8 September 2023
It started with 10 hours of sleep. I guess I was trying to make up lost sleep from yesterday but I went to bed around 9 last night and waked at 7 am. I took 2 Lomotil and was starting breakfast when I got that feeling. Breakfast was put on hold until the diarrhea passed. Again, the adult diaper saved the day, so to speak.
I can tell I’m weak and not feeling well so I don’t plan to walk (not sure I could make it without a diarrhea episode) and definitely not do yoga or swim. I’ll probably just lay low for today.
I’m not sure why I don’t feel well, whether because of Tuesday’s chemo (4 days out seems to be my nadir) or the Filgrastim the last two days or the flu shot yesterday. Maybe it’s an accumulation of all three. I already feel like I could sleep another 10 hours. I noticed my arthritis in the hands acted up last night to the point of having to take Advil. Then I had a minor nose bleed this morning. All things that could have something to do with chemo.
I just got a set of Medicare Summary Notices that encompasses my mastectomy and the follow up surgery that alleviated some swelling and inflammation. Medicare was billed $70,319.73. A great deal of that was modified to what Medicare agreed to pay. The overall result is that I may be responsible for $1,677.44 of that but I suspect my supplemental insurance will cover all of that. The strangest part of the costs was the complete removal of the breast was $7,330.34 but Medicare approved the whole amount but only paid $4,412.29.
The recovery room from surgery charged $3,991.00 and Medicare approved the whole amount. Several services were not approved but were probably re-billed and approved later. I can’t imagine trying to track down and trace all these expenses and give approval. I check over the summaries but it gets too complicated to figure out every little thing. I just hope for the best and only concentrate on anything that looks suspicious.
Today at 4 pm is my third Filgrastim shot. Then Tuesday is my day for both Taxol and Herceptin (and I suspect magnesium) infusions. It’ll be a long day on Tuesday. Again, if my white blood cell count is low, I’ll add in three more days of Filgrastim injections. Tuesday will be my fourth infusion of Taxol with five to go after that.
Stay tuned!
