Man against Medicine - moved to here!

Tatiana sounded very sweet. I understand your hesitation, but those gray kitties are something really special!

here's hoping that all the results are good, come June. part of me hopes that tatiana finds a forever home soon, but another part thinks you would make an awesome partner for her

Maybe Tatianna was simply there to welcome you back to the hope of possibilities. She may go to her true home before you get the all clear, but when you do, someone will be waiting for you. Of that I have no doubt.

ah....we shall be counting the days...and praying for positive news so there will be a new kitty in your house before the fireworks come:)

Here's to the end of June and an ALL CLEAR report, so Jim can adopt a loving kitty to brighten his home again. Maybe Tatiana will still be there for you (she sounds wonderful BTW), maybe another like her will be. Only time will tell about that.

I had a nice lil gray kitty like her once, and sometimes I still miss her. Took her in when she was about 5, half starved, missing one fang, and super lovable, sweet lil cuddler.

OK - to fiffur and suzzz and bobcat and all the others - I've started a new topic called "Tatiana" in the "Tell us about your furfriends" section.

This topic will still be about my battle with medicine and the prostate cancer.

Thanks to all, Jim

Well, it's time! I went to the doctor's office for a readout on my PSA - I was hoping for a reduction in my readings. Before the radiation, I was at about 1.5 to 2.0 (actually a fairly LOW readout - the prostate cancer was detected by "digital rectal exam" - the fickle finger of fate!) - right BEFORE the rad treatments, I was at 2.5. Now, about 3 months AFTER - it was 0.9!! I MADE IT. We'll still have to make periodic checks (6 months), but I'm REALLY relieved. We're going out Friday nite for a nice dinner.

Thanks to all for their thoughts! Jim

YEAH!

This is SUCH good news, Jim!!

I saw this topic come up and held my breath. You must have done much the same as you walked into the doc's office. I'm so grateful the news was so good! Congratulations!!!

It's funny to scroll up here and see your initial meeting with Miss Tatia. It seems like a lifetime ago, so much has happened since then. I suppose, in a way, it has been.

Wonderful new. Even though it's a school night I'm having a glass of
red wine in celebration of your over the top good news.

Great news, Jim!!!

Yeah, I was kind of "worried" when I went to the office! Everyone remembered me - the receptionist/office attendant, the nurses, the doc - everyone was giving me the "smile" - then I sat down with the doc and he read me the results - WHEW! - now, tonite (Friday), I'll spring for dinner with two very good friends - we're going to try out relatively new place called Dublin Square - their claim to fame is Irish/English cooking, including fish and chips, shepherd's pie, bangers and champ (? I know "bangers" but I don't know "champ") - along with usual "american" stuff - should be fun!

Jim

Wonderful news, Jim!!!!!!

We should put this is learn something new every day, I'd heard of Bangers and Mash, but not bangers and Champ. I think its the same thing'. Champ is mashed potatoes
Tou are making me hungry. We used to have an irish /english restaurant near where I work but they closed. I could go for a nice piece of shepard's pie.

http://homecooking.about.com/od/toprecipes/tp/irishgloss.htm

hmm...have a feeling champ and mash are the same thing but from different areas (like how potato salad is different in different areas over here in the states)
great news though...glad you're not only having a celebration but you've got something so big to celebrate:)

jeanebellini wrote:...glad you're not only having a celebration but you've got something so big to celebrate

Well said, Jeane! I second that! Have a great night, Jim!

Have a wonderful time!!!!!!!

Yeash, we did have a GREAT time - I went for fish and chips - actually, it was about the same as "american" fish and chips - I really should have had bangers and champ or maybe beef stew - but in any event it WAS good, and boy was there a LOT of it! I also had Guiness (I like dark beer! ) but I don't like it "warm" (room temp) - the gal kind of smiled and said theirs was "cool" (not ice cold like american brews, but not room temp like it would be in Ireland or England) - and the foam was just right - about 1/2 inch and very small bubbles, stay with it until the end!

I'm a lil late getting into this topic--but FANTASTIC NEWS! I am so happy your results were so good Jim. I have a feeling being happy with Tatiana helped some...............

Dinner sounded wonderful, I love good fish n chips myself.

Now I'd like to talk about the "Man against medicine" part of all this - I needed a refill on the medicine I was taking for prostate problems - ok, talked to the cancer doc and he gave me the blue "script" CAUSE I SAID I HAD TO MAIL IT IN TO MEDCO - note, I said I had to mail it in - doc asked that I make sure the nurse got a copy of the "script" for their records - ok, that I did. Went home, filled out the Medco form, put it and the script in a envelope, mailed it in Friday morning. Received an automated call Friday afternoon from Medco, they had the fax copy (HUH?? What fax copy?) of the refill request forwarded by the doctor and it would be mailed soon. I immediately called Medco, explained that I just MAILED the SCRIPT for the medicine this (friday) morning and didn't know ANYTHING about a fax request from the doctor. APPARENTLY - sheeeesh! - the doc's office FAXED the script to Medco at the same time as I was MAILING the script. I canceled the MAILED request - would go with the doc's FAX REQUEST - medco would consider the MAILED request as superfluous. End of story - Nuh-uh - watch what happens Saturday.

I needed a refill on ANOTHER med - not related to the prostate problem. This was filled by the local pharmacy - called phone number, automated answer, gave prescription number, answer back was "Will be ready at 11:30 AM". Went by at 12 noon - pharmacist gave me a package costing AT LEAST 3 times what I thought - was for the PROSTATE DRUG sent by the PROSTATE DOC - Now, wait a minute!! - How did you get THAT request?? - Faxed over, naturally! - Oh, by the way, they DID HAVE the medicine that I REQUESTED earlier - for the proper cost - but HOW DID YOU GET THE FAX FROM THE PROSTATE DOC AT THE SAME TIME AS MEDCO DID AND AT THE SAME TIME AS I HAD THE SCRIPT TO MAIL????? In other words, there were 3 DIFFERENT sets of the drug!

I straightened out the local pharmacist, had him return the prostate drug to the shelf (they could do it because I hadn't RECEIVED the drug from the pharmacist), got the other drug that I wanted, and left - all the while thinking


MAN AGAINST MEDICINE - things are JUST SO COMPLICATED, aren't they?

Jim

I don't know if that could get anymore complicated. I'm also baffled.

gawd,i don't think i could have kept all that stuff straight! is a good thing you're retired so you can attempt at keeping it all straight!

This is making my head explode.

My only suggestion (which you've obviously already figured out) is, from now on, question the doc's office staff closely about scrip procedure and how it's all gonna go down. Docs? They have no clue about that kind of stuff and don't even bother to listen when patients blather on about it. They write the scrips. The rest is up to their underlings. That sounds harsh, but it's the truth, in my experience. I don't really blame the docs; anything non-medical they just don't have time for. That's why they have admin staff. Trouble is, the admin staff knows what to do but doesn't bother to explain it to the patient. Guess who gets left out of the loop?

If I were you, Jim, I'd check again next week with MEDCO, your pharmacist, and the doc's office to be sure that when you ARE ready to pick up your prostate meds, there's not some mass confusion about a cancelled prescription. This thing has six-way-cluster-goof written all over it.

Man against medicine indeed!!!

I always check Medco on-line - it says they have mailed the drug to me 7/2 - now if the post office doesn't mess up....

The man against medicine, Mr. Jim

they send medication through US Mail? is it insured or something? (i've gotten where i don't trust the US Mail all that much!)