First, I can’t believe that I haven’t posted an update since June! No, excuses really. at least nothing medical. My health has continued to be great. My most recent scans were on October 7th, and were again clear of active melanoma. Yay! I have a another scan scheduled for next February and if those are clear I will go to having scans every six months. Because of Covid-19, I had my visit with my oncologist virtually via video. I did the lab work the day before, so he had access to the lab results as well as the radiologists’ readings of my scan by the time of my visit. The only thing missing was the physical examination, which mostly consists of him palpating my body in search of swollen lymph nodes. I think that I now know enough what to look for. so that I can kind of check those out myself. I haven’t found anything swollen or unusual.
Anyway, as I said, the news was all good on the melanoma front. Things are pretty good on other fronts as well. When last I posted here, I was still unemployed. Well, in early September I started a new job. It’s a cut in pay from my old job, but a step up from unemployment. Plus, it comes with health insurance. While the health insurance is also a step down from what I had in my old job, it’s cheaper than paying COBRA, maybe. Right now I’m having an issue because my new insurance doesn’t cover my CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) supplies as a pharmacy benefit, but as DME (Durable Medical Equipment). This means that instead of being treated as a prescription benefit like insulin, it’s treated like a wheelchair. It also means that instead of paying a reasonable copay, I have to pay 50% after my deductible is met. I’m not happy about that because these supplies are not cheap (about $1800 for a 90-day supply), but I rely on them for the management of the Type 1 Diabetes that I acquired as a side effect of immunotherapy. There are cheaper alternatives for taking blood glucose measurements. but the GGM I have been using is the only one that gives me continuous real-time readings. It can even alert me if my blood sugar drops low while I’m sleeping, a potentially deadly event. I plan to call the them again tomorrow, but I’m not optimistic. I hate insurance companies.
Enough whining about that. I’m very happy to have a job, any job. Luckily, it’s a work-from-home job for now, although I will have to go into the office at some point, which I’m not thrilled about given the current situation. When I interviewed for the job, I was told that it would be entirely remote until the COVID-19 thing had settled down. Of course, it’s nowhere near being settled down. In fact. there’s currently a travel ban between my state (Connecticut) and the state where my company is located (Massachusetts), so I don’t think I’m even allowed to travel if I wanted to, which I don’t.
Lynn and I continue to hunker down. We don’t go out and we have our food and other essentials delivered. Tonight, we treated ourselves to pizza, but that involved a lot of jumping around, putting on masks, gloves, washing hands and being careful. Our town has a high positivity rate (over 20%) and we weren’t keen on getting close to a delivery guy who goes from house to house in this town, even if was just to sign for the pizzas and bring them into the house.
I was going to write something about the U.S. Presidential election that we had (are having) this week, but I’m feeling kind of burned out on all of that. I’m guessing you are, too.