TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP
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Happy holidays, ladies, from my home to yours. I hope you are all surrounded by family and friends and PEACE.
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Coachvicky, thank you for the tips on tape. I will check into this. Have a great holiday.
Poseygirl, beautiful picture.
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KB870. LOL. No problem!
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Hi Everyone - When I had my BMX - with my sensitive skin issues and Shingle scars, I wore a pillow case against my skin, then the tube top over the pillow case - with a lot of carefree pads to help with the sores and rubbing. It was a mess, but it was the only way I could tolerate it. The nice people that made the Tube Tops - made them with ruffles and scratchy material.
KimCee - I am with you - I don't think I will be having Rads - but its months away - who knows How I will feel by then.
PoseyGirl - Oh SO pretty! Its starting to snow here in the Midwest. Suppose to get 2-3 inches. Yeah!
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Suburbs - sorry to hear you're struggling too. I knew DIEP would be more complex and I need to be more patient with the recovery process. Some days though I'm just so uncomfortable. This too shall pass....I hope that's true for for both of us.
Posey, beautiful picture!
Coach, I love your idea! I break out from some tapes and it seems one or more of my incisions are irritated all the time. I have been putting bee balm on my incisions and that seems to help the irritation. The pads would provide that extra layer of comfort I need plus eliminate the tape issue.
KimCee, you are definitely not whining or a wimp. Those expanders are pure torture. I only had mine in for 10 days so I feel for you having them in much longer. Hugs back to you. Thank God for you girls, you all give me strength and inspiration!
Merry Christmas everyone!0 -
Merry Christmas Everyone!
It was worth every drug, every surgery, every tear, every pain ... to wake up to celebrate this Christmas.
Stay strong.
Love, Vicky
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Good morning, and Merry Xmas to those who celebrate.
Poseygirl - Thanks for sharing the lovely photo.
Coachvicky - Sorry to hear the nail solution was so insanely expensive. I've been rubbing vitamin E oil (cheap stuff from Trader Joe's) into my dry, brittle nails/cuticles and it does seem to help.
Interesting to hear that others also have extreme sensitivity to tape, dressings, etc. I began using Embrace scar therapy, highly recommended by my plastic surgeon on the incisions from my bilateral DTI reconstruction and damaged the skin in attempting to remove/change the silicone dressings. More than a week later, what started as irritation/abrasion has escalated instead of resolving. I am using Aquaphor healing ointment and covering the areas lightly, but it's pretty clear to me that I will not be able to use this product during chemo. And I'm fairly sure that the time window for it to reduce scarring will have closed by the time I finish. Plan to call my surgeon's office next week to discuss.
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@ Coach have you typed that nail stuff into web? Looks like they have some good programs to help offset the cost for people whose insurance doesn't cover it
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PoseyGirl, beautiful picture, I love the wreath, so rustique. And snow! It is 5C and raining.
HapB, I hope you are having wonderful time with your daughter, I am glad you got a tree too.
deni, Suburbs, I am sorry about you having post surgery complications. This reconstruction business takes so much time and even if it will give some relief in terms of the new ones will be free from bc, you are unwillingly removing a part of your body and once they are gone they are gone. Hang in, it will get better, it has to, good things must happen to good people.
I have been recovering from my second EC, it is tough, I have one wbc shot left to dotomorrow and on Wednesday I hope I will feel better. Although the nausea period was longer this time despite Emend and other drugs, on Saturday I was about to faint in the kitchen and my blood pressure was 88/43. But I still managed to get some stuff done, yesterday I felt much better and we had Christmas Eve lunch and then the eldest with her BF went to his family and today they came back and I made turkey with gravy, my best so far, and potatoes pre-cooked and fried in butter and honey, they are gone. Very nice of my eldest and her BFwilling to spend time with us. I actually did a lot of cooking and I intend to do more for New Year but I like it and I would rather get exhausted and save the holidays than laying in bed and making is so obvious that I am sick and it gets in the way of us having a normal Christmas. So, the tree is there, a beautiful Nordmann fir, I baked and brined and we had great time playing board games, I am quite happy I managed to do all that even though I felt like ...
