Insurance news....:(

Insurance news...not so good...we made calls this morning and found out what we were suspecting...after August 31st he will no longer have cobra insurance for any of us...we will have to send a letter in writing to the insurance that he has medicare that becomes effective September 1st and to take us off...

In the mean time, I started last week checking out medicare part D and this is what brought the question of whether we will still have insurance and we verified that for sure...now after this morning I started doing more research on medicare part D and for me alone to pay the so called deductible/out of pocket expense my meds will run close to $1000 a month then after that is met the cost will drop down to about $291 a month then I hit that donut hole and it goes back up to about $1000 again til that amount is met and then drops way down to like $91 a month...we can't afford that...when trying to research his...nothing came up...that was even more frustrating...wondering what we are going to do...we can't afford a medigap/supplemental insurance either which comes after medicare to cover the balance of any bills...so Tim says we better hope like heck neither one of us gets put in the hospital...not sure how we will pay for hospice when the time comes for him either...

I haven't given up hope of researching...altho sometimes it's overwhelming for me in trying to handle it all and do the research/calls for find out things...thanks to my mom for listening and giving me some advice, thanks to News 3 who said anyone needing medicine help to go to their website and check out Nevada Drug Card...any Nevadan can apply no questions etc. just put your name and email address I believe and print off your prescription card and use it at participating pharmacies which happens to be Walgreens...which with further research on the drugs he and I use...now get this his sutent would be more through this program ($7935.23 month) than through cobra ($7484.01 copay $20) he won't get that after August 31st...for the three other meds that is 170.55 month and these are estimations....mine would run all but insulin and needles...433.50 a big difference....so based on your medicines it is a big savings better than partD...I have to check into part B medicare I think through Liberty???? supplies some lungs medicines and diabetic meds/supplies and they bill medicare....have to wait for ad to come up on TV again...can't find info on internet...keep coming up with wrong site....

Quote unquote..."he says this is what we'll do to stay in house til market better to drop all his meds and worry bout my meds"...I agreed to it but I am still going to research and get him the help for September on...maybe I'm being selfish but I want him around a weeee bit longer...after he's gone there is no way I can stay in the house as I couldn't afford it...I would have to sell and hope that the market was better to get our escrow out of it as much as possible...or like he said we just walk away, take a loss and rent a place...

Now, my next option is to go through his cancer doctor and see if they can get us help...also me call American Cancer Society and see if they can help...thanks to a facebook friend...she gave me two websites to check into for medicine help for free or a little bit of nothing....

We couldn't even afford to convert is life insurance through work which he qualified for up to $107,000 but toooooo expensive and I kept going down to lower amounts til I got to $10,000 and that was still too expensive...

So all I can say is our American Dream is shot...things are just too expensive....we have no bills except usual monthly expenses mtg, power, water, telephone/internet etc...one for new a/c last April 2008...still have $4400 left on it...you can't afford things you drop them...then you start losing everything just to keep going...

Anyway, I am trying to find out what I can and get the help we need...just hard and overwhelming...our prayers go out to our niece who got a second opinion on surgery...the doctor won't even attempt to do surgery on her gall bladder til November and then it may still be risky with her on blood thinners for the blood clots she has...Tim was trying to uplift her today...

I just don't know what to say...daughter offering to give up her college which she has a year left and then one semester of teacher trainee and find full time job...NO what good would it do...NO...we couldn't and won't ask other daughter to move out here...she has a decent paying job where she's at right now with the economy the way it is...us move out there, NO...winters too cold and humidity too much for me....we stay here!!!!

Anyone has any other suggestions you can email me at happemom@mesquiteweb.com and I will gladly check into them...I also am going to check with the Senior Center here and see how they can help with info etc...
I guess I better get off here as 2 a.m. and I need up to run errands in the morning while fairly cool...we hit 114 today and no clouds as it's clearing up from last weeks cloudiness...

Our prayers are with everyone and take care be safe and much luv to u all....:D

Test Results...

To begin with I apologize for not posting sooner today...the tests results on the CT Abdomen and Bone Scan whole body were favorable...the kidney tumor is still shrunk, the liver tumors are not shrunk but stable...these are similar to February's tests...again a mixed bag on the bone scan as in February also...with the bones of his right hip/leg where fractured which has a long rod and screws put in hip and knee...there is still slight growth as well as his left arm (humerus) that he fractured back in September when the cancer was first found...as well as both shoulders...

The doctor feels he is basically maintaining and as you all know there is no cure...just a slowing down of it...doc recommends he continues the "Sutent" as he is maintaining on it and the infusion of Zometa which will help him from having any more fractures...I should say less chance of fractures...because the more the cancer eats at his bones the more vulnerable he is to breaks...the doctor did ask if he is able to walk...yeah to some degree with the help of his walker, otherwise he's in the motor wheelchair...Tim and I were discussing this on the way home and he was actually surprised by that question as the doctor was surprised he is able to even put any weight on his legs...

The next concern is the quality of life...he can tell there are changes going on because his quality of life isn't where it should be...each day is a struggle for him...to deal with not being able to do anything...he can't sit for long, not able to go in yard/garage and tinker...his appetite varies from meal to meal let alone day to day...it's hard to sometimes come up with something he can or wants to eat or able to eat...I finally got him back on oatmeal for breakfast but this morning he only had a few bites...didn't feel like eating....just like tonight it was very simple but it hit the spot for him in small amounts...hash browns and scrambled eggs with melted cheese...like the way daughter fixes hers....:D He can't even enjoy a cup of coffee anymore...it doesn't set well with him...he's tried couple times going out for coffee with the guys this past 2 weeks since April 23rd fracture and hospitalization for surgery...he was so wore out and hurting...he is dropping weight again...down to 169...

