Day 26
It has been more than a week since Jackie’s tissue biopsy. The swelling has definitely subsided but there is still a large bulb sticking out. The strange part about her swelling is that it is hard. 5 days ago, she went to see the doctor and he was very surprised that the swelling was so large. After informing him of what has been happening he said that occasionally after a lymph node biopsy, another lymph node become affected. So basically he made it worse! He replaced one affected node with another. However chemo is supposed to reduce the swelling. Jackie still looks as beautiful since the day I met her, swelling or no swelling.
Today, she went to meet her HMO doctor and obtained all the necessary referrals. I’ve been waiting the last month for a response for the local cancer foundation to see if there was any funding that can help us with payments. The foundation rejected our requests saying that she has insurance and I make too much money. She took all the rejected claims bills over to prove to the foundation and useless her insurance is. This is a no win situation, Giving help is easy but asking for help is tedious. Wouldn’t it seem pointless to ask someone for help if I made too much money? What they do not realize is nobody can make payments of 5000 a month along with your regular mortgage, utilities, food, and student loans! We are trying to appeal their decision. Everything is a struggle.