Another appointment added

 Got a call from my primary saying I needed to schedule a pre-op health check up. I informed her that I just rescheduled an appointment with her because she was going to be out of the office for a week. The receptionist apparently wasn't aware of this because she paused and stammered a little. I told her that I have a pre-op with the surgeon next week and just had one with the other surgeon day before yesterday. She paused again.... She said I still needed that appointment with  my primary and she would have to call me back when she heard back from her. 

So, she called back a couple of hours later and said she could fit me in on the 23rd next week at 10 am. I said sure... because the following week is booked and surgery after that. So now  have to find out who can give me a ride on Thursday next week, Amber said she can give me a ride to the MRI on Monday so I need Wednesday and Friday (maybe she can do all three I don't know)

Oh I got to the pharmacy to pick up my two post op meds. Jon remembered why he didn't like the closer one because they constantly lose prescriptions. They had the oxycodone (percoset) but they couldn't find the antibiotic. I didn't think to raid the change jar for a few dollars so I had to pay for the percoset with my card. A whopping 26 cents. The antibiotic is now ready and is a dollar and change. I don't have to worry about that one immediately just have to pick it up before the 28th. 

So I now have another charge that I thought I had paid for from my breast biopsy for $30 and then there's all the other costs next month. Going to have to contact the financial office and make payment arrangements. 

My only concern with the health check up is her seeing my front tooth and deeming it unsafe which would cancel ALLL of this until I can get the tooth pulled and then healed. That's what happened last time and I feel awful if that happens because it throws a monkey wrench in scheduling for the surgeons and treatment and all that. If I post with a monkey wrench as the main photo next week, you'll know.

Oh and the apple pencil for my ipad, died. I guess I've been using it a lot more than people are supposed to and wasn't keeping it charged sufficiently. They don't tell you the care of the item other than charging it and not dropping and what not. It's all on the consumer to figure it out. So one help forum from apple said 'warming it gently like on a household radiator can kick start the battery'. Household radiator???? What the heck era and house do they think people have? This is a high tech tool and you're telling people to use a radiator to try and kick start start the battery? 

I went through all the possible things in my apartment that might work and finally realized I had just used  my dutch oven to cook some red beans and rice and it was still warm. I folded a pot holder over it and tucked it in the handle of the lid for about ten minutes. When I heard Jon get up to get seconds I dashed to the kitchen first and explained what I was doing. Voila! It actually worked...for about 24 hours. It stopped working again (it's mostly charged but the pad isn't registering it) so  I've got it plugged into the pad for a bit and will see what happens. No dutch oven was used today so not sure what I can do other than not use it and get a 'knock off' from Amazon when budget allows. I certainly don't have the $100 that another apple one will cost.

So that's my week so far and it's only Wednesday. Made hamburgers again, grease all over the stove but they were so good! Jon couldn't finish a second burger. That's a little concerning as he normally would either say no or polish it off. These are almost 1/4 burgers with huge sesame seed buns (Bimbo brand, which surprisingly has great bread products!). We had all the fixings and another odd thing he wanted raw onion not grilled. Something is off with him because his first burger had the works on it, cheese and all that the second one had a slice of cheese, pickles, mayo and onion... very odd. He pulled the burger off and we slid it into a baggie to put in the fridge. You know how you watch pets for change in their eating habits, yeah have to do that with humans too. This man has always had a prodigious appetite so either it's just the weather or stress not sure. He even said he over ate the other day and had a hard time sleeping. I ate both my burgers and am stuffed.  Could have done with just one burger as well.

We've got light smoke haze from a fire to the north and east (way far away but you know how wind carries smoke) so he had to take a hit of his inhaler on Monday after doing the first grocery run. He couldn't handle bring up more than one case of water (40 pack) which he always tries to be the big man and do the heavy lifting for me. The air quality I'm sure is part of that issue which is even worse today not including the smoke from the stove.

I'm groggy as well from over indulging, which is typical for me but I can't lay down when my stomach is full.  At least (so far) it's not too hot.

Well it certainly was an interesting day

 

Woke up a little before my alarm went off at 5:30 am, moved around quietly as possible and got my shower, everything going good to be ready for Amber to arrive around 7. Just before she messaged that she had arrived, I got a phone call from my primary doctor (the 10 am appt today) to say that she was going to be out of the office for a week and needed to reschedule ... which closest one was September... fair enough. I then got off the phone and told Jon to expect a call from the doctor... I took the 2pm appt and he got the 2:20 appointment. It's great having the same doctor for a situation like that.

So that just left us with my 8 am and grocery shopping today. We still didn't get finished until around noon when it was just creeping up to about 90 degrees outside. Needless to say we have the AC on right now.

