September - after Hurricane Irene

Well, it's been awhile since I posted an update and since the last post, we've had Hurricane Irene hit us. Many were without power for over a week and approx 72 lives were lost and billions of dollars in damage from this
hurricane.

That was two weeks ago and now we have a bad crop of pumpkins, applesand foliage has already lost a good amount of leaves (and complete trees) due to the storm.

I'm doing okay, not great, but okay and continue to keep thinking positive
and having good days and bad.

The New England Patriots are off to a good start, but our Red Sox can't seem to get back on a winning track. Soon we'll have all four major sports going at once (baseball playoffs/world series, football, hockey and basketball).

Stay tuned for more after I turn the big six oh in a couple more weeks!

Two Years in Remission Now

As the year, 2010, winds down with a howling blizzard going on in New England that started yesterday, December 26 and is expected to end late tonight or early tomorrow morning, December 28th, I thank God that
I've reached the two years in remission milestone.

My next scheduled CT scan, CEA bloodtest and oncologist exam with followup is tentatively scheduled for the week of April 26th through 29th, 2011.

Looking back over the past year, I remember some precious moments such as our son's graduation with a BS degree, his ongoing excellent relationship with his girlfriend, my parent's health issues, especially my father's two
major abdominal surgeries and I look forward to the new year when my wife and I will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in March and many other family milestones.

I also look back at who we lost this past year and remember in our prayers,
Uncle Buddy USN-R, Holly, Fred and others who will be missed.

In closing with this final post for this year, I am thankful for many things such as our family, friends and our Lord who has given us what
we've prayed and asked Him for. Blessings to you all who are fighting this horrible disease and let this be a lesson in that it can be beat!

Best wishes to all for a very happy, health and safe New Year!!!

Summer of 2010

So, here it is a few days past the longest day of sunlight of the year. It's been very hot as well and very muggy, but this is what we wait all Winter for I guess?

Dad's progressing, slowly, but still progressing. The 4th of July is this coming Sunday (hard to believe!). The general pace is slow during the summer and the news always seems to be worse with the Gulf Oil Crisis, Health Issues and Government Corruption making headlines a lot lately.

We wish you all a safe and happy 4th of July!

The *new* Healthcare Options

Well, we only have about another week left in October and our healthcare administrators have decided to switch our HMO Blue to an 80/20 plan. This means all tests including bloodwork, xrays, scans, even a flu shot would only be covered at 80%and we pay the 20% balance. This is not a good deal with my frequent bloodwork, tests and scans. My next PET scan in April will cost me approx $2200 out-of-pocket, yet there are people who have just come to this country with no healthcare who get free medical coverage. What's wrong with this picture?

My gut feeling is that this is just the tip of the iceberg of what will be soon forthcoming if the government tells us which doctors we can see and when.

HMO Blue is also changing their name to New England Network Blue and will be sending out "new" cards which will confuse the billing people even more.

I'm still contesting a bill that I received as a $100 co-payment because it was coded wrong by the hospital (so my healthcare administrator says).

Other than that, The Patriots play Tampa in London tomorrow and the World Series (Baseball) might even start in early November...brrr.

Have a good weekend! Next weekend is Hallloween...stay tuned for chilling videos!