This is Rather Interesting

November 29, 2007 | Filed Under cancer, carcinogens | No Comments

I actually worked a few jobs where I worked nights and in shifts.  This article got me thinking: http://health.yahoo.com/news/ap/night_shift_cancer-print.html

A Day of Ups ‘n’ Downs

November 28, 2007 | Filed Under cancer, stress | No Comments

The day started out well enough.  Got up early because I had an early doctor’s appointment with my “other” oncologist.  Fixed myself scrambled eggs and bacon.  Washed it down with some cranberry juice.  All fresh and ready, I went to the doc and surprisingly didn’t have to wait too long.  I was weighed, had my BP and temperature check.  BP and temp were just fine and I’d actually gained ten pounds (I have been woefully underweight for a while so this was good news).  The doctor came in and looked me over.  Did the usual exam — checked my tongue and neck area, listened to my heart and lungs and poked around a bit.  He concurred with the other doctors and scheduled me for another appointment in April and wrote a ’script for more bloodwork (but I wouldn’t have to have that done ’til March) and sent me on my way. 

Feeling good, I decided to handle another problem that’s been plaguing me for several months — my creditors.  I’m behind in my credit card payments — my Chase Visa card in particular has been a problem. Those greedy assholes have been harrassing me for weeks, calling all hours night and day.  They know my situation, but don’t seem to care. Now I’ve had credit protection insurance on this card for years, but didn’t have the number to call. One of the people who called finally coughed-up the number (albeit reluctantly) so I called today to try to activate it and thus, get these people off my back.  Well, it was a pain in the ass because my speech isn’t really a hundred percent.  After several minutes of treking through the automated phone system, I finally got a real live human, but it took me a while to get all the information to her because she didn’t understand most of what I was saying.  I had to talk real slow and repeat myself often.  My mouth kept drying up and kept pausing to drink water.  When I finally finished, she tells me that her computer is down and puts me on hold. After several more minutes waiting on hold, she comes back on the line and informs me that Chase Bank had cancelled my credit protection insurance so I couldn’t activate it.  I was pissed.  Thing is I didn’t sign up for that insurance to begin with.  Back when my Chase card was still handled by Citibank, I was signed up without my knowledge. I was just too lazy to cancel it after I found out (and didn’t have the phone number anyway).  So they’ve been charging me for years for a service they won’t now let me use when I most need it. 

The afternoon wasn’t too bad.  I took a long walk to relax my mind and exercise my body. For dinner, I was able to eat my first cheeseburger in almost two year.  It was sooo good!

That evening, Chase USA called again.  This time instead of ignoring the call, I picked it up and talked to the guy. Really though, I wanted to give these assholes a piece of my mind.  I laid-out my problem once again even though my tale of woe is already a matter of record. I’ve never been one to suffer fools and this guy took the proverbial cake. He tells me that all I have to do is “pay the minimum” and they’ll leave me alone.  The minimum payment now thanks to all the fees and extra finance charges they’ve added is over $2000. I told the guy, “What have I told you you don’t understand?  Don’t you think if I had the money to begin with, I would have paid you?” Then he goes into this spiel about “forgiving” the late fees and “reducing the interest.”  “Okay,” I said, “Let’s say you do that. What would my minimum payment be.”

He gets irritated with me and says something smartass about not interrupting him with questions and he’ll tell me the plan.  So I say, “could you get to the point? All I want to know is what the minimum pay would be, then I’ll tell you if I can pay it.”  So he finally quotes me a price — it’s still triple what I was having to pay every month before they tacked on all the extra fees and shit. “You’re kidding, right?” I say.

“Well, as an alternative,” he says, “You could settle the entire balance with a one-time payment. . .”

So then I really get mad and start laying into him. ”You haven’t been listening to me have you?”

Then he starts in about me liquidating assets to pay them, etc. I say, “whatever assets I had have already been liquidated and spent.”  I refrained from calling him a clueless asshole.  So then he tells me how in two more months it’s getting turned over to a lawyer and how “I’d want to avoid that.”  No, they want to avoid that because I have no assets.  I don’t own anything of value. They’ve already trashed my credit.  What else can they do to me aside from making harrassing phone call after phone call?  And they’ve seen what good that’s done them.

I especially loved the part when he said, “I understand the reason for non-payment is that you haven’t been feeling well.”Yeah, I’d  say suffering with cancer for almost 2 fucking years is not “feeling well.”

What a turd. 

Another Good Report

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under ENT, PET CT Scan, prognosis, squamous cell carcinoma, treatment | No Comments

So I went back to the Ear, Nose & Throat doctor this morning. Dr. Howard Bresalier — the man who originally diagnosed me.  When he saw me, he looked like he was seeing a ghost.  “Wow!” he said. “Wow!”

“I know,” I replied.

“When I last saw you . . . you were dead.”  Even I didn’t realize just how far gone I had been until he said that. The ten months prior to being diagnosed — being misdiagnosed and mistreated — had allowed cancer to set up shop and really go to town on my body.  The odds of me being cancer-free were slim at best.

Now I sat before Dr. Bresalier, having fought the devil and won.  He asked me a few questions about my treatment.  I told him about the PET Scan. Then he examined me. “Wow!” he said again. “You are a thousand percent better than the last time I examined you.”

I have to go back to him in January and every two months for the first year after treatment just to make sure the cancer doesn’t come back.  But the follow-ups are mostly a formality at this point.  He tells me that if I’m cancer-free for 2 more years, he will consider me cured. 

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