In my last posting I told you that I was going on Monday, December 7th to get the results of the CT scan and have another Avastin treatment. Well, when we met with the doctor he told us the CT scan was clear. He spent about 10 minutes reading through my records and then turned to me and said, "we are going to stop the chemo treatments." My heart stopped, I asked him if he was going to call in hospice. He just smiled at me and said that he could not see any cancer so there was no need to continue with the chemo. He said it did not make sense to continue with a treatment that has potentially fatal side effects when he can't see any cancer. We will continue to have monthly check ups and then try again for a PET scan in three months. But for now....NO CHEMO!!
If you will recall, I was told just four short months ago to get my affairs in order. Both oncologists told me that I would have six months without chemo but if I took the chemo the median survival rate was three years. Obviously, we opted for the chemo and were told we would be on it for a year. If things looked good at six months then we would re-evaluate the treatment plan. But here it is just four short months into it and the doctor can't find the cancer. We were in shock. Truthfully, I still am.
I have had several conversations with God over the past few days. My first was one of great praise. I thank God for my healing and believe it to be nothing short of a miracle. Then I thanked Him for all the prayer warriors that have been faithful on my behalf. Then I started to get scared because I have been down this path before and if you remember it only took 3 months for the cancer to return. But I believe that I have gone through this second round as a testament to God's healing power. If I had been healed on the first round then people could say, "well it was the chemo that killed it". But now there is no doubt...God healed me!
Through this journey there have been several times that I pushed the panic button. I had more than one conversation reminding God of His promise to heal me. The final one was last Thursday. I was all prepared for the PET scan when CTCA called to let me know it was denied by the insurance company. Then I was told that the insurance company was also denying my last Avastin treatment. Each treatment is $40,000! So you can imagine my panic level. My stomach was in knots so I went to Debbie's desk and told her I needed some prayer support to keep it together. Debbie had just received an email from a customer with a reference to Matthew 21:22 "And in all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." So we found a quiet room and prayed that God would move the mountain before us and take care of the insurance issues. I immediately started to feel the peace come over me. Within 30 minutes of praying, I got a call back from the insurance company that there was a coding mistake on the Avastin claim and they were clearing everything up and the invoice would be paid. I still was being denied the PET scan but as it turns out, it was not needed.
I learned a long time ago that when my stomach gets into knots and the panic starts to well up, it is the devil spinning his lies. I believe that when you are a child of God, Satan can't touch you. He can however, cause you to self-destruct by planting his lies and laughing at your calamity. And yet, every time it happens, I fall for it! But I can tell you the time that I am in knots is getting shorter and shorter. I can recognize it pretty quickly now and I begin to pray for peace immediately. One of my favorite verses to use is Psalms 91:1 "I stand in the shadow of the Almighty. He covers me with His wings." Understand that to stand in the shadow of something or someone means they go before you. So when the whirlwinds start up and my stomach starts jumping, I say that verse out loud and the storm subsides.
I am so grateful for this journey that I have been on. My faith has grown by leaps and bounds. I have a stronger relationship with my creator. I would not change one thing that has happened over the past 16 months. And I know that no matter what the future holds, I know who holds my future. What an awesome God I serve!
May each of you have a blessed Christmas and enjoy the time with the ones you love.
Because of Christ,
Julie
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Once again life has been busy but wanted to drop you all a quick to note to catch up. First of all, Tobra's procedure went well. It was very hard on the kids to not be able to cuddle with Mom for a week but Stephanie was there to the rescue. Stephanie stayed to take care of the day to day Mom duties so the week went quickly and things are getting back to normal. The Avery household has its normal hussle and bussle feel to it again. It is always a joy for me to go over and hang out. The Avery kids are very well behaved and you never know what might come out of Hailey's mouth! Never a dull moment. I miss that about my kids.
Speaking of my kids, I got to see everyone over the Thanksgiving holiday. Gerald, Calista and myself enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal together. Calista got back on the road around 3:30 and Heather showed up around 5:00 with the grandchildren. It has been 18months since we have been able to keep them over night. It was great fun...they are growing up so fast! Katy is going to be 5 on December 7th and Logan just turned 4 on October 19th. We had a play room with toys to entertain and a separate room with twin beds for resting. It was nice to have the sound of children playing in the house again. Plus I really like hearing "Nana Julie and Papa G"....it is so cute coming from those little voices. We took them back to Vinita Friday evening, got some rest and then were off to Okmulgee to see Josh & Lacy. They are all settled in their new home and the kids are really getting big! We just hung out for the afternoon, ate pizza and watched movies. Lacy and I took a nap in the middle of everything while the guys and kids (was hard to tell which was which) played and watched movies. Then I spent Sunday decorating for Christmas. Monday was clean house, pay the bills, do the grocery shopping and run errands...whew! I needed to go back to work to get some rest.
