UT & Billing

   Well, back to the drawing board I guess. I got a letter from a Collecting Agency Saturday on the now 542 dollar charge. I will call Humana first to see what they think and how I should proceed. They called about a month ago and said I had not paid one of the Co-Pays and I needed to pay them 40.00. I asked if that would settle the account, and they said it would.

  I asked if they took a check over the phone, most places will, but they said they don't. I ran an Online Farm & Pet Store for years and I did. They said they needed a Credit Card or Debit Card. I had this bad feeling about giving them anything they could charge more than once, or what they wanted to charge. I paid them just to get them off my back, but I mailed a check to them after they sent me a bill. A month later this thing comes and it says they will be charging 10% interest, which is illegal, so now I am questioning just how reputable these doctors are and who they deal with, and work under. I know them charging more than Medicare pays is wrong, especially since they double-billed some things, coded other things wrong, and attempt to charge what they wanted to instead of what the agreed plan.

   This also brings into question not only their reputation and ethics at University Pathologists but UT as well. One has to wonder, does UT not know these guys are damaging their credibility? They already lost them a patient with their sloppy work. I never thought I'd say this, but I am so glad that I chose Morristown Hamblen Hospital and the Covenant Health System. We have had no billing issues there and great service. Even the name says they will try to make you survive cancer. UT is just the Cancer Center while Covenant has named theirs Thompson Survival Cancer Center.      

12-31-2019

Last post for this year.

   I had another infusion of KeyTruda today. The next one is in three weeks and I will meet the new doctor...again. She will be the third Chemo doctor since I've been going there. I am considering that one will be my last one, the bone pain it causes is intense at times. It is different than joint pain, a different ache.

 So this next year, God willing, I want a garden. It has been two years since I have had one and we are getting low on the food we put back. Greenbeans are longer than that, it has been about 2011 or 2012 the last time we grew them and we are getting low on them. Plus I want to know I still can and I know there is a way, I just have to find it.

   This could also be the last year we raise cattle. Our catch and load system isn't cutting it, beef prices are too low (except in the stores), and I'm not sure how long I can do it. The last calves we sold went for .80 to 1.20 per lb, in the store they are 4.50 to 8.00 per lb, and ours really are grass-fed.
Middlemen and grocery stores are the ones making money while Farmers get starved out.

I am shocked at just how much lung use I have lost and apparently dead lung tissue stays dead. I will have to relearn to use what I have left, but I can do it.

Happy New Year      

12-05-2019

  It has been a while since my last post, not much has changed. I'm still doing KeyTruda every 3 weeks, so that ain't bad. It takes about 45 minutes for the actual infusion but about 2 hours due to having blood drawn and tested. My only side effects so far appear to be intense bone pain. It isn't the type of pain like Rheumatoid Arthritis, which I do have, but a deep bone itself pain away from the joints. The other one is it appears to be aggravating this Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, but that could also be the weather. (I'm hoping).

  I still rely on O2 even though the cancer is gone due to the damage it left behind, scar tissue. Now it is funny but I never knew once the tissue happens it does not heal and regenerate, that part stays dead. I knew this with the heart but I didn't know it did the same with the lungs. So I will always be short-winded and due to that, I will always need my emergency inhaler and O2 nearby. I have learned to take it with me on the Tractor when I feed. If I exert myself I can tell it, but let me explain.

  I start to feel like I'm smothering, then my heart starts racing due to not enough oxygen. It does feel just like a heart attack and Denise tells me it could cause a heart attack, especially since mine is damaged from 2 previous heart attacks. The first one being the one that did the most damage. Aside from exertion, certain things can also shut my breathing down like straw or hay, especially wet. Dr. Rathfoot said my throat was about 1/4 the size opening of a normal throat. He said that if I walked in the ER and he saw me, not knowing my history, he would panic. That is from the radiation damage that occurred due to throat cancer treatments. The bottom part of one lung is pretty much shot, it was the one the tumor had cut off. I'm sitting here typing this out with O2 and after I finish I will do a breathing treatment.

