insurance pays off

another meeting with the oncologist yesterday. dr. stuart told us that they still haven't determined an exact plan for the chemotherapy because they haven't gotten any results back from pittsburgh. "pittsburgh?" we said. "yes, we sent samples from the tumor to pittsburgh and are waiting to get the results before we develop a treatment plan." perhaps pittsburgh is too busy worrying about the future of their young superbowl-winning, no-helmet-wearing, throwing-touchdown-passes-along-with-caution-to-the-wind quarterback to pay attention to a tissue sample from some guy in massachusetts (AKA: patriots land).

dr. stuart also refused to tell us any of the potential side effects of the chemo treatment. he was quite determined to focus on the task at hand: the upcoming radiation therapy. it still is sounding like there will be minimal side effects from that, beyond the vague nausea, a possible rash on matt's fingers and toes (treated with over-the-counter "udder cream"), the daily drive into boston, and the five permanent tattoos. matt will also be taking a chemotherapy pill while he is getting the radiation treatment. this pill will help to weaken any cancerous cells and make them more susceptible to the radiation. three years ago, the only way to administer this chemo medication would have been for matt to wear a small pump that injected him with a constant IV supply. we're fortunate that they found a way to encapsulate the drug (although it sounds like pumps of chemo drugs are likely in his future. more on this when we hear from pittsburgh...). the doctor also prescribed some anti-nausea medication to counteract any side effects. the total costs for a one month supply of these two drugs: $2754.03. thank goodness for co-pays ($25 each).

the value of these medicines brings up an interesting point and one that i perhaps shouldn't be discussing on my blog and matt will likely chastise me for this when i get home tonight so this message probably won't be here tomorrow so feel lucky that you got to read it before time ran out: where do we stash the drugs? they're worth more than most other things in the house. we know, based on lessons learned from the william jefferson incident, that the freezer is no good. plus, our freezer is so full of last year's zucchini (why haven't i used it yet?) and a giant chunk of what appears to be corned beef that there is no room for pill bottles. i was thinking maybe sealed in a plastic bag and buried in the compost heap, but it seems cruel to make matt dig through our nauseating food scraps in order to find his anti-nausea medication. i wish we had a bag of asps- then we could just hide the medicine in with the snakes and hope that all the drugs coursing through matt's veins would counteract the effects of any venomous bites. i called petsmart but they don't sell asps and wouldn't recommend keeping them in a bag even if they did. at the farm this weekend, michelle seemed to be inordinately afraid of chickens, so maybe we could put them somewhere in the chicken coop. would potential thieves also be scared of four hens with cauterized beaks? probably not. but we could rest assured knowing that we didn't have to worry about michelle pilfering the pills.

i guess this is a question we'll just have to spend some time pondering. i'd say that suggestions are welcome, but we couldn't take your suggestion because then you would know where the pills are. this is something we're just going to have to do on our own.