Friday morning- January 21-2110
Good morning my DS friends, it has been a long week at our house. The phone hasn't rung much because my family (daughters, son-in-laws and grandaughter) went on a cruise this week. I sure have missed them. Steve and I picked up his prescription yesterday at CVS. This first co-pay is always a struggle. In the past we have been able to get some help with it from various roganizations but this year all of the different places we tried were either out of funds or the grants were for different kinds of cancer, rather than kidney cancer. So our co-pay for January was $5,000.00. That was our part. His insurance paid the remaining. Sutent has been steadily climbing in price since he started taking it. He takes two strengths. 25 mg and 12.5mg.Please don't thing I am complaining, beause I AM NOT. We are so grateful that he can take the drug, and thankful that it continues to work for him. God has always provided a way for the medicine and we are blessed to have the money for it. Steve went visiting with our pastor yesterday and I warned him about going into the hospital so he stayed clear form there. But he is really going to go where he wants. He enjoys going and usually our pastor protects him from going into homes where there is sickness. Steve will be scanned next Wednesday at CMC in Charoltte NC. He will know that day what the results are. Our doctor pulls up the scans that same day and lets us look at them. I am grateful for that. We don't have to wait for week to know the results. I would appreciate your prayers for us. All of you have become very special to me in this battle against cancer. My prayer is that I have helped some of you with our story. With love Wanda
Replies
In reading my entry I failed to mention that we get the Sutent to cover 2 months at a time.
Good Morning Wanda,
Have you talked with the oncologist about the cost of the Sutent? I know several people whose doctor contacted the manufacturer, and they sent the drug directly to them for a much more reasonable price. Not many people can afford $5,000 every two months. Whew!
Our doctor at SC Oncologist in Columbia, also shows us the scan before we leave. As nervous as we are on those visits, I can\'t imagine having to wait another few days to know the results. We\'ve often thought of transferring to a fine oncologist here, but that is the main reason we continue to commute to Columbia.
I\'ll be praying for good results next week.
Hugs,
Ingrid
Hi Wanda - good to hear your update, and thank you for your response to my question in your last journal about always being \'on\' something. People don\'t really get that one I think - often asking - \"how many more treatments has he got left\", and \"oh, you\'ll look back one day at your trips to Manchester for the drug, and how they were good times, chatting all the way...\"....will we really?? Like you, however, I\'m not complaining at all, at all - I too am delighted that we\'ve been able to get the Torisel on trial. Do you have to pay for the Sutent each time you get it?
I hope you have a really good weekend - are your family back? Do they live near you and Steve?
The prayers for Steve\'s scans are a given Wanda - I\'ll be thinking of you on Wednesday. Please know that you have helped - just so so heartening to hear how you\'ve just got on with it, despite the mRCC diagnosis, and just kept on LIVING for so long.
love, Meriel
Hi Wanda, I appreciate hearing about what you and your husband are dealing with. My husband\'s company has changed insurance as well and we are going to have to pay a much larger piece of the pharmacy costs...it is a challenge. I don\'t know what resources you\'ve tried, but I have a directory with some resources for different States and there are a couple in N. Carolina that are supposed to help with providing medication and financial assistannce. Here is the information:
Cancer Services, Inc., 3175 Maplewood Ave., Winston-Salem, NC 27103
336-760-9983, www.cancerservicesonline.org
Caring Community Foundation, P.O. Box 1364, Cary, NC 27512
www.caringcommunityfoundation.org
Info@caringcommunityfoundation.org
I hope this information is useful.
Love,
Linda
Dear DS members. My Steve will be scanned tomorrow. It will be of his chest, kidney and pelvic areas. He has been dreading this because he likes less and less to get into that machine. Please pray for a good and stable report. Thats all we ask for now. Stable. Just for the tumors to remain stable. We have learned to live with kidney cancer. \"Dear God please take care of him\" Love, Wanda,