NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS....IF I CALL, THEN SOMETHING'S UP

"No news is good news. If I call you, then something's up. However, looking at your scopes, I don't suspect anything as the pictures of your stomach look perfect!" Those were the words out of my doctors mouth...(and btw, when I say doctor I ACTUALLY am talking about my Nurse Practitioner, Sheila.  She is the one I have seen the most and she is SOOO thorough and amazing. Sheila literally spent about an hour and half with us this last time we were in going over things and answering questions before we met with the surgeon!).

Well, I got a call while I was work yesterday from a 507 area code.  Ugh.  I knew it was from Mayo.  Sheila left a message stating NO cancer (YAY!), but on the majority of the 8 biopsies taken, H-pylori was detected just like the last time I had my endoscopy.  As a reminder, H-pylori is an infection in the stomach and it puts me at a higher risk of stomach cancer if not treated.  They are not entirely sure why or where people get it from and most don’t even know they have it without being tested.  (SIDE NOTE….my doc told me that the majority of Alaskans have H-pylori and they actually have their own regimen up there to fight it.  Why there and WHAT is it??? Weird….) I’ve had some TERRIBLE heartburn over the last few months and feel like I EAT tums daily and nightly, so I kinda figured SOMETHING was going on and that’s a definite sign of it.  Last go around, I was treated with a two week course of two different antibiotics and an acid reducer.  I called Sheila back and she said that once you get rid of the H-pylori, you don’t get it back.  She figures the first round of meds didn’t work and that’s not common.  She said she’s not SUPER worried about it since I’m having my stomach removed in August, but because this type of stomach cancer is so aggressive and doesn’t just form over a year or so and when it starts to develop, it takes off like crazy, she said she surely wants to treat it, again.  Sheila said she doesn’t want THIS to be what triggers my crazy CDH-1 mutation and sets it off.  Now, because the 3 meds she put me on last time didn’t work, she’d have to find something stronger.  Oh ya…and by the way, I’m allergic to levaquin, so that throws a loop in things and makes it difficult.  She said she would look into what will work that doesn’t involve levaquin and call me back.  Two hours later I got a call back and she said she did a lot of research and found two antibiotics that will work, an acid reducer, and an anti-nausea med since one of the two antibiotics will be pretty rough on my stomach.  I will do all, but one of these 4x a day for the next two weeks.  She has no doubt that this should kick the infection.  If I’m still having extreme heartburn after, then she’ll test me for the H-pylori, again.  If not, then we know it worked this time.  *fingers crossed*

SO…I head to the pharmacy to pick them up and ONE of the four is $160 out of pocket WITH insurance.  WITHOUT…it’s over $800.  HOLY BUCKETS!!!!  The super nice pharmacist suggested I call my doctor and find out if there would be something else she’d suggest.  So, I called and talked to Sheila’s assistant today as Sheila is out of the office on Fridays.  She called Sheila who called the pharmacy and guess what?  There IS another script she could do that would work with my crazy levaquin allergy…..BUT….it’s MORE expensive.  ARGH!  Well, it is what it is and if this is going to kick this infection, then whatever.  The pharmacist had to order in this med that’s crazy expensive, so I’ll be in later this afternoon to pick them all up and get started.

On the BRIGHT SIDE…..NO CANCER!!!!