Thirteen or Fourteen, Is It?

Ok yes, I’m a touch delinquent. But in my defense, this week has been a whirlwind. 

Justin is currently in surgery, not the big one, “just” an IVC filter placement and hopefully some successful ballooning of that pesky clot he has been struggling with since early 2014. About 5 weeks ago while traveling back and forth to Denver, blood thinner absorption was suspect and it seems to have narrowed his iliac vein enough to cause leg swelling and pain. We’re very fortunate to get in with Dr. Z this morning, as good IR doctors are hard to find. This procedure should only take a couple hours, plus the couple hours for recovery, so praying we’re out of here by noon’ish.

Yesterday started with a 2-hour commute, just in time for a pre-op appointment, bloodwork, and a grueling 2-hour MRI. Of course, we stopped by one of his projects to get pictures…

The main event tomorrow, I’m guessing, will look similar to the past two surgeries. However, we are currently speaking with insurance as they have denied his chemo treatment, claiming it to be “experimental.” I’m still baffled as to that reasoning considering they have covered it two times in the past. Same insurance, same provider. Similarly, they initially denied the surgery entirely. Has anyone ever heard of a doctor requesting a tumor to be surgically removed and being denied by insurance? Doesn’t make much sense to me. And with the chemo, they were more than willing to pump him full of systemic chemo, not even developed for his specific cancer, yet “no” to this. Trust me when I tell you I have choice words.

<sigh> The main purpose for tomorrow’s surgery is one specific tumor on his stomach. There might be esophageal inclusion, but we won’t know for sure till the surgeon gets in there. During Justin’s second big surgery, they removed a large portion of his stomach, very much like a gastrectomy performed for weight loss. But because of this, he has very little stomach left to lose. There are concerns if we delayed this surgery much further, the tumor could grow beyond what the doctor could remove. And with the proximity of the esophagus, the sooner the better.

The surgeon is very thorough, so I’m expecting he’ll comb through the rest of Justin’s peritoneal cavity and address anything that is safe to do so. We’ll see what insurance says on the chemo today.

It’s certainly a stressful time. Still in awe how Justin handles it with such grace. I’ll be updating this blog as I have in the past with the exception of NO Facebook. (Sorry folks, I’m completely off social media)

And please remember us in your prayers.

Much love,

Christina