Next week I will have a meeting with my oncologist, she wants me to do the last EC and I do not want to, she says my blood work is ok but I say that I cannot get up for three first days and am nauseas for six days, body ache from wbc shots on top of it. We will see.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
Cherry
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Cherry, I am so happy and proud of all that you've done with your family this holiday! You are pushing through it and I think keeping busy helps. Plus it feels good to participate and I'm sure your family enjoyed all the time they spent with you. I pray the meds help with your nausea and you feel much better soon. I can't believe how much you accomplished with your BP so low. You are indeed a fighter. Hugs
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Morning everyone!
Cherry-sw - you certainly are a fighter. Good for you. Gives me inspiration. I'm so sorry you have nausea. I absolutely hate that feeling, but I've been lucky and not had so much. More of cramping and stomach aches.
I've been using VIT E as well on my fingernails and cuticles. (and my incisions) I mix the Vit E with Encerin cream and Aquaphor vasoline, into a gooey paste and spread it all over my body. including my head! (you can get it in tubs - generic at Walmart)
Hope everyone is having stress free Week. I'm going to lay on the couch and binge watch - something/everything. Take care! Rj
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hap - this study included stage 1 and 2 patients who were Her2-, and the use of genomic testing like OncotypeDx to determine whether chemo would benefit. It is not new, but instead the expected outcome of refinement in determining who needs chemo based on genomics rather than a clinically based decision based on staging information only. This study represents progress, but I am not sure I would call it a trend - rather, it is the result of the use of improved diagnostic tools.
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hap - yes, good ones!
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deni1661, I am convinced that the DIEP surgery is even more complicated after chemo and, of course, even more so with a triple positive diagnosis and extended therapies. I am counting my blessings having had immediate reconstruction. We'll get there with time and as you say lots of patience. Sending healing thoughts.
Cherry-sw, thank you for thinking of us. You are doing great and so close to the finish line for the really tough chemo part. Herceptin only is really a walk in the park compared to other therapies when cardio toxicity is not an issue. What a trooper! It's amazing that you could function with such a low blood pressure. Early on I was annoyed with terms like warrior and survivor. I just wanted to get over with everything and resume my life. There is so much truth in those terms. I see that now. And while you have low BP and are nauseated, thoughts and words may not be too comforting, but, rest assured and believe it when I say that you might hardly remember the really bad days. You will just marvel that you made it to the other side.
SpecialK, as always, you have all the relevant info at the ready. You have taught me so much on this topic. I appreciate all your posts.
Coachvicky, thanks for your continued inspiration and fighting spirit.
All, I can't believe 2017 is nearly over. I would have never made it without my family and friends and this board. Thank you
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Hi Everybody!
Thx HapB - for the suggestion for PBS binge watching! things are getting a little boring / -14 degrees out windchill and my relatives have a cold, so I'm stuck at home by myself. Which usually doesn't bother me - but I'm getting a little restless.
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Hello all! It's been a while since I've posted here. I have a question regarding Herceptin costs and assistance. Has anyone received copay assistance from Genentech? How did it work? I don't know if I'm reading the information on their website correctly, but it looks like they offer $25 per treatment up to $25,000 per year? That won't really help me as I'll use up my deductible in the first treatment and will still owe my $10,000 out of pocket for the year. Based on what I've seen from my chemo treatments this year, my hospital bills the insurance company approximately $29,000 for each Herceptin infusion. Does anyone know if there are other options to help pay for this? On top of the stress of starting a new year with a new deductible, my employer also switched insurance providers and HSA banks, so I'm dealing with that as well!
I'm happy to say I made it through my 6th of 6 TCH treatments on December 20. Christmas was a bit dicey, but I got through it and am looking forward to getting stronger every day. Hope you all are doing well!
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Thank you Suburbs ... this is such a great group of women.
Vicky
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toughcookie, are you saying that Herceptin, which is given at the hospital, is being billed to you as a drug?f I thought medical insurance covered stuff you took in hospital, and drug prescription insurance covered drugs you take at home.
