Mommy & Daddy Time

Alex had his PICC dressing change today. The IV team always comments on how good Alex is when he gets this done. He just sits there, and watches as they peel off the old adhesive, clean it all up, and re-attach the tube to his arm.

The tube had moved out again another centimeter, which prompted lots of discussion on whether they needed to do an X-ray to see if the catheter was still "centrally located". After an hour, they decided that they didn't need to do it, since it was still drawing blood, and they weren't doing a chemo treatment this week. Also, he gets his Port put in on the 16th, so they won't be using the PICC anymore.

While we were there, the doctors checked his blood counts, because he has been *really* lethargic, and felt warm (but no fever). His blood counts came back at 4100 for the ANC - which is very good. The nurse said that the steroids can artificially keep the ANC numbers up. But, he could also be fighting off the cold Tessa had last week. Once the steroids are done (next week), he should start to loose some of this extra weight, and his appetite should return to normal. Also, the personality changes should fade. He is up to 44 lbs...and so round!

When we got home, Alex wanted some "mommy time" - he just climbs on my lap, and cuddles. Other times, it's "I want daddy time", and he'll cuddle with Eric. He doesn't feel good, and at least mommy and daddy still have the power to help...

When Eric came home from work, he took Alex outside to play some basketball, and then took Tessa-Lynn for a wagon ride around the neighborhood.

The social worker at Doerenbecher is helping us get the "exception request" for the insurance completed. She made sure that Dr. Stork had a copy of the form taped to her telephone, so she couldn't miss it.

What we have found out about the insurance is that Eric's company (I'm not naming them on the Blog, and if you know who they are, please refrain from naming them in your comments) is self-insured, and just uses Humana as their 3rd party administrator. Hopefully, since Doerenbecher will be covered under the Anthem Blue Cross plan starting in January, his company will find it reasonable to cover our care for Alex at the in-network rate from November 11 - December 31st. Maybe I'm being naive, but I can only hope that they see that Alex's continuity of care is the most important thing with such an aggressive cancer.

I'm tired, Eric is tired...we are trying so hard to keep everything together for our kids, and dealing with Christmas, and now the insurance issue...it sure is a lot on our plate... My mom has been a huge help, and so have our friends and families...we're just so tired...