Wednesday, January 7: Status Update - I'm an Eighteen-Wheeler

This morning I had my appointment with my oncologist at Magee, and we agreed that my new treatment plan will follow Dr. Gershenson's recommendation of fulvestrant + ribociclib. Now we wait for insurance approvals, and then I can begin. My doctor seemed optimistic about getting the approvals, not least because a clinical trial has been studying this very combo for my cancer type.

It can't be said loudly enough: Anyone who continues to support and vote republican is actively and directly harming my treatment possibilities and future options for life-saving care. Research funding and clinical trials matter. I am literally impacted by existing and future trials. My ability to get insurance approval for my new treatment, which, without approval, will cost more than $20,000 per month just for the ribociclib, relies on current clinical trials. I'm not sure it's clear to people who aren't very politically engaged that the impact this administration is having on science and research is personal and immediate. It is not abstract, it is not distant, it is not removed, it is not something that impacts other people. This drug combo has proven to be extremely effective, and I am very excited to start it--but it is not yet FDA approved for my cancer type. Hence the reliance on trials and the data from trials. Additionally, when the "health" secretary makes decrees about food safety protocols and vaccination availability, it is personal and immediate, because this new treatment, like chemo, will decimate my immune system. Unvaxxed people make other people sick, especially immunocompromised people like me. 

Preaching to the choir with readers of this blog, I'm sure. But it's still a message worth spreading. 

This in-between time is stressful and I am just ready to get the new treatment started. Hoping we won't have to wait too long to get the approvals we need. Right now I can only compare myself to a large eighteen-wheeler awkwardly maneuvering around a too-tight corner. It'll get there, and start moving again on open highway, but there's an interim spell of inching forward and incremental movement before the path clears again and it's on its way. Not my best analogy ever, but I'll leave it.

Back to light-hearted kitchen updates tomorrow.