Family Medical Leave Act

So, in Monday's post, I said I was sad and angry at my colleagues for not supporting my idea to take sick leave for spring term. Well, it turns out that one person was too busy with something else to really hear what my request was and for the other, the person didn't quite realize how much the Herceptin treatments impact me - nor did that person really have a full understanding of all the side effects that I have. When I showed him how big the swollen lymph nodes under my arm are (if you cup your hand like you do when you're swimming - the volume of your cupped hand is what the size of the lymph nodes are), he visibly looked a little bit shocked and then said, "and that's all bad stuff?" and I said, "yes". I reiterated how exhausted I felt and how worried I was that I wouldn't be able to perform in front of the classroom on a regular basis - that one out of three weeks, I'd be exhausted - and I think he finally got it. I guess I talk about all my aches and pains and fatigue all the time so I tend to think everyone has the full picture. But on any given day, I might only talk about one or two things. I think this was the first time that my colleague knew about the whole picture - and then understood.

I also thought to ask our office of Women and Gender Equity about FMLA and the associate director looked at me (and congratulated me on the Phyllis Lee Award from January) and said, "You've been working full time through all of this? It's about time you applied for FMLA!" I responded that last year my tumor markers were good and I had good energy so I didn't see the need. However, this new treatment of Herceptin is really affecting my energy levels and I don't see how I can teach ten weeks, when every third week I'm suffering from fatigue. She said that I can file for FMLA, which allows me to take 12 full-time weeks off without getting fired, but I can also do a part-time FMLA and extend it to 24 weeks or whatever the case may be. And, I can use what sick leave I have to cover it.

So, we're filing for FMLA - that ball is rolling - and the department is thinking about their options with regard to the class. I don't mind helping with the class - I just can't take full responsibility for it.

Also, in other news, I heard from the American Cancer Society today - they work with local hotels and usually can offer me a room at no cost, so that's in the works. There's also the possibility of getting a "gas card" - a credit card to pay for gas.

Anyway, the pieces are falling into place . . . I'm just glad we had a month or so to work on things and am relieved that my department is willing to work with me on the leave ...

Lessons learned? That communication is very important. That I can't assume everyone knows everything. And, that there are always options.

Have a great evening - enjoy American Idol! BTW, my favorites last night were Crystal and Siobhan. Wow! I think Crystal sang Tracy Chapman's song better than Tracy Chapman!

American Idol

I've been watching American Idol the past couple of nights. I started watching it last year and got hooked. Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta were my favorites.

This year, for the men, I liked Michael, Lee, Aaron (the young kid), and Casey. Michael just looks like he's a lot of fun, I like Lee's gravelly voice and this week's choice of song, Aaron has a great voice and just seems to be a genuinely nice kid, and Casey is his own person - and his guitar playing was cool.

Tonight, I like Crystal, Lily, Katelyn, and Siobhan. They're all quirky in their own ways - I love the qualities of their voices. Michelle was okay, too.

It's fun to watch ...and a way to relax in the evenings.

A Relaxing Evening with American Idol

After a very busy evening yesterday doing housework-related stuff, I can relax this evening. I still need to put some clothes away and balance my checkbook and I might work on an article, but for the most part, I plan to stretch and watch Idol.

I saw my acupuncturist today. She worked on my lung meridian. I also mentioned this low back ache that I have on the left side - where the hip bone connects to the sacrum (I think). She did some cupping there on the back and gave me some ideas for stretches that might help. She then speculated that I must be holding on to some emotional thing that is causing my lung congestion. I thought about what I might be holding onto: one is worry, both about the lung situation as well as my family's financial situation (my dad and my brother cannot find work) and the other is some guilt about something that I'm not at liberty to talk about on the blog. So, my goal is to try to let go of some of that and then do some of these stretches.

I then saw my plastic surgeon, Dr. H. His wife performs the laser removal of hair, so next week, I go in to see her and she will remove the "pubes on the boob". Dr. H said they weren't really pubes as they weren't dark and/or curly, but it was definitely hair that originated near that general locale. Also, while his wife is doing laser for the hair removal, they will also use the laser on the TRAM flap scar. Both procedures together should take about 20 minutes. We may do this one or two more times, but it really should be a snap. It's considered part of the whole procedure so no out of pocket expense for me. Yay!

Also, on the abdominal scar, on the left side, the end of the scar is pointed. Probably in late summer, when I'm ready, I can go in for another outpatient procedure and Dr. H will trim that up in order to smooth out the line on that area. It sorta looks like I have a pencil poking out of the skin there - not quite that drastic, of course, but there is a small pointed area of skin. This procedure will only take about 45 minutes to smooth it out. They basically snip off the fat and then they will stitch it up again. There's about a month recovery time, so they suggested that I wait until all my summer activities are over - softball, volleyball, and I may even be able to take Eddie to the swimming pool this year.

All in all, a good couple of appointments!

Okay, on to the stretches!

Relief Floods . . .

Okay, just got the result for the CA15-3. It's 18.4! Yay! That's LOWER than last month.

Here's the history:

Sept 2007 - 23 U/mL
Jan 2008 - 31 U/mL
Mar 2008 - 36 U/mL
June 2008 - 23 U/mL (started radiation that month)
Aug 2008 - 18 U/mL (week of August 4th)
Sept 2008 - 14.5 U/mL YAAAAAAY!!!
Oct 1 2008 - 19.6 U/mL
Oct 31 2008 - 15.3 U/mL
Nov 28 2008 - 19.5 U/mL
Dec 30 2008 - 16.0 U/mL
Jan 22 2009 - 15.4 U/mL
Mar 2 2009 - 17.8 U/mL
Apr 8 2009 - 19.6 U/mL
May 5 2009 - 18.4 U/mL

Remember that anything below 33 is considered normal.

Here's the history for the CEA:

1/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL
3/2008 - 0.9 ng/mL
6/2008 - 1.0 ng/mL
8/2008 - 1.1 ng/mL (need to double check this number, but it was in that 0.9 to 1.2 range)
9/2008 - 0.5 ng/mL
10/2008 - 0.9 ng/mL
10/31/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL
11/28/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL
12/30/2008 - 1.1 ng/mL
3/2/2009 - 1.4 ng/mL
4/8/2009 - 1.6 ng/mL
5/5/2009 - 1.9 ng/mL

For the CEA, anything below 3.8 is considered normal!

Whew. Only now do I realize what a relief it is that the numbers are still staying relatively low. Big sigh.

My colleague, S., forwarded to me a research article about the CEA and CA15-3. According to this article from Feb 2008, they showed that the "predictive" value of the measures increase when they are used together. In addition, they showed that the two numbers have to be "elevated", which I think means above the thresholds of 33 for the CA15-3 and above 3.8 (or 2.5 or 5) for the CEA. Both of my numbers are below that "elevated" level.

Okay. I can sleep better tonight.

I also must admit to being disappointed that Allison Iraheta was voted off American Idol last night. I think she was great. This is the first year that I've watched it and I've been really impressed with this group. I'm even contemplating going to their Top 10 summer tour - starts in Portland on July 5th.