   Having said all that, I do suggest doing conventional therapy. If I had gone with natural treatments I don't think I would be here today. I believe there has to be a better way but for now, there isn't, or at least nothing we know of. One has a choice of conventional or natural treatments, and there are those who have done natural and were cured, but they are few and far between. The best we can do is to make sure we find a good doctor and hospital with good people working there. Even with this, one has to realize that God is in control and has faith, not to be healed but there is a better place waiting. He may heal you and may not, but it is in our favor which it will be. I have no idea why he has been with me through 4 cancers and 2 heart attacks and I still stand while mom died from 2 cancers, perhaps what she was sent to do she accomplished. I know she is happy and I will see her again one day and that it was for her good, not a punishment but a reward. I had someone on FaceBook say I was an inspiration and strength to withstand what I have so far in 59 years. I thanked her for the kind words but said if I am strong it isn't my strength but God's she sees, as I can do nothing on my own, but He that I serve that strengthens me. One day He will say enough and I will be gone, and that is OK too. Meanwhile, I stand not of my own strength but of Him that created me.         

11-22-2019

  Well, I had an appointment with Dr. Rathfoot Tuesday. He scoped me then read the Pet Scan report and explained what congested means. Basically, that is the part of the lung tissue that is scared and unusable, and apparently, I have quite a lot of it. The scar tissue in my throat from throat cancer treatments has left my airway about 1/3 -1/4 the diameter of a normal throat. That is where my shortness of breath comes from.  That was in the morning. A quick Costco and Sams trip then we headed home to unload and begin part 2 of the day, the Keytruda infusion.

I had planned on putting this up Wednesday, I was worn out Tuesday, but I made the mistake of getting a sausage/egg/cheese biscuit at Wygles. That didn't turn out so well as I caught food poisoning and spent the day wondering which end to put on or around the toilet. Thank God it was a small one.

That put me to yesterday trying to get some stuff done I didn't get done the day before.    

11-11-2019 Pet Scan

   Today I had a Pet Scan done. The last infusion Dr. Ghandi said there was a lot of scar tissue, but the tumors were gone. I withheld this info as he was looking at an X-Ray that Dr. Anderson was looking at and Dr. Anderson didn't say that. So I was left to wonder if Dr. Ghandi was just being positive.

  The Pet Scan done today showed no disease, anywhere but did show a lot of scar tissue left behind. I am truly once again blessed. I go sometime next year for what I hope to be the final MRI of the brain. So far I've had 3 MRIs and none have shown the 2 tumors that 5 doctors saw. They say the medicine is better these days. I say God still works miracles and is still in charge.   

Been sick the last few days. Tonight through was my first throw-up. Extreme Migraines and back and Bone Pain. As it stands now I'll probably have to get my Pain Pills refilled eventually. It has been cold and damp lately.

The wooly worms are dark this year signally a bad winter, and so it appears to be coming in like a lion.

I bought a Quadrunner from Mark. He said he was going to sell it since he will probably never be able to ride it again. I fear I may be the same.  

10-31=2019

 Well, Tuesday I had another Keytruda infusion. I was down pretty much on and off Wednesday and partially today. It seems I have picked up an intestinal bug and another day (3 now) of Migraines, which I think is coming from my sinuses.

  Dr. Gandhi talked with me and says he believes the X-Ray done a while back show scar tissue and not tumors. Strange. I have a Pet Scan on the 11th which should tell the tale. I really feel my breathing is diminished. He also wants me to see Dr. Zic at Vanderbilt to make sure the KeyTruda isn't making my C TCL worse. I used to go to Zic, but he is a far drive, so I went to a doctor in Knoxville. He has insisted and Denise also agrees, so Nashville here we come. It will be sometime after yje 11th.

  I went to Dr Demonia today  (spelling ?) and he said my foot showed bone growth and that 3-4 weeks more of the boot should be used. He said I would not have to do a follow-up since it is healing and where it broke nothing but time can heal it. 3 Doctors this week and all bearing good news. I'll take that.