2. We still have $5500 deductible to pay to Duke, we are still paying on $5000 for Chris’s dgtrs engine replacement, which was subsequently wrecked the next week (not her fault), and she was close to underwater in the note, so insurance barely paid off the car 😕

And, now! We have a $4800 deductible from the fucking tornado that took down so many of our trees! This is just fucking great 😕

The last picture is not our house, it’s our next door neighbors house....it took out the end of their porch, roof damage, and totaled their car.

We are sooooooo lucky, but damn!

TBEB: hey!!! I was just thinking about you wondering if you’re seeing much CV, yet? And, thank you 😊

YAY and boo!

Yay for the good news! Sorry 'bout the bad news
Mostly just

busy busy

o.O

wow damn, the damage is quite sad. It will really change your place. I am always sad to lose trees, they are such old souls. How are you feeling after the research trial? How long do you think until you'll see any effects? How are you in general? Other than tornados, pandemics and cancer trials? jesus girl. <3

Tittertat: My area of PA has seen fewer CV patients than our urban counterparts, but still with ICU patients. Thankfully we have seen recovery in >90% of our cases.

TBEB: wow! That’s great. It’s really so, so scary. Isolation patients are so hard to take care of because of all the PPE, and with CV it is 1000% more. I mean, patients can barely see your face. And, touch...you can’t touch them...skin to skin. All the things that are healing just can’t be done. 😕 I can’t imagine.

isle: so, the trial started back in September. It’s basically a cancer vaccine. They took some of my regular dna and dna from tumor and then they create a “vaccine” that is targeted specifically to me. So, every three weeks I would get the vaccine and an immunotherapy. Cancer tumors surround themselves in a protein that hides it from your immune system.

The immunotherapy drug basically breaks down that protein so your immune system can “see” the cancer and hopefully begin to fight it. So, the idea is that the vaccine and the immunotherapeutic tag team the cancer and “train” your immune system to fight it.

The side effects of the vaccine were pretty fucking intense and pretty fucking miserable. It was basically like having the flu every three weeks. I would run a fever for ~4 days, highest was 104°, but generally 101.5-102.5°. With the body aches and headaches and incredible intense fatigue.

Slowly, over the next two weeks, the fatigue and brain fog would lift and for the last 5 days or so, I would feel pretty good, just in time to GO BACK FOR MORE FUCKING MISERY!

The study is Moderna MRNA4157 if you’re interested in reading about it. Interestingly, Moderna is one of the companies working on a coronavirus vaccine, too.
mRNA Personalized Cancer Vaccines and Immuno-Oncolog...

I am still having quite a bit of pain in my right hip, but I am also having difficulty with my left hip now. I was going to physical therapy before the CV hit. So, that’s frustrating and demoralizing. I saw the NP for the ortho surgeon that did my hip replacement on Tuesday. Apparently it looks like my left hip joint is in bad shape and they recommended

that I have that one replaced as well 😕 I think I’m going to have to think on this. I mean....I had the right one replaced and I’m still having quite a bit of pain. Now, the ball had almost completely collapsed, but.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ hey!

So, basically I’m dealing with some sort of fatigue or pain or some combination of the two all the time, which basically translates to my world becoming very small.
Also, my blood counts were drifting down, and they got low enough that I had to have a blood transfusion and some IV iron, so there’s that 🙃

I suspect it was because I was taking a lot of ibuprofen, and not always as careful as I should’ve been about having food on my belly.

But, man, I did feel better after that, in spite of the fact that getting blood kinda freaked me out. I’ve given many transfusions to patients over the years and it never bothered me, but getting it was kinda 🤢

So, tl;dr I’m tired and my hips hurt 😂
How are you?

Also....I’m broke.

Also, I’m still slightly pregnant ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

hell. heck. I'm good! not at all pregnant!

isle: woohoo!!

Thank you for sharing your treatment journey, Tittertat. You are an incredibly strong person though I’m certain it doesn’t always feel that way.
You have my love and deep respect.

also I am really glad to hear from you.

Yeah, me too. I'm at least 97.23% as glad to hear from you as isle is.

I also had to buy these because during what my mother coined my “shake and bake” days, I would sleep so damned hard with the fever and all that I would wake up and try to get to the bathroom, but I would be so stiff and sore that I couldn’t walk fast enough and I was wetting my goddamned pants. So, TMI... 🙄

Awww...you guys are so sweet. I just don’t feel like I have anything to contribute except to complain that “I’m tired” or “My hips hurt” or “Hey, I went to the grocery store yesterday and it made me sleep all day today! Yay!” This is my life.

I really love you all ❤️

Except dkronfeld: I only love him 96.47% ad much as everyone else.
But, it is really funny how we’ve all incorporated each other into our “RL”. Some of us have met, and some not, but I really feel like I know you guys, like...if we met in person it wouldn’t be awkward except dkronfeld: and SexySiloPuddinPie. That is all.

I am so so happy to hear from you.

I'm nothing if not awkward.

SexySiloPuddinPie: but you are our awkward and we love you for it!

I walk funny, too.

SexySiloPuddinPie: me, too!!!

And I'm awkward, but with really good hair

My hair is epic, old man.

That's awfully defensive for someone with epic hair that I said nothing about

You're still a day older, grandpa.

Kids these days

“You old men take your walkers and get off my lawn!”

Aren't you older than we?

She doesn't look it

Who does?

I am 28, fellas

Funny story...when I turned 30, my grandma mistakenly thought I was 29, so I jokingly went with that for a few years, then I decided I liked 28 better, so I went with that thereafter.

When I started dating my husband, I was 42. The first time I met his best friend, we were sitting around drinking and watching football...

And, I jokingly said something about being 28. He and my husband left to get pizza, and he said “Dude, I don’t think she’s really 28!” as though he thought I had tried to deceive my husband, as well. My husband laughed and laughed and laughed at that. We still laugh about that. But, I got away with 28 for so many damn years.

Sadly, my daughter turns 28 in less than a week. I guess I need to move along to like....39 or something. Though she sent me her school (teacher) picture, and I swear she looks like she is 12, so maybe I can continue on with my little deception wink

I think all you young 'uns are so cute.

Tittertat: my oldest is going to be 40!!! in july.. FORTY! FOURTY!! 40! jessuz h cripes.

isle: Jesus. Like....doesn’t it just feel like a punch in the gut. Like....I really only feel like I’m about 25 in my head. I mean, I still don’t really know how to adult.

Tittertat: I know like.. I'm not even 40 yet ffs

Yeah

My spouse just said I was going to be 38 tomorrow so he wins a blow job tonight.

To blow jobs and the men who earn them with their platitudes!

Raynee - no, you're 37!

SexySiloPuddinPie: I see what you did there

😂

I try, baby. I try.