2 Years

Two years ago today they took my wife into another room and cut open he skull in hopes of removing a brain tumor that would have eventually blocked of her fourth ventricle and killed.  I have no doubt that without that surgery and the radiation that followed that Katrina would not still be here today.

It has been a long hard road that we have walked over the last two years and part of me hopes that this aniveresery holds some sort of significance that goes beyond the passage of time. I hope that it is the beginning of a return to normalcy.  The beginning of the end of our journey.

Perhaps that has been one of the toughest parts of this journey, the not knowing. Many of us have had the pleasure at some point in our life of taking a long road trip. The journey to wherever we are going is full of excitement and wonder.  The journey home, however, is more like a chore and when we finally pull into the driveway it is a relief to be home. This Journey that we have been on has been like the return leg of a long road trip, only we don't know where we are on that trip. We continually hope that we are pulling into the driveway, and yet we always fear that we have only just started the journey. It gives a whole new meaning to "enduring to the end" when you have no idea, what or when that end might be.

Here's hoping and praying  for two years that are far better than the last two.



So where are we? Katrina is going to attempt to return to work in a couple of week, teaching part time. We really found ourselves between a rock and a hard place between the insurance and disability.The insurance never would okay the neuro-psych  test to she how she will preform under stress so we are going into this blind. I hope and pray that she can be successful because it truly does meant so much to her.  Despite everything, despite how hard it is she is passionate about teaching and devoted to a return to it. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we begin this unkknown leg of our journey.

As for my self, I don't know if I mentioned that I went back to school to finish my teaching degree. It's hard, far harder than I would have expected. To any young kids reading, don't put it off, it only gets harder as you get older. That said, I've finished my foundations of teaching courses and will be starting my field experiences here shortly. I'll do my student teaching in September of 2013, I should be done with my coursework well before that but that will be the next available co-hort.

       

More on Tests and Insurance

So, here is some more of the story. After giving the rehab doctor the names of who I could go to, we chose another doctor. Again, the insurance company said she wasn't authorized and gave us the name of the first doctor that we were referred to. My doctor's secretary called to make an appointment. Now, the insurance company said the test wasn't authorized. I wrote an email and a letter to the insurance company asking them to authorize the test. My rehab doctor gave up. He said until it is requested by someone, we would hold off.

On another note, I am going to start teaching part time at a younger grade. I'm excited about returning to work, but it will be a lot of work as I try to learn a new curriculum.

Insurance and tests

So it's been forever since I last posted. Where are we? Well, Katrina needs to have a neuropsych test done, but the insurance is giving us the run around. Here's how it played out.

Katrina's rehab doctor refered us to a neuro-psychologist at the university. We called the insurance to clear it and they said that this doctor wasn't covered by our insurance and gave us a list of six doctors who were. We submitted those names to the rehab doctor and he picked one, then called us to let us know. Again, we called the insurance to make sure everything was set. Suddenly none of the doctors they gave us were available on our plan. That's right THEY gave us a list of six doctor who were NOT on our plan. GRRrrrrRRRr. So I went on their site an I looked up the neuro-psychologists that are on our plan and we gave that list to the Rehab doctor. We are waiting to hear back.

This whole process has taken about two months. Yuck!

So what is a neuropsych test? Essentially it's a prolonged (5hr)test similar to an IQ test that is designed to test how she performs mentally over and extended period of time under stress. We need to have this done to decide how to move forward with everything.

MRI Results

Katrina's scan came back clean. No visible cancer in her brain or spine.

Guilty

I've been feeling guilty lately about not posting. I'm not even sure there is very much interest in the blog anymore.

Life has been crazy for us these past few months. Lots of family drama and other trials. We've had lots of close family in and out of the hospital for one reason or another and Three Divorces. Top all that off with the fact that I've gone back to work and school.

College is going great for me. I'm about three weeks ahead of schedule in my courses. I just passed LUT 1 today! Work has been fun too. I'd forgotten how much more fun it was to be a staff member than director.

Katrina is doing pretty good too. I know that her rehab doctor's are pleased with her progress. It's not all peaches and cream but she has come a long way. Especially given that all she could do right after surgery was drool on herself and cry weakly. It wasn't pretty and thankfully it seems like a distant nightmare now. She has her total cerebral spinal MRI this week and then a follow up with the Chemo Doc to discuss it. I hope our blessings hold out and it comes back clean. We've been fortunate that her scans have been coming back clean so far, although her white count has never really recovered from the radiation.

Thank you to those of you who continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Trouble comes in thr. . . err . . . fours?

So It seems our trouble is not over yet. Katrina's mom was admitted to the hospital last night. She had some pockets of infection in her body and one ruptured. The doctors where hoping that surgery wouldn't be required and that her body would fight off the infection on its own.

This evening her temperature spiked and her pain "came back with a vengeance." They are taking her into the OR asap.

Doctors and School

We had a Rehab follow up appointment for Katrina today. He says he sees improvement which is encouraging. I noticed that her legs aren't spread nearly as wide as they used to have to be to keep her balance. He's also prescribing her some medication that is supposed to give a little kick in the pants to her thinking ability. Hopefully this will help her ratchet up to the high functioning, multitasking, Thinker that she used to be. Sometimes it's like she is painfully close to being back to normal, but it's just out of reach. Hopefully this gives her that little extra boost.

I Have begun the process to return to College. I got my Associates degree years ago then life happened and I never completed my course of study. It has been on my mind a lot the last few months. What would i do if I lose Katrina or she's never able to return to work. Unpleasant questions to ask myself to say the least, but I feel they are important ones to ask. I feel like I need to have my degree and right now while we watch and wait is probably about as good a time to do it as we are going to get. I'm nervous about the financial side of that. Things are ultra tight for us and will probably get worse before they get better. So I'm hoping to get some financial aid figured out.

If you know of any scholarships for male teachers let me know. I need everything I can get.