The Good News....the Bad News and Trying to Make it Work

When I was in surgery Dr. Kepple took out three of my lymph nodes and checked them to see if any cancerous cells had spread.

I was on pins and needles for the past few days waiting to hear what pathology would find.  I finally got a call yesterday from Dr. Kepple saying that she received the results.  Dr. Kepple told me that there was no breast cancer found in my left breast, the size of the tumor in my right breast was 2.4 cm and out of the three lymph nodes they took out they only found .04cm of cancerous cells in one of the lymph nodes, and my official stage was decided on Stage 2 breast cancer; ALL of which is great news, given the circumstances. 

Because the amount they found in my lymph nodes was so small there will NOT be a second surgery to remove more lymph nodes!!! Huge relief for my family and myself because I wasn't looking forward to having another surgery on top of all the other ones and procedures I have to go through.

We were hanging out with some close friends and celebrated over a drink or two!

And with every good thing there's always a downer....

This morning we had an appointment scheduled to meet with fertility.  Since I am more than likely going through chemo sometime in September, and the hubs and I want kids sometime in our future, I'm not taking any chances and we are exploring all of our options, or really lack there of.  I checked with our insurance to see if egg harvesting is covered and......of course not, that would be too simple.  Originally I was under the impression that a one time up to $10,000 fertility treatment would be covered, but nope and now we have to come up with $6,500.00 for the chance of maybe having kids who probably won't want anything to do with us when they are in their teens...

Needless to say I was a little frustrated and teary eyed on the phone realizing two things:

1. Holy crap-how are we going to come up with the money for that.

2.Stupid insurance companies don't care about the fertility or reproduction of younger female cancer patients who have to go through chemo.

I wanted to scream and punch everything around me, but I couldn't do that because first I can't lift over 10 pounds and second my chest muscles and arms are still really sore...

On top of the egg harvesting that insurance WON'T cover, they also won't cover wigs.....what the f*CK.... So I'm going to be one bald, sterile, stressed out lady. Hopefully my head doesn't look funny.

I was excited a few days ago because I thought my insurance would cover wigs, so my mom and the hubs and I went to a wig shop called Sharon's Wig Salon and I found two sweet wigs that I really liked....now I just have another hurdle to jump over and figure out how to come up with the money for them.  My mother-in-law has borrowed me two of her wigs, which I am grateful for, but I'd still like to have my own that fit me right.

I'm not sure if I'm really feeling this one, I think it would fit better without my thick hair!

I really like the longer haired wig, so I'll see if I can scrounge some change out of my couch to get it!



Sharon's Wig Salon has a huge selection of lengths, colors, and varieties and they will custom fit your wigs to you!!




















**UPDATE 02/08/14** This week a local woman fighting a brain tumor went into Sharon's and was treated with  such disrespect at their establishment that I wouldn't recommend this place if it were the last wig shop on earth.  I am not going to go into detail on it but it is so upsetting but you can read her blog under her February 6, 2014 post.

Although my experience there was great and they helped me out a ton, there have also been other women apparently that have gone there and received rude customer service.


So, the moral of my story is that insurance companies, although I am extremely grateful that I have insurance because the amount of bills that we would have would surpass the amount that I am stressed out about now, but I still think that insurance companies suck sometimes and need to get with the times when it comes to women's health and well being!

I know 100% that everything will work out in the end, but I already felt like enough of a burden on my family and friends and hearing this stuff from my insurance really makes my stress level go up...

P.S: A little bit of good news is I might get my really, super, extra comfortable, ever exciting*<-total sarcasm* drains removed this Friday....crossing my fingers because they are getting annoying.