Of Moles and Voles and Donut Holes

A lot has happened since the last post on November 4th.  That was two days before our oncologist visit and infusion chemo.  As it turned out, there was no chemo because the scans taken on November 5th revealed that the maintenance drug was not working to hold the line on regrowth of the lung tumor and a new lymph node tumor in the abdomen was spotted as well.

We went off with a game plan for starting a pill therapy to later be followed by another round of infusion when that failed to prevent a cancerous first down.

Barend, of course, researched the financial aspects of this since it fell under the prescription drug plan rather than hospital costs.  Ouch, double "DONUT HOLE" time, since we would have reached the limit before the end of this year and within a month in 2014.

Avenues of subsidy were investigated but bore no fruit in our case, so on to the next plan.  Luckily the doctors involved agreed that it would be better to spend the $10,000 on a vacation than line the pockets of Genetech and their partners in Tarceva so we moved to infusion again today.  

Whole new set of side effects with this one; hair loss which you might think is not problematic since he has so little but it will involve his mustache and chest hair so.....

This is the last chance to see "Hairy Barry" 

We are heading eastwards to Pennsylvania tomorrow for a long weekend to visit our good friends and former neighbors.  The weather forcast for Glen Mills is about the same as it is for Beaver Creek so we will not be reminded of the extreme cold and snow that Pennsylvania winters can bring.  A good time willl be had by all.