ZACHARY'S PAGE

Welcome to Zachary's Web Page. It has been provided to keep everyone updated about his progress. It is also the gathering place for the Cancer Sucks Club!

Journal

Saturday, May 10, 2008 3:25 PM CDT

I was up this morning at 5:30am putting the final touches on the book. It looks like I will be taking the self-publishing route. I placed the order today with a reputable firm, and I should be hearing from a consultant next week. My manuscript has been tweaked for the billionth time, and I believe that it is ready to be sent over to them so that they can set up a proof for me to approve. There are some templates that I can choose from for the cover and the interior layout, and then I will have a book. It sounds like they may be able to start printing within 4 – 6 weeks, but I am not making any promises.

The book will be a 6” X 9” perfect bound paperback book. It will be available through all of the major online book sellers (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Borders, etc., and I will have copies here for anyone who would like to get one autographed. (You never know…..that signature could be worth something some day.) I will keep you all posted on the book as things happen, but mainly I wanted to let you know that it is done, and ready to be printed!

Medial update:

We had Zachary’s counts checked on Friday, and he has definitely started the decent towards low counts. His ANC was 1,300, which is less than half of what it has been running. His platelets held their ground nicely and actually went up slightly from earlier in the week. (Mon. - 156,000, Fri. – 186,000.) I spoke with one of our nurses from up north and she is of the opinion that we should be able to avoid needing platelets (someone spit a few times and mumble in Yiddish for me…I’m just too tired,) and she also thought that it was unlikely we would need stem cells. (Once again, spit, spit, spit, mumble.)

As for needing blood, she felt there was a good chance of that, but getting blood shouldn’t be a huge deal. (Spit, mumble, etc.)

For those of you taking an active role in the cancer game, you are probably familiar with Neupogen, the injected medicine that is used to raise the white blood count. We used it years ago when we were doing the harsh chemo thing. Now, they have come out with Neulasta, a new version of that drug that only has to be given once, and it lasts for about two weeks. (The Neupogen had to be given every day for several days to achieve good results.)

When we were in Philly, they had told us that Zachary could (and should) get the Neulasta when the time came, because it is easier on the patient, only getting the one injection versus several. Our local oncologist had also recommended this drug, and even went to the trouble of calling it in to our pharmacy for us so that it would be there when we needed it. The other local oncologist, that is checking counts for us, gave us some eye-opening news on Friday regarding Neulasta. There was some discussion as to whether Zachary’s counts were low enough to warrant starting the drug, and apparently they stock it at the doctor’s office. I mentioned that our other doctor had called it in to the pharmacy, and the nurse looked at me like I was clinically insane. She said, “Do you have any idea how much that drug is going to cost you?” Of course, I did not. No one had mentioned anything about the price, I just figured since it was a single dose, it HAD to be cheaper than the Neupogen was years ago. WRONG. I called the pharmacy and the tech said, this; “We received the order from your doctor and tried to call you late last night. We don’t stock that drug, it’s a special order, and you have to prepay the $3,600.00 that is costs.”

After the nurses were able to awaken me with the smelling salts, I took a few moments and tried to compose myself. Zachary’s medical insurance does NOT have a pharmacy plan. So, we have to pay upfront for his meds and then submit the bills, and hope to get a small percentage back, after waiting months, and months. Unfortunately it was a Friday when this was taking place, and I had left my other wallet at home, you know, the one that I keep $4,000.00 in just in case I need to buy some stupidly expensive medicine. Not wanting to spend $4.00/gallon to drive back home, I asked if there was another option. The nurse informed me that if they used THEIR Neulasta, it would get billed through Zachary’s insurance (which we had already met our out-of-pocket maximum on for the year), and then we wouldn’t have to front any money.

(Don’t pressure me, I don’t like pop quizzes. I never do well on pop quizzes.)

OK….so my choices are:

A). Rob a bank in an attempt to come up with the $3,600.00 that I would need to buy the medicine from our pharmacy. Risk going to jail, or worse getting shot for attempted robbery. Risk bankruptcy and certain ruin.

B). Let the doctor’s office bill my insurance company.

(No hints please, I can get this…..I CAN GET THIS ONE.)

OK…..I’ll choose…………….B?

YEAH!!!!!!! I chose wisely for once.

(Spit, spit, spit….mumble.)

Meanwhile, I have discovered an anomaly that I cannot explain. I was born in February of 1963. That makes me 45 years old. I can do the math, every year in February, I add one year to my previous age, and then I know how old I am for the next 12 months, and the cycle goes on like that. So, if time has been moving forward at a constant rate, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, all advancing the same way they have for centuries. Then why does it seem as though I have aged considerably more than 1 year over the past 12 months? I feel like I am 65 years old.

Something is wearing me down. Something is draining me. Something is sucking the very life out of me. Hmmmm. I wonder what it can be.

Oh well, life goes on.

While reading the guest book entries today, I noticed that a few of you commented that you “didn’t realize Zachary had been adopted.” Let me clear that up for you.

Rebecca is Zachary’s biological mother. She had Zachary when she was 17 years old. I met them when she was 18, and Zachary was about 9 months old. We started dating shortly after that. (I like those middle-age girls, 18 – 25.) (Oh boy, I’m going to take some crap for that comment.) So Zachary has only known me as a father. About three months after we got married, (Zachary was 4 at the time) I adopted him to make it official. So, I hope that clears things up. (When my book comes out, all of this is explained, (and I used small words so as not to confuse you.))

Medical update II:

Zachary’s energy level has decreased somewhat. He is napping for about 3 hours or so every day, which is not normal for him. We also found out that he has lost about 6lbs. since he started the new treatment two weeks ago. He lost 3lbs. in Philly and 3lbs. this past week down here. We started giving him Carnation with his milk, to help with calories. Today I purchased a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream cake for Mother’s Day for tomorrow, so that should help too. My folks are coming down and we are going to cookout here, to avoid the crowds.

I hope everyone has a safe and pleasant Mother’s Day. You should all be serving your moms breakfast in bed, and pampering them all day. (Like I even have enough energy to wipe my own butt half of the time.)

Well, there you have it. An update. I hope I didn’t leave anything out. This next week should be interesting with his counts dropping. I’ll update as things happen. Let’s all hope for the best, (spit, spit, spit, mumble.)

Scott

Hospital Information:

Home
650 NE Lima Vias
Jensen Beach, FL 34957
Unlisted

Links:

E-mail Author: srfinestone@hotmail.com

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