As for the doctor today. Camberos is just like I remembered him, seems like he's just going through the motions. He asked when the surgery was scheduled, which surprised me but maybe he was double checking to see if I knew when it was (considering the pre-op information sheets I have not only has the date but time at 11:20 am with a check in time of 9:20. Told me that if they have to remove skin and tissue there  may not be enough left for an expander or the other option would be taking skin from either my butt/back or abdomen depending on the type of 'patch' they'll do.  It's kind of overwhelming really and not sure exactly if I want to go through the extra surgery and wound care for having a half boob. He didn't make any comment about the condition of the right side that he looked at. Didn't ask about what was going on with it at all.

This is why I don't think of him as a 'caring' or 'engaged' doctor. My primary and Dr K both asked about it and when did I notice it... all that sort of stuff. Just not sure what his deal is with having little to no personality. His chipper little nurse had more energy and personality by far and she was forcing it a bit.

So anyway, he did a preliminary pre-op run down; they will likely keep me overnight in the hospital (in my logic as a precaution because it's invasive surgery with removal of body parts). So that's another cost that I have to be prepared for. $225 per day for up to 7 days so I don't know if that includes the overnight stay or just a full day. I know it'll be $100 for the initial surgery because that's what it was for my biopsy. Oh yes and then there's the $75 each for the two procedures next week. I don't remember paying for anything with my first surgery because it was cancer related... have to look into details on this one but so far, I will be in debt to the hospital for months.

He showed me pictures of the two options for reconstruction depending on what they have to work with after surgery. I will of course have regular follow up appointments after surgery which means, if I don't have a car, more imposition on people. I've got a prescription for antibiotics and percoset which, the nurse explained, that if a whole pill makes me too loopy and drowsy then cut it in half. Yeah I remember taking a percocet last time and one pill knocked me out.  Also gave me a small bottle of 'body cleanser' for pre-op cleaning rather than an actual shower. Lots of reading material and things to think about but at least we have groceries for the month now.

I'm exhausted from doing two full grocery runs and the heat, not to mention getting up at 5 am and it's only 2 right now.

Timeline is set so far EDIT

 Amber has no problem shuttling us on Monday to doctor appointments and shopping. She's just having to do a lot of homework and classwork so she's caught up by then. So.....

Monday is meeting with plastic surgeon at 8 am, then zip on down to my neck of county for my regularly scheduled primary doctor visit, which is cutting it a bit close but not too much since I don't have to be at that appointment until 10:45. Then we have a breather until Jon 's appointment, then hopefully from there we can go to regular grocery shopping at Costco and F4L. 

Now comes the crunch, I have the brain MRI on the 21st, then ultrasound of thyroid on the 25th and then... pre-op appointment with Dr. Mohan on the 30th at 8:15. 

EDIT: Got a call from one of the doctors or scheduling, sounded like they were on speaker phone, called to tell me that surgery is scheduled for Aug 4 at the outpatient pavilion. Exact time unknown but will be a morning appointment and will be getting a call from pre-anesthesia and Camberos for an exact time and what to do and all that. Then a phone post op apppointment with Dr Mohan on Aug 14. 

So there you have it, coming fast and furious as I figured it would. Hooboy.

So another clarification, left breast and lymph nodes are fine. Right breast is getting hacked again, what cancer that cropped up will be removed along with the existing implant and 'capsule' (will have to ask about what that is, I think it's tissue that's grown around it encapsulating the implant) and a new expander put in for another implant if I want... really? If you're going to hack my right one again, might as well take the other one down a notch as well. I'll be talking to Camberos about that because he's the plastic surgeon. Skin can only stretch so far at this point and in order to match my left side, It's going to be a balloon.

So next month I will be recovering and healing from initial surgery then somehow have to make regular trips up to his office for the expander inflation and then another surgery and office visits for post op after that... and all this...  without a car at this point. Of course I wouldn't be able to drive to get to surgery or back home anyway but the doctor visits... are imperative. 

I can only rely on friends and family so much before it becomes an imposition and burden. I never wanted this sort of life, I wanted a nice little cottage in the country where family could visit on vacation. Nope, not for me.

And... if it gets any worse...

 Got a call from the plastic surgeon... Camberos. Who's only available early morning because he schedules surgeries in the afternoon. He is now located in Scripps Ranch.

First available is 8:30 on Monday morning. This Monday, that I already have an appointment in the afternoon for my regular doctor and do shopping with Amber. If I had a car it would be slightly inconvenient, without a car, impossible without monopolizing the entire day with Amber. I love my daughter and she normally doesn't mind helping me out but this would take her away from doing classwork and homework. 

