Wild RIde

Buckle your seatbelts, it was a wild ride this week. Michelle had a full day of appointments on Wednesday, which means dealing with Texas Oncology. My confidence in them is getting less and less. Michelle’s appointment with the oncologist was the first appointment of the day. Knowing that Michelle had asked not to hear the results of her MRI, Michelle's oncologist decided it was still in her best interest to tell Michelle anyway. I interrupted her immediately. She looked at Michelle and said “You don’t want to hear this? It is good.” Michelle said NO! She acts like we are not intelligent and would not understand what she is talking about. I think she is not telling the truth when she tells us things about insurance. She told us on our last visit that insurance would only approve immunotherapy every 4 weeks. I found this to be false. After checking with my benefits pro, no insurance procedure code was denied. I questioned her on this during my visit this week and she said she doesn’t know anything about procedure codes and doesn’t mess with this side of the insurance. I have a hard time believing this. When it came time to talk about future treatment, we were told that a brain cat scan must be completed for insurance to approve further immunotherapy maintenance. The oncologist explained that if she is seeing a progression in the cancer, this would indicate to her that the immunotherapy is not working. This is what she says less than 5 minutes after she tries to tell Michelle that her MRI results look great! Something is wrong here. The oncologist just wants Michelle to be on chemotherapy for some reason.

The next appointment was the neurologist. I said in the past that I did not like her, but she has grown on me. She remembered that Michelle did not want to hear the results of the MRI and was willing to speak without Michelle present. The neurologist tested Michelle’s agility and mental state. She was again impressed with her memory and strength. She got an A+ grade and the appointment went by relatively quickly. After Michelle returned to the waiting room, the neurologist and I talked about the MRI results. We decided to set up new MRIs every 6 weeks with contrast. The neurologist said that all the tumors have either disappeared or reduced significantly. She explained that some lesions could be inactive but there are still lesions present. There is no way of telling at this point if things are inactive or if they are slowly growing. It is a waiting game. Microscopically, we do not know what is happening. She talked about the lesions in the brain, even though this is more what the oncologist should have explained to me, not the neurologist. She said that the brain will always remember that the lesions were there. The scarring from the lesions in the brain will never go away.  This was interesting. It doesn’t mean a lot. There is no negative, just that there is scarring, and the brain remembers everything.

A supervisor from Capitol home health came by the house for a final visit. She evaluated Michelle and decided she was best fit to start a physical therapy regimen outside of the home. There is no longer a need for home health care. We are both happy with this.   

The neighbors had a healthy baby boy this week. Hayden Walker Moran. Michelle and I went to their house and spent about an hour with them. Michelle spent the entire time holding the 3-day old baby.

We also made a stop at a different neighbor’s house this week. Lauren Stauss was interested in Michelle’s hummingbird food recipe. We visited for about an hour then we ventured back home. 

Here is the feature of the week, Michelle’s firsts: This might not sound like much, but Michelle answered the door. This can be a daunting task at Luck Ranch. When the doorbell rings at our house, all hell breaks loose. Our beagle Izzie thinks that whoever is at the door, has come to see her and only her. Nothing stops Izzie. She will jump up on whoever came to see her, then roll onto her back and tinkle a little. Titan doesn’t know how big he is and doesn't know that he is in the way. He just wants to make sure whoever you are and that you are safe to enter the house. Unless you just enter the house while we aren’t there, and you know his name. Then he will buddy right up to you. As you can tell by the description above, answering the door could be a challenge. Michelle accepted it! For those curious, it was the home health nurse, and I was on a work call. Another first this week, Michelle made her own doctors appointment. Michelle’s rheumatoid arthritis has returned. She scheduled an appointment to see the rheumatologist. 

There was a time early on in our cancer journey where Michelle was not interested in little ones. Seeing Chele hold Hayden brought joy to my heart, it was the old Michelle. Some advice from me is, enjoy the little things in life because one day you`ll look back and realize these may have been big things. 

Highlights of the week: A stop to the nursery for a few bushes to plant out front. Michelle was excited to get out to the nursery.

Round Rock Donuts is always a highlight, if we get a chance to go, it will be included as a highlight. She loves the early morning drive there and the delicious Crème Bismarck.  

Watching Michelle with Hayden. 

Small Screen Daytime: Judy Justice was the main feature on the  this week. Chicago fire, 911, Survivor and CSI would have also gotten the Michelle’s Emmy awards of the week. 

Primetime Feature: “Yellowjackets” (Showtime). Yellowjackets tells the narrative of a team of high-school girls soccer players who survive a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness. This is a dramatization of a Christians Club rugby union plane that crashed in the Andes mountains in 1972. Yellowjackets is nowhere even close to a true story, but it is entertaining! 

Runners up for Michelle’s Primetime Emmy award were: “Ted Lasso”  (Apple TV), “Your Honor” (Paramount +), “Truth be Told” (Apple TV), “Tell me your Secrets” (Amazon Prime Video)

"On the Rocks" (Apple TV). The story of a young mother who reconnects with her larger-than-life playboy father on an adventure through New York. The father is played by Bill Murray, which is what drew us to watch the movie in the first place. 

This week at “Luck’s OptimaBoost Bisto” 

We highlighted Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Divan. This featured dish was presented on a bed of Jasmine rice with a dash of shredded Monterey Jack cheese. 

Also on the menu this week was Beef and Bean Burritos 

Italian sausage 

Hamburgers

Pizza

Beef ranch style skillet

Sous vide chicken breast with rice a roni 

Roasted dark meat chicken with brown gravy, served on a bed of rice with ranch style beans.

Love, Brian

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