Been a While

I've not updated in a while. Pretty much because I'm in a holding pattern. My transplant team recommended another stem cell transplant, this time utilizing stem cells from a donor. A match was found, and it seemed as though everything was in line and we were ready to get to it. 

Then came the surprise. My health insurer denied approval for the procedure. Didn't see that one coming. My doctors went through the appeal process to provide more information and try to get the insurer to be reasonable. That appeal failed. I was just notified. 

Apparently there is one more appeal. My doctor is waiting to do a phone conference today or tomorrow. He's going to do his best. 

I already had an autologous stem cell transplant. That's a transplant using my own stem cells. They did chemo, then harvested my stem cells in a procedure similar to donating platelets. Then they dosed me with another chemo drug called Melphalan. That cleaned out my bone marrow. They then infused me with my own stem cells. 

It sort of worked. But not well enough. Because I'm considered a high-risk myeloma patient, the choice next was to be the allogeneic (donor transplant). It was explained to me that this would be my best chance for survival. The insurer wants me to undergo the more common practice, which is another autologous stem cell transplant, basically repeating the first procedure. 

However, my team said that this would not be enough to take care of me. It was explained that my life expectancy would be reduced considerably using the tandem autologous transplant. 

So I'm on hold. Life goes on around me. I'm working my job. I'm in a lot of pain, but it's not hard to manage. I get by. The medical expenses are a bit rough. Medicines, co-pays, etc make it tough to keep up. I was out of work for four years and I hoped to work my butt off to try and catch up with my bills. 

US Bank has run out of patience. They're foreclosing on my home.  I'm frightened. Where will I live with my kids? I have to declare bankruptcy as well. The bills got too high. It's my only choice, but I truly feel like a loser. On July 13, it will be one year since my diagnosis. I'd hoped to be better by now, but despite everything, I'm going to fight as hard as I can to beat this cancer. Then I can work on making some miracles happen in the other aspects of my life. 

I'll keep battling till the war is won.