Amber's at work today so waiting for her to see the message I sent. 

Oh and due to having to pay my medical bills I do not have enough money to cover my remaining bills. I'm short by $110 in the bank and even if I don't pay on car insurance, phone and internet it's not enough to cover SDGE. Will be messaging Devon and see how his finances are doing. IF I had a car I would be trekking to storage to slim that down and consolidate. We just cannot afford that much money out of our budget anymore. There's too much stuff in there that I want to either pass on to someone or sell. No one but my family gets the sewing machine and cabinet.

Jon and I have taken the bus to the store three days in a row and it's hard work for him. It's hot, he doesn't do well in heat and he gets anxious and testy when he's uncomfortable.

So that's the latest news and it is so frustrating on top of everything else going on in the world.

Moving forward...

 and major step back for the country but that's another topic entirely.

Finally connected with Dr. Mohan (surgeon) and basically reiterated that we're all clear everywhere else and he's put a note in to Dr. Camberos my previous reconstruction surgeon because he's the one that's actually going to open me up. For some reason. I should have gotten clarification about that because I had the oncology surgeon I thought last time and then Camberous doing the reconstruction but my brain may be misremembering.

So now have to wait for Camberos to call and set up an appointment with him. Still have two other scans to go one on my head and one for my thyroid, primary doctor appointment in two weeks... and .... still no progress on getting may car fixed.

Amber took us to the store yesterday because we thought we'd be getting ss money then but it came in today. She didn't tell us she had $100 to let us buy what we needed until we got there. I love my daughter, love all my kids but .... she was pushing all my buttons in the store like a caffeinated six year old and Jon was loving every minute. 

Anyway we have some basics to last for another couple of weeks since we have plenty of meat for a while and another friend may be bringing by some veggies and fruits and a few other things tomorrow or Thursday. We have good friends and family in our lives that have the means to help us out and I am eternally grateful for that.

Jon and I, without a car have been walking almost 2/3 of a mile to CVS and back again the last few days to get water jugs filled and a few other things. So we're getting some exercise at least. We needed some things from Target and decided to bus it down the road and then had lunch at Jersey Mike's before heading back home. Jon remembered he needed lip balm so the stop was right there and I forgot I needed large bandages for the 'open wound' on my boob. Dr Mohan said to definitely keep it covered and monitor if there are any changes to it. I forgot to pick up more of the  larger bandages I was using because the regular size bandaids were irritating the edges of it. Not going to take a picture and show you, that's TMI and not necessary. It's about the size of a nickle I think though so it's fairly large but I'm not sure if  it's getting better or worse. Will hoof to CVS again tomorrow and see if they have the right size  I need. 

Other than that, we have ice cream in various forms, sodas, water, coffee and sundry meats, bread and a treat of whole lightly salted cashews because we could. We bought sufficient water that if we get another triple deal from Food 4 Less we're set for water for the month and then get more sodas, we should be good. It saved us some money for sure which it a good thing always.

First tomato of the season and a finished pair of socks.There's another tomato almost ready and some squash coming on. Yay! The socks were such a bear to do and if they had been just about a half inch bigger they'd be perfect. If anyone has long narrow feet please let me know. I'm already working on another pair, the white rainbow speckle, 'sheepicorn' socks are on indefinite hold until I can get a new set of needles for them. I might spare a few dollars to get some but will see how the budget settles out this month. As usual. The SDGE bill is looking like it'll be over $100 for this month and I already paid $110 for the medical bills. With the surgery coming up, that's going to be another bill for next month. 

I wish I could easily consolidate or reduce storage cost. That would save us soooo much each month! Now without a car, it's even more out of possibility and I will not abandon either one. There's too much in mine at least that my kids would want to save and some of it is Jon's as well so it's something we have to set aside one day a week maybe when we can to go out and try to consolidate more. 

Like I've said before, if we had a place with a garage or internal storage, we'd be saving money but likely would be putting that money toward a mortgage or space rental or whatever but at least it would all be in one place. I haven't looked at any houses for sale or moving in months, it's pointless to do that right now especially with the economy and situation right now in the country.

Anyway... small personal victories keep us going.

Good news and clarification...

 Good news on two fronts; one, the neck biopsy is negative so we're in the clear for that and two, the genetic screening/testing also came back negative/clear for genetic markers. So yay for me! We only have my right boob to get taken care of. 

So right now trying to connect with my surgeon to discuss what's coming up next but left a message for him on the website saying that I got his phone message. He called me while I was in the shower. Go figure.

