tom's blog

health insurance rocks

We've been getting quite a few bills these past few months. With the combination of my job changing, and at some point Anna used to use the insurance from her old job, we've had a few different insurance companies/IDs over the past few years. It has created a bit of a mess where some of the doctors/hospitals/etc have the old info. Normally, we just call the insurance company and they reprocess it. We have a couple little things that we need to pay, but nothing significant. Most of the bills we do see are for a couple hundred bucks or maybe a couple thousand. Well, we got the big one for the six week stay from the hospital.... the total is just about half-a-million bucks! Seriously, half-a-milly! Of which, we owe a grand total of $100... So, insurance rocks. If you don't have insurance, then go get some, because unfortunately you never know what's going to happen.

Anna had her checkup appointment today. All her numbers look great and the doctor is pleased with her progress. She's been feeling a bit crummy lately, but the doctor thinks its just everything catching up with her. Over the next five weeks she'll continue to go for her weekly checkup and then just take chemo pills at home. We're hoping she regains her appetite, as she really hasn't been eating all that much lately. She's lost a couple pounds over the last few weeks. She had a little bit of a fever on Sunday, but it stayed below 100, so we didn't need to make a trip to the hospital or anything.

My mom is down this week, which mean TJ gets to stay out here with us. We had fun with him yesterday watching the Super Bowl. I sure hope everyone saw my Steelers in the Super Bowl! Wooooo hoooooo! Couple weeks till pitchers and catchers.

it's cold outside

Anna has been doing really well. She had her checkup appointment today and the doctor is really pleased with her progress. All of her counts (hemoglobin, etc) are looking really good. She has another spinal tap procedure on Wednesday, and then has a few weeks where it is only chemo pills and no major treatments. This means, she'll be back and forth about once per week for her checkup, but should be pretty quiet. She's been getting around pretty good these days though still does have times when she needs to rest.

TJ and my mom were with us this past week, and then my mom went home on Saturday morning and TJ went to Anna's parents on Saturday night. It was extra tough to say goodbye this week for some reason. Normally, I'm comfortable with it (don't like it, but accept it). This week was very difficult. We were playing most of the day and I'm just amazed at how smart he is (how many things he knows, how well he communicates, etc). We have this book of "baby's first 100 words" or something like that, and he's able to get most of them these days. He's also getting really good at the English/Spanish thing. I guess my point was, that it really hit me emotionally to say good bye this week. He'll be back in a few days, but I (we) miss that little kid. I really never thought it would be this wonderful to be a Dad.

In other news... it's cold outside. My commute was a little messed up today. My mom had car problems, so that was dropped at the shop, so she took my car home and Anna needed the truck for her appointment. Which meant, I caught the bus from the corner and had to wait for a bit... Thankfully, we picked up my mom's car tonight, so there won't be any more waiting outside!

I'm looking forward to the Super Bowl and rooting for my Steelers. Not sure if anyone saw it, but that Fedor fight was pretty good. I was a surprised Mosley beat up Margarito. I'm looking forward to GSP/BJ Penn this weekend. That should be a good one.

Steelers win, 24 days till pitches & catchers, and all is well....

What's up peeps?

OK, we'll get the Anna stuff out of the way first... things are boring. (again, boring is good... but yes, it's very boring, so that's very good). She had her weekly checkup today. Doctor says she looks great and is doing great. They accessed her port today (that's the thing they used to use to administer some of the chemo and draw blood when it was very frequent). She was pretty nervous about that, but it seems to have gone pretty well. She's had a few nights lately where she has a tough time sleeping. The doctor isn't too worried about it yet... and they'll revisit once they get through a couple more spinal taps. I tend to have a few drinks and sleep through it all. All of her numbers remain in the acceptable range, and are even starting to move into the normal range.

She has another spinal tap on Wednesday. That will be number 4 of 5. Then, another one next week.. and then she has a very quiet period for the following 5 weeks or so where it is really just chemo pills, which are administered at home. After that, she has another pretty intense period for about 8 weeks, but we're not worried about that.... Looking ahead, if all remains on schedule, she should be on the once-a-month maintenance schedule by the summer time.

She's slowly added an extra pound or two and her hair is coming back in. It's still very boy-short, just beyond a buzz cut... but given that her hair is there and she's added a couple pounds, she's at a point where if you saw her and didn't know, you probably wouldn't suspect anything. Of course, looks are just looks and aren't what really matter here... but I think it makes her feel a lot better about herself when she looks in the mirror (I think she has looked beautiful the entire time, but that's a different story).

She's really looking forward to the Marc Anthony concert with Judy on Feb 14th. Still not sure how I'm getting left alone for Valentine's day... I think TJ and I are going to head out and see what kind of trouble we can get into.

Did everyone see the Steelers win?!?!?! Wow. I'm thrilled that they are back to the Super Bowl. Can't wait for the game.... and pitchers and catchers are now under a month away.

I realize I haven't been writing often, but there really isn't too much new with Anna. Since Monday is her normal appointment, I'll post at least on Monday nights. Been starting to think about writing about other topics lately, but felt a little guilty about it since you are all here to read the Anna updates. Who really care about my opinions on sports, politics, or general observations. Maybe I'll setup a different site or something.

Regardless of political affiliation, I hope everyone is approaching tomorrow's inauguration with optimism. I was reading in the Post today about the likely reference to Kennedy's "ask not... " speech. I like that... I think we should all think about what we can do. Way too many people in this country still with an odd sense of entitlement.

peace out (and my lambo is not blue)