November 16, 2017

My doctor called me first thing this morning. Personally, no nurse or assistant. He wanted to tell me right away that my insurance company has approved his request for the new immunotherapy drug. I have now become the new standard of care for my type of cancer and will be the first patient after the trial phase to be treated. Technology and years of research have arrived just in time for me. There are no guarantees but there is great hope. I will have to undergo one hour infusions every other week for a year. For those of you who really know me well you know that I am not a great patient. I try, but am and always have been inherently untrusting and terrified of any and all tests and procedures. The one and only personal experience I ever had prior to this was a textbook example of literally every single thing that could go wrong, and it jaded me. Now, in the last 5 months I’ve gone through numerous blood draws, IV’s, MRI’s and Pet Scans, sedated bronchoscopy with biopsy, placement of a PICC line, radiation and chemotherapy, and a whole slew of medications. I have had no choice but to trust a whole lot of people, and basically give up control to strangers. I have worked with and witnessed hundreds of doctors, nurses, techs etc. over the years and I need to share that the folks at Carolina Health Care have been the absolute most phenomenal, kind, compassionate, professional but personal people I have ever come across. Ever. I just can’t say enough kind things about them. Every single person. They are my people.