Clarification in regards to the current world/country status. I sound like I'm panicking but really am just very anxious and angry. I have heard from Jon many times that he had to learn to respond not react from his time being a beat cop in New York and then in the medical field. I have a hard time doing that and tend to fall back on the old adage "When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout." (which looking it up discovered it is attributed to the navy and  possibly The Caine Mutiny'.) 

After I panic and get all that out of my system I can look at the situation clearly and then formulate a plan.  When it's something that I am in control of to a degree (car is still sitting in it's parking spot because no one including myself has the money to get it towed somewhere and have it diagnosed).  More times than I can count I have had a logical plan or method of doing something and due to various circumstances and other people that are involved my suggestion is either ignored or I'm never given the opportunity to present it until after the fact. When it is now too late, damage is done or course can't be corrected.

I love Jon to the moon and back and would take a bullet for him as well but sometimes he is such a 'guy' that I can't get through to his brain. He needed to pick up his meds refill on all four things and we had just enough money to do that as well as having fare loaded on our transit cards. So he was going to just wait until the first and wouldn't tell me whether he had enough to last that far. SIGH I said, it's a chore but we can take the bus to the trolley and walk to the CVS and get your meds. He reluctantly agreed and we set off for our transit adventure. I ranted about it before and this seemed a fairly straightforward trip.

Well.... we got to the main transit center no problem, the original route had us stopping at a station almost a half mile from the main station. I thought that was rather odd and knew it was likely another stupid routing thing. So we got up to the station and I noticed one of the tracks was blocked, not noticing a third track that was for the short line we needed (again inserting trying not to 'bully' Jon about what we needed to do and feeling unaware of what was actually going on). So we both came to the conclusion that maybe the reason why the bus had us stop at the other station was because it doesn't go this far right now. It was a straight walk up the road (in full sun mind you but a nice breeze blowing) so we headed off... and then the trolley we needed pulled into the station. Jon said, let's just keep going. Wellllll neither of us have walked that much since Disneyland and Comicon so hips and feet were not happy at all and of course we were hot and sweaty but at least we got some exercise right?

Got to our destination no problem  got his meds (Thank you Medicare!) that only came to $8 and being exhausted and hot just came straight back home. Not until hours later did he mention that his meds have a sun exposure warning on them.

I was so angry with him but had to be calm and not even jokingly try to smack him due to his abuse history from his dad. I told him in a very firm voice that next time we have to go out in the sun for any length of time we bring an umbrella.  Luckily no adverse reactions other than a bit red on the back of his neck but still, that was a risk that he should not have taken. I've told him multiple times that if I say something to pay attention. He admits to being hard headed and not sounding weak when he's not feeling good. 

So no one ever listens to me or gives me a straight answer when I need one. It's one of the reasons why I am so angry at the current administration. I have a 'passionate dislike' for blatant liars and double talkers that can't answer a simple question with out giving an entire word salad explanation that never answers the question. Seriously. We haven't watched the news since January and only started recently due to the Middle East situation. The biggest problem is, feeling so helpless to do anything other than protest and spreading truth and facts. Feels like it's not enough when you want to go up to someone kick their ass and toss them into the ocean. 

So there, on topic, side topic and explanation. As soon as I get to chat with my surgeon I'll have more news about what's coming up next.

First and very short update....

 

 Good news, breast biopsy was benign,  they're still waiting for the lymph node results according to my surgeon. Once that comes in then they start setting a schedule and all that for surgery and treatment. I still have two more things which is the MRI of my brain and the follow up ultrasound of my thyroid. For now, no appointments until next month thankfully.

Still have to figure out the car and at this point need to get it somewhere to have it diagnosed and what the cost would be. If it's more than what anyone can handle then unfortunately it's better just to sell it even if it's a few hundred dollars. In the long run it saves me gas, insurance and registration money, short run it means depending on others and public transport for getting places. Like now.

I have been without a car before but I didn't have multiple doctor appointments and such just had work. So if it comes down to not having a car it's a bit more problematic right now. Treatments will be over in Kearney Mesa and doctors are in Grossmont. Not impossible just incredibly inconvenient and possibly expensive on an individual ride basis. I know I have two people that can be available but I feel guilty asking them for regular rides as it puts a dent in their budgets for gas. 

The world is going to hell in a handbasket with the main perpetrator thinking thatnothing is wrong and everything is good. This is the sort of situation where it can go two ways, first way is the heroic sniper/band of mercenaries take out the person or world war three starts and we're all screwed. Either way, the damage is done and it's going to literally be decades before our country is respected again. That is, if things continue going where the men behind the curtain want it to go.

Sorry to end on a sour note but that's one of the things on my mind right now. Oh and not having any caffeine in the house and no money get any. When I say no caffiene, Jon is out of coffee as well. We are doomed.