HUGE VICTORY!!!!

We were able to get it approved to have the primary care physician just sign everything - not only that, ALL REFERRALS have  gone through and I have authorization #s in my hot little hands!!!!!
WOOOO HOOOO!!!!!!

got a lot accomplished today ~ well, at least by my standards...

I get tired by afternoon, so I try my best to get as much done in the AM as possible. Today it was the making of the phone calls  to try to get it approved to have my new primary care physician waive the usual first visit thing and just sign all the referrals. All the diagnoses and tests have pretty much been done. I might need another CAT scan or even a PET scan, but those can be ordered after I see the oncologist.

 My sister is in town for the weekend, which has been really nice. WAY too long in between visits.... Anyhow, today we left about 8:30 and went shopping! Wait, before you get all excited about that new purse or pair of shoes~ they don't exist. We shopped for wonderful things like pillows that help keep nasty germs away, pillow cases that will not pull what is left of my hair out once I start chemo, but most importantly, we shopped for BABY FOOD! Strained peaches and carrots and ham, OH my!

Such will be my new diet. We actually were able to find other things as well that I can eat, I am just so not excited about the baby food aspect of all this. Hey, whatever it takes to stay healthy!

I never in a million years dream I would be counting calories to keep them UP! I feel like I have entered.....
the Twilight Zone...(creepy theme music fades in....)

In a nutshell, the food I must eat can't be high in fat, cannot contain anything with acid  (like tomatoes, citrus or vinegar ) must be high in protein, must supply the fiber and nutrients I need ~ and it can't be any thicker than a thin paste.  Now before any of you out there start suggesting protein powders, health shakes and ensure, please know I have been living off these. I need variation in my diet or #1,  I don't get all the fruits, veggies and vitamins I need and #2,  I will probably loose my mind LONG before I  have surgery and get placed on a feeding tube. Since I don't want to add shock therapy to my regimen, I figure we should start looking around at different options.

We have come up with quite a few ideas actually, but if you can think of any more I am open!

hummus, thinned with beef broth (my fav)

soups put through the blender

whole bran cereals soaked in low fat milk until they fall apart

cream of wheat and oatmeal, made thinly

baby foods and cereals

low fat non yeast breads soaked in milk (like banana bread made with applesauce)

applesauce

yogurt

low fat puddings and custards

sorbets

that sort of thing.  Not very exciting, but luckily the Lord has blessed me enough to really think ALL food sounds nasty right now. And right now, I am not lactose intolerant ( apparently about half of the chemo patients undergoing treatment become lactose intolerant) so I can drink milk too.


Now for another gem ...

just getting started

First of all , to all those who have the need to make sure they are in the right place, this is Chemistry 101. We will start out by learning that Chemistry is the study of matter. Like physicists, chemists study the fundamental properties of matter and they also explore the interactions between matter and energy.




*snicker*.... I really am evil at heart...




Actually, I am here to help all those who know and love me (blush)  keep up with what is going on as I battle this yucky thing called cancer without calling each and every one of you. Now , don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to visit with each of you and see how everyone was doing , and ask about your kids and and your cats and the job, I really love that kind of stuff. But unfortunately I just can't. (DANG I hate time limitations and lack of energy!....) I will do my best to update this as often as I can, or perhaps even have someone do that for me when I am unable.

Here goes....




In October of 2009, My hubby rushed me to the emergency room when I choked on a mouthful of rice. I never stopped breathing, but I did start throwing up blood. Now, just a hint, if that ever happens, it's NOT a good thing... Lots of tests and 2 months later, I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer . We didn't know the stage yet, so, we went to a Dr Simon Lo with Cedars Sinai. Came back as stage T3 M1 .

Basically what that means is that it has broken through the walls of the esophagus and has entered the lymph nodes. The tumor is too big to operate on right now, but chemo and possibly radiation should shrink that puppy down to size. Once it gets more operable, I will have have the pleasure of having my whole esophagus and the upper portion of my tummy removed... I will spare you the details for now, 'cause it is particularly nasty.

I do have to tell all of you that fasted and prayed for me, I did get the doctors I needed even though the insurance company was being a butt-head about it. (Can I say butt-head on a family blog? Ah well, its MY blog, I can even say "Poop" if I want! .... I'm SUCH a potty mouth).

I do have to give kudos to the staff of Dr. Lo, Dr.Soukiasian AND the medical director of Cedars Sinai! They really went to bat for me and I will be forever grateful for that. The insurance wasn't budging, so by a pure MIRACLE we found a loophole. I am simply changing my primary care physician to one at Cedars!

But I digress. Once I recover from that operation, I will go in for more chemo to get the last traces of this little monster. I understand I will have to learn how to eat again ( fun! ~ sarcasm for those who missed that) , will have a feeding tube for WWWAAAYYY too long, and ...
I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO EAT CHOCOLATE AGAIN IN MY WHOLE LIFE!!!! :(

*sigh... I suppose I can learn to live with that if it means I get to see my babies grow up.

I aint a' lyin' ~ I got a heck of a road ahead of me, but I am actually more worried about my husband and my sweet children.

For those of you locally, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you are doing and all you have offered to do. I am working with Cleo Garcia with the French Valley Ward to coordinate the things like meals, rides to the doctor, taking my kids to or from school, babysitting, and even helping my kids with their homework.

Seriously, my dear and wonderful friends, if you are local, please ~ we will need your time. We are trying to split it up into small blocks so that MOST of the sign ups will only take an hour or so. We DO NOT have definite time frames yet, but as soon as we get them, I will post them and make sure Cleo has them as well so she can start filling in all the time slots. Hey, if it's one thing we Mormons are good at , its getting organized on a big ol' scale.

If you are farther away and just REALLY feel the need to help, my sister has set up a website that will help us with everything from moving expenses (yup we gotta move in April) to the extra co-pays and gas we will use. Again to the local friends, your TIME is much more valuable to us.

For right now, Cary's beautiful oldest daughter, Carly is here staying with us. She has been SUCH a God send. She will have to leave the end of March to join her husband in New York, but until then , I am just so happy/grateful/appreciative to have her help (bit of an understatement I might add...).

So that's the story. Now I just want to share a bit of wisdom with all of you...




Please try to remember that now...