Alan’s Army

Sorry, I fell asleep last night with the Blackberry in hand.

After all kinds of trials and tribulations yesterday Alan was back home around 5pm.

The test yesterday proved that the shunt is indeed working.

So in an effort to improve the sight situation the shunt was dialed down one more setting to (the lowest - most drainage) and they have put Alan back on steroids as well.  They want another CT scan, probably on Wednesday, to see what the ventricles look like.  If things are not improved he would likely go back in to Pennsylvania Hospital, probably on Friday, for another operation to remove the shunt and replace it with another model that can provide greater drainage.  So we wait and see (hopefully!)

A letter arrived from Schering-Plough yesterday that says “Our comprehensive reimbursement search did not uncover any reimbursement options at this time.  However, because of your financial situation, we have approved you to receive this medication free of charge through our program.”

Praise God! And many thanks Schering-Plough!

So the giant black cloud that has been hovering over us about the chemo cost has been removed.  The oncology doctors etc. still are not covered, but we are very relieved and thankful that this huge expense has gone away.

We are very pleased that Alan is not back in the hospital this weekend as our dear friends Bob and Kyle Enman are visiting from Maine.  We wish we had been able to go North for the big tourney or vacation as we miss seeing Nan, Dragan, Josh, Gordy, Victor, Mike, Scott, Dave and all our other “Northern” friends, but we are so delighted to spend some time with Bob and Kyle.  John McGinley is coming over and we are going to meet up with BOB Graham and go play the Liberty Corner course which is a pretty open grassy park type of course that Alan will be able to at least walk around on.

So far this morning Alan hasn’t had any problem with the steroids and nausea so hopefully it will be a nice little walk for him.

Thanks all.  I’ll send the next update if we have a change in Alan’s sight or when we get results of the CT scan on Wednesday.

Thank you all for your prayers!

Love,

Big Dog