Research and Momentum

Does anybody else research things to death?

I spent the weekend googling every oncologist that will be in our network, checking out their profile on Healthgrades and any other place I could find reviews. Narrowed it down to two, which I then cross checked on the company website where they're both on staff. I was particularly impressed with one doctor from all the research, so reached out this week to see if he'd be willing to take me on as a patient. And Wednesday I found out he will! I'm so relieved. 

My first appointment with him will be May 8th, which gives us time to get moved.

Yes, you read that right. We're moving! TO NEVADA!

Nevada, where the air is dry and warm. Ahhhhhhh.

We started talking about moving when I was so sick in January and February. I told Ivan I didn't think I could survive another winter in Indiana. But then the whole cancer thing came up, and we thought we'd have to stay here for treatment.

Something I haven't even mentioned on here is that our son-in-law got a job in Nevada two months ago. Tina and the kids remained here in Indiana while she got the house ready to put on the market, and she did such an amazing job that the house sold in less than 48 hours! Seriously, click on this link to see photos of their home, and you'll see why it sold so quickly! For over list price! I'm so proud of her.

The thought of having both our kids and all our grandbabies on the west coast while we were stuck here in the Midwest was almost more than I could bear. It was downright depressing. Also depressing was the thought of being here through the end of the year, having my immune system (even more) compromised by the cancer treatments, and then trying to deal with another cold, damp Indiana winter. Ugh!

So my wonderful husband jumped into action and started making phone calls. Pretty sure they shuffle you from place to place to discourage people from actually following through on their quest with the behemoth that is our health care system. They wear you down until your arm and hand go numb from holding the phone, your mind shuts down from listening to endless elevator music while on hold, and you fall prostrate to the ground in defeat. Ivan is persistent by nature, though, and since 90% of his job is done on the phone, he was not deterred. And his persistence paid off! He finally found a human actually willing and able to tell him just how to go about getting our insurance coverage shifted from Indiana to Nevada. That was a week ago.

Since then the momentum has really picked up speed!

Getting my doctor lined up was the first thing on my list, but there's a lot more that needs to be done. The purging and the packing have begun, plus I still have some appointments coming up, and Ivan has a whole lot on his plate too.  It's going to be a pretty intense couple of weeks!

This move is more than just moving across country; Ivan will be looking for a new job, I'll be starting treatment for the cancer (looks like chemo will come first), and there will be all that goes along with living in a new place. So if you've been praying, keep doing it! We need strength and wisdom as we move forward.

And about that research...

I also learned that it's a good idea to get any dental work done before you start treatment; having bad teeth, and all the bacteria that goes with them, makes chemo tougher. Did you know that? I had no idea. See what I mean about researching things to death? But I'm glad to have found this out, because I want to do what I can to (hopefully) make treatments a little easier to handle. What that means in practical terms is that I have one to two dental appointments each week this month, to take care of multiple crowns, some fillings and a root canal. My mouth is a hot mess of failed crowns and fillings done back in the 80s and early 90s. Before we came back to the states, I'd been getting dental work done in Argentina, poco a poco as we had the money, but it's a slower process there. Here I've found a dentist with all the latest equipment who is capable of making crowns on site, so he does a whole section of my mouth at a time. Isn't technology wonderful?!

Nevada wasn't even on our list of potential places to move when we started talking about it, but with Kyle's new job there, it moved to the top of our list. Aside from the climate (a definite plus for my health), there are also other benefits to moving to Nevada. We already have family in the area, including a sister-in-law, two nieces and their husbands. In fact, one of our nieces opened her home to Tina and family until they can find a place of their own. Plus there are always cheap tickets in and out of Las Vegas, meaning it will be much easier to visit our son and his family in California (double score!).

I can't understate what a huge benefit it is, finding a doctor I feel is a good fit for my needs. During my research, I was especially impressed with what a particular oncologist had written for his bio page. Y'all know how I feel about going to extreme measures. When I read this, I knew he was exactly the doctor I wanted treating me: "In my field, outcome is generally judged by what we call 'overall survival'. In trying to achieve this goal, we often forget what the patient is going through to buy him or her a few extra weeks. This is why 'quality of life' is equally being addressed along side the survival benefit in today's clinical trials."

Yes and Yes!

Y'all, the next few weeks are going to be inSaNe! We appreciate your prayers soooooo much!