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Toughcookie, ouch. That is a high out of pocket. My last Herceptin will also cover my deductible and put me over the top for my medical out of pocket limit as well. I would ask at your cancer center to see if they can help reaching out to Genentech. Also, you could ask about help available from the American Cancer Society or other local resources. Congratulations on getting through TCH 6. You will soon turn a corner and every day you will feel a bit better.0
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toughcookie, are you sure the $29,000 is just for the Herceptin and not the whole chemo treatment? My last round of chemo cost $49,000. I am billed $7400 for just tne Herceptin infusion which I get now and my insurance pays $3,000. Is that your whole family deductible? When we were on Obamacare our deductible was$13,000. That was for our family, there was no Indiv deductible. I get insurance through my job now and we have Individual deductibles.
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toughcookie, i thought i understood it that all you would pay was $25. I had to switch insurance in the middle of my treatments and my first ins paid the General 85% of it after deductible meet. My 2nd ins paid all of it. They grouped it under "needed immunization " ??? Wasn't gonna argue.🤔
When i have herceptin alone the bill is $21000. That's broke down :$650 for chemo chair, the rest for the drug alone so yeah its spendy.
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sorry maybe I didn’t explain correctly. $10,000 is my family out of pocket max. I met it last year before they started paying 100%. They had been paying 90% after meeting my individual deductible, which is $6,000 but then my husband got kidney stones and ended up in the hospital so we soon met the out of pocket max. It will work the same this year. I’ll meet my individual deductible of $6,000 and then insurance will pay 90% until I get to $10k and then they’ll cover 100%. I am on payment plans for all the charges from 2017 and I hope that I can add the charges for 2018 to the same payment plan, but it’s doubtful. It was a nightmare getting all the individual bills consolidated, and I ended up with 4 payment plans total.
I re-read the info on Genentech’s website and it looks like I pay the $25 and they cover the rest. I called the oncologist office to find out what my options are and to get the actual cost of just herceptin. Regardless of the individual cost, I’ll quickly meet my out of pocket max in just a few treatments and I still need exchange surgery and an oopherectomy. The bills will just continue!
I had a choice for a lower deductible through my work and after running the numbers, believe it or not, it seemed that it would cost me more with all the things I still need done. I think it will be a better option in future years, but the lower deductible choice covers 90% from the start but still has a $4000 deductible before covering 100%. Medical costs in the US are absolutely ridiculous. To think that my decisions for medical care are partially driven by cost is astounding. I honestly never really considered it because I’ve never been sick before, I didn’t even have a primary care doc!
Sorry for the rant. Happy new year everyone! Here’s to a better 2018!
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toughcookie21, this is not a rant at all. I had no idea that those who have medical insurance still have to pay that much as deductibles. At least I thought that people who had medical insurance were better off when they got sick, but all these astronomical figures you still have to pay even if you have been paying to insurance company for years.Medical care insurance in US is a disgrace. But when I think about those who do not have any.
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HapB, I believe everybody had to have the same health insurance doesn’t matter whether you are rich or poor. Cherry
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Medicare is also a form of socialized medicine, for which I am extremely grateful! I had no idea of the actual cost of cancer treatment to the individual when one has private or employer-based insurance. It's sickening that this is how it works.
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Actually, you can pay for Part A if you don't have the 10 year work history. ACA also has costs to the user in most cases, although on a sliding scale.
And If Medicare had no cost to the government/ tax payers, Congress wouldn't be talking about cutting it!
Single payer is my hope and my dream!
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Hmm, no, taxpayers pay for Medicare. Medicare is funded by payroll taxes (paid by workers like me), premiums and surtaxes from beneficiaries (like you, HapB), and general revenue (e.g. from income taxes).
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Weird. My husband and I combined pay much less than $500 per month for Medicare, and we both have the top Part B and F and I have the top prescription coverage.He gets his prescriptions through the VA because he served in Vietnam and has several Agent Orange conditions.
Confusing
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We do have F
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