I'M OFF THE BOTTLE!!!

I like dizziness

My chemo doctor, Dr. Goodwin, had some great news for me.  I've been approved for health plan coverage for the chemo pills.  She first mentioned this as a possibility at our first meeting in December but I dismissed it as a pipedream when I got the PICC line inserted last Friday.  Then, on Monday afternoon came the chemo bottle and I figured that was that.

This was my first appointment without The Wife.  Erinn, upon hearing of this, was immediately suspicious.  Was I weaseling out of this stupid bottle?  Who brought this up?  Was I begging to be put on the pills?  She made phone calls to the hospital to check up on my story.  Her girlfriend, Shannon, a hospital administrator at CHEO (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario) reacted the same way.   Patty cannot be trusted.  Erinn was a tech-company accountant and with her girlfriend working in a hospital, I'm badly outclassed.  They're pretty much doctors themselves.  My recount of what my doctor told me has to be verified if The Wife wasn't there.

Well, no more!  I gots me my pills and went to the hospital this morning to have the PICC line and bottle removed.  I had to bring the pills as proof so they could remove the line.  I felt instantly free.  I went home to celebrate with a nap or a shower.  The nap won.  The shower came after the nap.


Funny thing about napping, I've been doing a lot of it.  I woke up in the afternoon to eat some lunch and head back to the hospital for my daily radiation zap.  I left feeling good and able to do up the car seatbelt without worrying about pinching my chemo bottle.  By the time I got home, I needed to sleep.  And I slept like the dead.  Erinn woke me for supper but I was groggy all through supper.  Back to bed for my third nap of the day.  How does one get anything done???  I have no time!  Must nap!!

Maggie and Kate at the cottage

It's just as well that the bottle is gone.  Last night I was awake and Erinn headed out for a couple of hours to get a break while I looked after the kids.  My bottle, being piped into me all the time, was an accident waiting to happen.  Maggie (3) and Kate (5) each surprised me by grabbing my waistband bottle bag and hanging off it.  I've had to protect my arm where the line goes in cause they like jumping on daddy.




I don't understand how the dollars are compared between the PICC chemo bottle feed and the pills.  I'm told by Dr. Goodwin that both work but one is difficult to get coverage for.  The PICC line to me seems very expensive.  I had the line installed in a hospital.  The following day I visited a medical clinic so the line could be inspected and the dressing changed.  Three days later the bottle was inserted to the line in a hospital.  Accessories given.  A courier delivered one box of supplies to our house.  The next day, Tuesday, a home care nurse came over to inspect the chemo bottle, change the dressings and follow up with more instructions.  It was a one hour visit.  As I left for radiation, another courier came to the door and delivered six more boxes of PICC line supplies.  Wow.  The system works and events, so far, have been well coordinated, but I don't know if all these expenses are considered.  Those pills have to be rather expensive to eclipse the true cost of the bottle. 


Add the cost of freedom sans bottle---priceless!!!