Can Feel My Luck Changing

I'm still a mess. I still have a sore hip and a sore lower back. I still have a strange lump on the back of my head and a bump inside my lower lip. I'm still having trouble getting comfortable enough to sleep well at night. But I can feel things starting to turn for the better.

The main turn around happened late yesterday afternoon when we heard from our oncologist's office that we had been approved to receive Sutent chemotherapy through Pfizer's patience assistance program.

We had to promise that we could not afford a %5,000 a month co-pay for the drug. Well no problem there.

The coordination of the dispensing of the drug to us must still be worked out. As soon as everything is in order we'll pick up our first month's supply and I'll begin to take it immediately.

The Sutent is taken for one month, followed by two-weeks off. One complete "cycle" is considered to be three-months. The oncologist wants to do follow-up CT scans after each full cycle, or every three-months.

The side-effects of Sutent are similar to Nexavar, but not identical. We'll see how that goes. I may need additional medicines to manage the side-effects of the new chemo, but I do try to keep the overall medicines I take down to a bare minimum.

Sometime around noon today we should receive the results of yesterday's brain MRI. I know a clean MRI will make Barb and I both breathe a nice sigh of relief. I really do not think that I have much to worry about with the MRI. But, you know how it goes, I won't count my chickens before they're hatched. We'll wait and see.

Then I need to address this odd bump on the back of my head. It's become a major discomfort in my attempts to get comfy and sleep well at night.

I also need to have this little bump on the inside of my bottom lip addressed. At this point I'm not sure if that will fall under a doctor's or a dentist's care.

And last but not least I'll need to have the mystery object in my remaining kidney resolved. Four doctors so far have had very different takes on this object. Three doctors feel that it isn't cancer. Two doctors feel that it's non-threatening and not worth worrying about. I need to find the definitive answer and I'm thinking that will come from the urologist who hasn't had a chance to weigh-in on the subject yet.

I feel more "normal" this morning than I have the rest of this week. So I'm going to stay in the house, and stay out of the cold, rain and snow, and try to get some small stuff done around here. I still have some packages to wrap, and some packages to track.

Yes, (hanging head) I did give another gift to Barb early - a jewelry armoire. I just can't help myself.