The Good News!

The government CAN work for the individual!

My phone call to Senator Feingold’s office put the ball in motion. Senator Feingold was not able to help me himself, but with his actions, he did. He turned my problem immediately over to someone that COULD help me and they did so. She called me right away to let me know who she was, why she was calling and that she was working on it. Within twenty four hours she called again to tell me her success.

I now have a dental appointment with an excellent facility and an oral surgeon on Wednesday, August 3^rd! It will be an x-ray, exam, status appointment and then the work will be done in other appointments. I still don’t know the time frame, but I am so RELIEVED! I’m back on track in a forward direction again!

The place I am going to is one of the places I called on Monday. When I called, they were not able to do a thing for me as they are booked up until next year sometime. This proves that perseverance does work! It also proves that if you come at something from one angle, and it doesn’t work, keep trying from different directions. It just might work.

The dental work will end up taking longer than what will be good for staying on my schedule chemo wise, but there is nothing I can do about that. And it will be a long haul travel wise as they are a three hour round trip from here, but so be it! I can't begin to tell you how GOOD this news is and how good it makes me feel!

With everything that has happened since this started, I have to say I have indeed lost confidence in my treatment center and my doctors. I am being very careful to not burn the bridge, at least not until I have jumped bridges, but the bridge jumping is already in progress. I should have been more informed by my doctors and oncologist regarding my teeth and potential problems that could be incurred upon my receiving chemo. They all know I have bad teeth. It was brought to their attention more than once, including my needing a mouth guard over my teeth in each of my surgeries to keep them from breaking off any further. I stated to them several times that for some reason, back in December, my teeth started to chip away and break off. I hate it, but when I smile now, it is easily visible. So I know they saw it, as well as heard me tell it. Yet, they never showed any concern regarding this at all. (No, I am not a drug user, or anything even remotely close, that would cause them to break off!) No one mentioned that it is important to have teeth checked and repairs done before chemo. There are a number of other things, (some of which you have read about in my postings, such as surgery mishaps etc.), which all added up, are also causing me concern.

When I was first told I needed to have chemo and was told what chemo I would be given, my immediate reaction was to go to the computer and look everything up on it that I could. Then I stopped myself. I decided it would not be to my advantage to become immersed in information overload. Most importantly, I didn't want to set myself up mentally regarding "things that can go wrong" and side affects. So I didn't do the reading I normally would have. This is why I didn't discover the teeth/chemo relation myself. In hindsight, I have now done a bit of reading and found that the teeth/chemo problem is not rare. I also found there are some other areas that should have been addressed, such as the blood pressure pills I take, my beginning stages of osteoporosis, my arthritis and the allergies I have. All of these, in regards to my personal history, are well documented in my file at this health system. Yet no one has addressed them in relation to my cancer, treatments or chemo. Heck, they are the ones that prescribed the blood pressure pills over six years ago, did the osteoporosis test and have treated me for some of my allergies! Upon finding this information out, it gives me even more reason to be concerned about the care I am receiving. The facility that I am planning on going to appears to be a good one. Then again, the one I am with right now did too. I have done some research and talked to people that have been or are currently patients there. Some are cancer patients, some are not. I have heard many good things. There will be no way to know for sure until I have my appointments, but at least I feel that I am grabbing the bull by the horns doing everything I can to have the most positive outcome possible.

Regarding Senator Feingold? He will most definitely have my vote in every election from here on out. Not only my vote, but my recommendation to everyone I can tell. When he endorses other candidates, I will take a very serious look at them as well. Thank you Senator Feingold. Thank you to the wonderful lady who found me a space in the dental world. You have both restored my faith that there are still times the government does pay attention to the “little guy”. Senator Feingold, you were already a favorite with my husband, now you are with me, as well.