they had given me charity care for the biopsy but then I recieved a bill for $10k on saturday.  So that’s rad.  So today I called the lady I’ve been talking to at the hospital. She gave me the name of another lady that does financial shit, so I called her.  She said that I hadn’t been accepted for charity care because they submitted my info to another company that submits patients for medicaid for them.

Called that company and they said they’ve only had it for a short time (since the 7th is apparently a short time… I had the biopsy on the 24 of last month, so apparently (more…)

Already posted this and e-mailed this to some people but figured it’s a good place to start so here it is again for some, first time for others.

Well, as the subject says, I have Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer. Wikipedia says their’s like a 90% chance of survival if it’s found early, so it’s definitely not the worst option it could have been. I’ve had a cough for a year, to varying degrees and I haven’t really felt up to par for basically that long as well. I had one lump on my neck about 6 or 8 months ago but (more…)