On the medical front, I was supposed to have PET scan yesterday. However, the insurance company denied it based on my blood work. They do a test call CEA that measures the tumor markers in my blood. Unfortunately, this is not a good measurement for me since my markers have always been low even before they removed the first tumor. I tried to explain that to the insurance company and even gave them dates to go back and check test results of blood work and PET scans that were done the next day. But did not have much luck. So we only did a CT scan yesterday and will meet with the doctor on Monday to discuss results. If he sees any type of shadows or anything suspicious then he will order the PET scan again and the insurance should approve it then. This type of paper work just makes me crazy. I don't understand how the insurance company can have the power to direct my health care - AURRRG! Ironically, while I was in the waiting room yesterday, there was a gentleman sitting across from me and the physician's assistant came to him to explain the doctor is insisting he have a chemo treatment immediately but the insurance is denying it. It was kind of scary the way she was presenting it to him buy insisting the treatment be right now but can't start until the insurance company gives the okay. She sent him back to his room and said they would come get him once the doctor gets the approval. Apparently, the doctor was on the phone fighting with then insurance company at that moment. I just bent my head and said a little prayer for him. So now I lift it up to you all to pray that the doctor's will be able to run our healthcare not insurance or government. Please, this is such a major issue facing us right now. I won't get all policital with you but would covet your prayers that medical care would be returned to the medical community and those trained to treat based upon a diagnosis and not money or power.
So Monday, I'll see the doctor and do another Avastin treatment. I'm going to try to go back to work the next day. We have a big promotion going on next week and I'd like to be a part of it. So please keep me in your prayers that I would have the energy to get through the days.
I thank God for each of you and your prayers on my behalf. Please know that I keep all of you in my prayers too, even if I don't know your name, I ask Him to bless the army of prayer warriors that are standing in the gap for me. I would encourage you to read through Duet. 28: 1-14. It talks about the blessings of God. I ask Him to bless you because you have been a blessing to me. I believe that our prayers have more power when we use His words in them. After all he says that His words do not return void to Him. And I can't think of a better way to pray than to use His words.
May you all have a wonderful Christmas season!
Because of Christ,
Julie
Speaking of my kids, I got to see everyone over the Thanksgiving holiday. Gerald, Calista and myself enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal together. Calista got back on the road around 3:30 and Heather showed up around 5:00 with the grandchildren. It has been 18months since we have been able to keep them over night. It was great fun...they are growing up so fast! Katy is going to be 5 on December 7th and Logan just turned 4 on October 19th. We had a play room with toys to entertain and a separate room with twin beds for resting. It was nice to have the sound of children playing in the house again. Plus I really like hearing "Nana Julie and Papa G"....it is so cute coming from those little voices. We took them back to Vinita Friday evening, got some rest and then were off to Okmulgee to see Josh & Lacy. They are all settled in their new home and the kids are really getting big! We just hung out for the afternoon, ate pizza and watched movies. Lacy and I took a nap in the middle of everything while the guys and kids (was hard to tell which was which) played and watched movies. Then I spent Sunday decorating for Christmas. Monday was clean house, pay the bills, do the grocery shopping and run errands...whew! I needed to go back to work to get some rest.
On the medical front, I was supposed to have PET scan yesterday. However, the insurance company denied it based on my blood work. They do a test call CEA that measures the tumor markers in my blood. Unfortunately, this is not a good measurement for me since my markers have always been low even before they removed the first tumor. I tried to explain that to the insurance company and even gave them dates to go back and check test results of blood work and PET scans that were done the next day. But did not have much luck. So we only did a CT scan yesterday and will meet with the doctor on Monday to discuss results. If he sees any type of shadows or anything suspicious then he will order the PET scan again and the insurance should approve it then. This type of paper work just makes me crazy. I don't understand how the insurance company can have the power to direct my health care - AURRRG! Ironically, while I was in the waiting room yesterday, there was a gentleman sitting across from me and the physician's assistant came to him to explain the doctor is insisting he have a chemo treatment immediately but the insurance is denying it. It was kind of scary the way she was presenting it to him buy insisting the treatment be right now but can't start until the insurance company gives the okay. She sent him back to his room and said they would come get him once the doctor gets the approval. Apparently, the doctor was on the phone fighting with then insurance company at that moment. I just bent my head and said a little prayer for him. So now I lift it up to you all to pray that the doctor's will be able to run our healthcare not insurance or government. Please, this is such a major issue facing us right now. I won't get all policital with you but would covet your prayers that medical care would be returned to the medical community and those trained to treat based upon a diagnosis and not money or power.
So Monday, I'll see the doctor and do another Avastin treatment. I'm going to try to go back to work the next day. We have a big promotion going on next week and I'd like to be a part of it. So please keep me in your prayers that I would have the energy to get through the days.
I thank God for each of you and your prayers on my behalf. Please know that I keep all of you in my prayers too, even if I don't know your name, I ask Him to bless the army of prayer warriors that are standing in the gap for me. I would encourage you to read through Duet. 28: 1-14. It talks about the blessings of God. I ask Him to bless you because you have been a blessing to me. I believe that our prayers have more power when we use His words in them. After all he says that His words do not return void to Him. And I can't think of a better way to pray than to use His words.
May you all have a wonderful Christmas season!
Because of Christ,
Julie
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