His infusion of Zometa is tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. which is to be done every 4 weeks...and it'll only take bout 30 minutes after paperwork and setup...he doesn't need potassium this time so it won't be a 2 days process as potassium has to be given slowly over 4-6 hours....

Schedules and appointments are already setup for next month...before we possibly lose cobra in September because his medicare will kick in but also we can't afford even the 35% insurance premiums (instead of 100% originally) in September even if he didn't have medicare starting...so doctor said when he came in after September we would stop the Sutent and re-evaluate and make a decision then...what choices we have because we couldn't afford full price on Sutent...$7500 or the 20% $1875...as well as the infusion...it would be a matter of a quality of life and being comfortable...

I don't know what else to say...we continue to take one hour, one day at a time...trying to keep him comfortable, he's lost interest in a lot of things...movies, reading, interests isn't into learning the Internet...let alone the just tinkering on the cp...

I guess I better get off here...have to be up in five hours to get ready and take him to get the infusion by 9 a.m.
and good thing it wont take long...even the short jaunt to the hospital tomorrow will have him wore out and he'll probably sleep most the morning after we get back...

You all take care and have a good day tomorrow...our prayers go out to all near and far with each set of problems, issues, dilemmas and every where I look, read, hear....everyone has something happening/going on...our prayers especially go out to the Hughes family with their young man missing since July 13th...he is a distant cousin to our niece...May you all be blessed and be safe...love one another dearly...

Good night...Wow, I hear whale cries...tehe...that's just background music and ocean sounds....:)

Yeaaaa...

my email up and running again...about 99% of spam mail gone...whooo hooo

:D

Email...

I forgot to make a notation bout my email...my ISP was making some changes to those customers who are mail.mesquiteweb users Thursday night...I kept getting this pop up box so Friday after getting home from Georgetown...I called and got it corrected...or so I thought but when I kept checking my emails I wasn't getting anything so just assumed the filters on their equipment must be really filtering out all the spam mail...tehe...finally had daughter send me an email on Saturday and after an hour still hadn't received it...

I called my ISP again and in the mean time went online to see what their website had to say and followed the directions and everything okay...ISP finally got on phone and run all the diagnostics and did a test email and he also agreed I didn't and wasn't getting my email...that they are being held up in the system...unfortunately, the admin guy doesn't work weekends so it would have to wait til Monday to get it fixed...apologies accepted I fully understand...

So if you can hold on sending any emails til after Monday and I can shoot an email to everyone on Tuesday that all is fixed...yeah.....I hope and thanks :D

Results soon...

Hi Elf...eryone...this is to bring you'll up-to-date on Tim...he's been holding his own with some good days and some not so hot...the usual pain and trying to find what's going to work for him...we are finding out that pain patches just isn't his thing...the patches seem to make him feel sicker instead of helping take the pain away...

He's made an attempt to go for coffee twice now and always comes home hurting more than when he left and then sleeps all day...but he says it was worth it cause he got out...of course, the guys still call and stop by to check on him...Red who had hip surgery is coming along pretty good and has stopped by a couple times in last couple of weeks...Larraine still brings ma on Sundays when she doesn't have family in town...

We are now getting our super hot weather...I have made an attempt to be out only when need be and try to do in early mornings or after dark...hahaha...monsoon season doesn't seem to have hit us just yet...but last night it was all around us thunder and lightening and today cloudy but it is keeping most the heat out...at least this morning it did...it is sunn:D now...so it's gonna be another day of 116 here...

Now, for his six month tests...daughter came up to help out Friday, July 17th as we had to be in Georgetown all day pretty much to do them...up at 4 a.m. out of here at 6 a.m. to be there at 8 a.m. for his nuke shot and surprisingly enuff they took him in after three hours instead of four hours for the whole body bone scan and not sure what to say on it...he still lit up like a green Christmas tree with some areas brighter than others due to the tumors, so not sure if change or improvement or the same as in March...but ohhhhh, that sitting in the wheel chair was getting to him....then because he couldn't have anything to eat or drink six hours prior to the CT of the abdomen except clear liquids...he had to drink this chalky berry drink every 20 minutes over a two hour period and then they took him back to scan and then inject contrast and scan again...hopefully, the kidney is still shrunk and liver tumors stable if not shrunk...we finally got home about 2:30 p.m. and crashed for a few hours...he slept longer since his hip/leg was really hurting even with the pain meds by the time we got home...by bedtime he said it had pretty well eased up and feeling his self as much as can be...

We will be going to see the doctor on Wednesday July 22nd to get the results about 11:30 a.m. so I will post that evening what the outcome is...we are not sure if he will have another infusion the next day at the local hospital...a lot will depend on if the doctor recommends it again and also if his sutent will be continued or be changed to another cancer medicine....

Our prayers still go out to everyone in need near and far and prayers for Tim are still requested and of course we take one day at a time and try to make the most of them...Hope all is having a good summer and not getting too burnt and hot from the weather...tehe...take care, be safe and our thoughts are with everyone....:D