Fight the Power.

July 24, 2017

Monday has come, and almost gone. More twists and turns and pirouettes. Abby Trotter Grant had a little rough start, needing (trachea) suctioning early on- kind of sets her back a bit from the get go. We met with a lot of peeps from the rehab- dietician, PT, case manager, social worker, and nurse practitioner. Blood work came back and vitals were good, so no changes since we left ICU, so also good and holding steady.

Margie Hancock, Abby's mom, came again for an extended stay- so at about noon I headed to work. My boss has been very understanding, and I've only worked sporadically since our travails began. But it felt good to be needed elsewhere too, and while being an art director/designer has maybe not always been the most lucrative job, I can honestly say that I still really like what I do for work, and have never hated my work or going to work. That's not to say that I've loved every client or job, but at least I don't come home every night feeling like I want to pound nails with my head.

I was at work for all of about 15 minutes, on a onference call, when my phone rang and I knew it was MGH, so excused myself and it was our medical oncologist who will be in charge of chemo. Well hey, guess what good ole Aetna is up to now? They are refusing to cover the PET scan- deemed not necessary. Well golly gee I'm sure glad we had that total f-up last Friday at MGH- cause who'd be picking up the tab if we'd had the PET scan? Good luck Aetna trying to pry the cash out of my cold hard talons. So not to be gross, but Abby generates a lot of mucus because of the trachea tube (this is going somewhere I promise). I mean a lot of mucus. Like she goes through boxes of tissues, and they are the Kleenex "professional" brand- who knew those even existed? And does that mean the ones in the market are unprofessional tissues? Anyway, our thought is, we take all those piles of mucus soaked tissues, put them into 2 or 3 garbage bags (and counting) and have them delivered to the Aetna corporate offices. Just because. And with love, of course. Spread the phlegm.

The doctors say they will continue to fight with them- I will join the fray as well since I am batting a .1000 so far with Aetna, though going 1 for 1 is not exactly a large sampling for a batting average.

Some other nice news- we found out that I can bring the dogs for a visit(!)- they allow "well- mannered" dogs, so I will need to have them brush up on their Emily Post. I tried getting Jake to stroll across the kitchen floor with a book on his head but he just let it slide off while attempting to get a wayward crumb under the stove. Besides, he has already read Cujo. Ultimately, I think ferrying the pups one at a time should work, and will really lift Abby's spirits immensely- you should have seen her face light up when the nurse told us. And gee, she never looks at ME like that. Guess my whiskers aren't quite long enough.

Tomorrow brings another day, and hopefully some PT and gallivanting around for Abby- she feels so much better when she's up and about.

Lastly, wondering if anyone has any advice/thoughts on this (and I know our friends- you are all so shy and un-opinionated) - Abby can only communicate by writing (or lip reading)- we've burned through a lot of trees these last few weeks- so am thinking about a tablet(?) She's a wicked pissah typist, and thought it might be easier for her. I also know some of the new ones have a stylus as well so you can actually write instead, if you want. I've been a Mac guy all my life, and I can talk desktops and laptops with the best of them, but when it comes to tablets I am just an Israeli wandering the technology desert in search of Mt. Sinai (no offense big guy, just need to keep my humor intact, I hope you understand). Let me know what you all think...

Goodnight and good Tuesday tomorrow everybody- thanks for listening, and all the comments mean a lot.