The Kindness of Strangers

 Entry 1    5:28 p.m.


CA 19-9

Jenny looked at her CA 19-9 level today while out. I was working. She began texting me. She asked me why her tumor marker, over 37k, is so high. She told me she doesn't want to die. I don't really know how to respond. I say, lamely, I don't want you to die, either.  But she has receded, since we moved, back to believing completely that she is going to beat this terminal disease, through sheer will.  I must say, she is well exceeding her life expectancy. 

This disease kills almost everyone with her precise diagnosis.  The only way it would not kill her sooner rather than later, is if the mets on her liver went away, she got no new metastases elsewhere, and the tumor and any cancerous lymph nodes were then removed. That would, more likely than not, only extend her life a couple years, and the surgery is brutal--they remove, resection and redirect many of the organs of the digestive tract. It is fraught with risk, and she is so far from that every happening it isn't even worth contemplating.

Sick Leave Donations

Jenny, who received enough sick leave last year to get her a year's pay, is now only 320 hours away from a second year covered by paid sick leave donations. As it is, she now has enough hours to keep her health insurance for the rest of the school year. This is wonderful news, of course. Lots of love for Jenny in the district. As her principal said in the first annual performance review back in 1996 or so, "I'd say she walks on water, but only one person has ever done that."  I want that kind of loyalty.

I finished two long reports today that have occupied my time the last several days. Now, as per usual, I am home alone.  Abby is downstairs in her lair, Leiney and Jenny out. Two rambunctious dogs wrestle and run around this huge main floor. I sit here alone, marinating in 55. I don't think I like it very much.  I 

Reed and Malloy are playing on the television chasing two Negros on foot  who were robbing a bank (hey, it was the 60s).  "Shoot, pig, go ahead and shoot." Simpler times. Bayless, one of the perps ratted out his partner, who then calls Malloy a big fat pig.  Malloy is not happy. "All we wanted was a bottle of wine."  I could deconstruct white supremacy over the last 50 years just by unpacking this one episode.  

On My Knees

Kaiser called yesterday to calendar the MRI on my left knee.  The first date offered was October 3, at 11:30 p.m.   I shit you not.  I asked her to repeat the date and time.  I wasn't surprised by the three week wait, but the time?  Kaiser is insane.  The next option was 7:30 a.m. the next morning. I took it, immediately. I actually have to arrive at 7:00 a.m.  But, hey, it's not nothing, and I can still not walk very well at all, and am in pain most of the time. It's not putting me in a bad mood though, but it is difficult to get around and I can't exercise, so am looking forward to getting this fixed.



Comments

  1. AshleySeptember 17, 2021 at 1:59 AM

    11:30pm. I am mind boggled. I donʻt think we even have an urgent care open at that hour here. After 6pm, mayyyybe 7pm, it is ER or bust, baby.
    On the other hand, many Kaiser patients have to fly to Oʻahu for, well, most specialist visits, most (but for the most minor) surgeries. Depending on the time of the appointment, the often have to leave the afternoon (Lānaʻi, Molokaʻi) or evening (Maui, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi) before the appointment and stay over in a hotel. This is generally covered by Kaiser. Those of us with HMSA take our chances at home, pay for our own transportation and hotel to Oʻahu... or Seattle, as has been my choice... "When in pain, take da plane" is my motto.

    Take care of yourself, Geoff.

    ReplyDelete

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