another infusion, insurance denial, and viral laryngitis

After a few weeks of status quo, I guess it is time for some excitement!

Jamie came down from CT to join me for my infusion on 10/29/19. She did not come empty handed! She brought us apples, apple pie, apple butter, peach butter, apple sauce, dried apple slices, and quarts of apple cider! I am all set up to rely on that "an apple a day..." adage. ;)

Our meeting with Dr. Drake and Tiye was fine. They let me know that my Thyroid was more active again, so I could expect a change in my medication dosage. 

I asked some questions about exercise and the future, and basically all the answers were "let's wait until we have the results from the PET scan."

I let them know that my back has been hurting occasionally, and Tiye immediately said "Dr. Drake is going to want to move up your PET scan date." I said "No thanks." because Elizabeth is coming from VA for that one. I really did not want to change the schedule.  I lost that battle, and they moved the PET scan to Monday 11/4.

This, however, was all for naught because Aenta denied the PET scan and told my team that they never approve PET scans for re-staging RCC ever. So, I guess I am not getting that PET scan after all. I, of course, find this out at 4:51pm on Friday. I am supposed to be at the center at 7:15am on Monday. The current plan is to have another MRI sometime next week. I am not sure what that means in terms of understanding how we will move forward.

I also saw the dermatologist who suggested more ways to manage my rash and deal with all the skin-related side-effects from my treatment. 

The infusion was fine and done in a reasonable amount of time, hurrah!  But, you know I can't leave the hospital unscathed: I think he nurse who drew my blood in the morning poked through the vein because I have a very large and ugly bruise for a very small blood draw!! This is just my luck. 

The next day, I began to feel sick and come down with a cold. I had a fever on Wednesday night with headache, sore throat, congestion, etc. I stayed home from work on Thursday and slept all day. I am glad that I rested, but it was awful to miss Halloween--the highest holiday of childhood!

I went to work on Friday, but began to feel sick again by midday. This meant that instead of going on my planned trip VA, I went to get a strep test at my primary care. The only good news is that the rapid strep came back negative.  My doctor thinks it is just a viral laryngitis (i am interpreting that to be fancy words for "a cold with a sore throat".)

Now, I am resting at home, eating popsicles (Thanks E-K!), and hoping this clears up ASAP. I am so over being sick. I don't really care for this extra layer of sickness.

I will also be spending my weekend watching the wonderful generosity of my family and friends supporting this GoFundMe page. It is for a support group for those who are pregnant after losing a child. It is hosted by my brother Beau and my sister-in-law Lanie who are expecting a son in December--a little over a year after losing their son Jude very unexpectedly. Please consider supporting this wonderful group.