Well, this morning began with a bang and bloody mess.
I was in abdominal pain when I woke up at 5 AM this morning, but bending over to clean up after Sachiko when she used the puppy pad had me leave a bigger mess on my clothes and on the floor than the mess she made. I called out for Vicky’s help, she watched over and cleaned up after the pups while I stripped out of my clothes and cleaned up after myself.
I posted my original email to Dr. H.A. Nguyen (my internal medicine doctor for over 16 years) as Doing My Best to Persist (UPDATED) this morning. Since writing that blog entry, I’ve had a number of conversations with Kaiser-Permanente, my wife, and our family & friends.
Last I spoke with Kaiser, they were still on a conference call between Oncology, Internal Medicine, and Infectious Diseases. I repeatedly asked to remain as outpatient rather than inpatient, but they are concerned, saying they want bloodwork, imaging, monitoring, and likely IV fluids. I had IV chemo scheduled for tomorrow, but that is likely going to be postponed a few weeks pending today’s results.
Long story short: I previously had Acute Bronchitis, they put me on strong doses of medications so I could remain home rather than hospitalized, it caused all my numbers to plummet so low they literally hit 0.00 mg/ul for WBC and ANC, so they gave me several days of IV transfusions and Zarxio, and now I’ve had bloody bowel movements and severe abdominal cramps for the last two weeks. 2-4 days is acceptable given my history, 2 weeks is seriously dangerous and concerning.
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Since we now have not only two Shelties, but THREE! Having family or friends nearby to watch, board, or housesit is of concern during my repeated hospital stays is becoming of increasing concern for us.
Eventually my cancer will claim me, despite our best efforts to keep it at bay. I wrote $15K/dog as a $45K “living trust” for the care, feeding, love of our dogs should I expire. I’ll need to update it this week and put it on file as public record in the State of Virginia with our attorneys at Friedlander & Friedlander and Celeste E. Scott, Esq. Both Vicky and our attorneys have copies of my Last Will and Testament, Durable Power of Attorney granted in perpetuity without termination to Victoria V. Foreman.
It seems excessive, but I’ve been hospitalized numerous times these last few years, and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve undergone chemo protocols, blood transfusions, and hospital stays. Just this year alone was $70K for a week in February with another $110K for another week. We’re still contesting $14K in medical bills that was billed to us rather than our insurance.
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