Doing Well

A LITTLE UPDATE: The costs of Adrienne's treatments for the last ten years are bindbogglng. Her first year of chemo and radiation cost $150,000. The first transplant cost $200,000 and the second one almost $500,000. Radiation costs $8,000 a week and she's had 20 weeks of radiation. The tomotherapy she had last year cost more than twice that. Five days of chemo costs $25,000. This doesn't count the many surgeries, doctor's visits, procedures, blood tests, drugs, and so on. I've spent countless hours on the phone with insurance companies and billing departments over the years and we've been very lucky to have great insurance. So today, I got a call from Stanford saying that they were getting ready to turn Adrienne's account over to a collection agency. I haven't received a bill but they obviously had our new address and phone number. I was pretty upset about the phone call and returned it right away. Guess how much we owe? $48. They're sending me a bill.

Adrienne is like a new woman. :o) Not only is she less fatigued and more energetic, but she is also much happier. I can hear it in her voice when we talk on the phone. It makes us so happy to know she's feeling better and more able to do the many activities in her schedule. She takes a full load of classes, works at the Kravis Leadership Institute, and is Vice President of Straight But Not Narrow. In high school, she wasn't really able to participate in activities so now she is getting involved in whatever interests her. Sometimes my head spins when I hear about everything she's doing, but she sounds so happy lately.

Adrienne's next checkups are on December 1. I'm sure scans will follow soon after that. She wants to go to the doctor on her own now. I'm always concerned that she'll get some bad news without someone being with her but she really wants to do this without a parent. She usually calls me right after her appointment or in between to let me know how things went. I often wonder what we did before cell phones.