mild side effects & the costs of medical care

The side effects are beginning to pile up, although they are each mild.  My arm is looking pretty sunburned -- we can trace the line from the radiation on my arm, like some weird bathing suit strap line back from when I used to try to get tan.  Plus, it itches.  I'm slathering on copious quantities of the Tulipan cream they gave me. 

The fatigue is also appearing pretty regularly (mid-afternoons).  Naps don't provide relief; I guess because it isn't from being tired due to loack of sleep. I can stave it off if I'm highly focused on something else.  I used to like to do the hardest work in the mornings because that's when I feel like I'm the sharpest.  But for the next month, I guess I'll just have to reverse that. All that said, if this is the worst of the side effects, I'm lucky.  Seven more radiation treatments to go. 

I got a statement from my insurance company yesterday.  The cost of the radiation treatments is pretty stunning, even with the 2/3 discount that the insurance company gets.  No wonder getting cancer can knock folks out of the middle class.  I appreciate that these machines are amazing and super high tech.  And, especially after looking at these charges, I'm so appreciative that I have insurance that covers me.  But the numbers are stunning.  One day's worth would be a big bill for most families, and my course of treatment is 25 days worth of these charges.  Never mind the costs of the surgery in August and the tests done in preparation for that. Or, the costs for all the tests that were done to get ready for my 1st MD Anderson appointment and that will be done again before surgery in December.  And the costs for the next surgery will likely be extraordinary, because they will have three specialists in the O.R.:  the cancer surgeon, the pathologist and the reconstructive surgeon.  So easily six figures, just for that day. 

Every day that I get an envelope from my insurance company my anxiety spikes, as I wait for the one with the letter saying they aren't going to continue my coverage into 2014, or that they're going to double my rates.  I know that the whole pre-existing conditions term kicks in next year, assuming that the President stands firm on not negotiating reductions to Obamacare, but -- just like what we went through with Bill's knee replacement -- it's still nerve racking.

Meanwhile, Ben's in the basement doing homework -- let's hope it's actually getting done.  And tonight is the homecoming dance.  Bill was talking about how complicated that always was.  And how the whole teen dynamic just makes it complicated.  It's funny how it wasn't complicated for me because we just didn't go to many dances. I went to more in junior high -- I think I went to exactly one during high school.  So it wasn't even an opportunity for angst.  We were too cool and out doing other bad girl things on Saturday nights, especially in the winter after the hockey games.