Making a Way in the Wilderness

Since last September, Josh Moyer, a local newspaper reporter, has been working on a story about how Penn State handled my health situation. The article kept getting delayed because he had to work on covering all the @*&$#* going on at PSU last fall - the Proud Boys speaker event and the president blaming peaceful protesters for the ensuing chaos, cancelation of the proposed Racial Justice Center, surprise announcement about merging the two law schools, etc. During a news lull, the article finally hit the front page! I wish there had been space to mention that I was re-hospitalized twice after being discharged from the hospital in Virginia, i.e., not teaching for the fall semester was the right call. https://www.centredaily.com/.../pen.../article272439458.html The story is behind a paywall, so the hyperlink in first sentence and here goes to a PDF that I've uploaded to Google Drive. A friend also sent me a link to a free version .

Leland and I drove in our new car (Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric vehicle - yeah!) for my 3-month follow-up appointment in Pittsburgh on Thursday. My oncologist is on maternity leave, after having her 4th (!) baby. When the physician's assistant (a PSU grad, of course) and doctor said that the cancer looks "stable," my heart fell. They explained that from their perspective that is good news because Tagrisso is holding the cancer in check and it's not spreading. So they think it's working as it should. I have read a lot about targeted therapy and Tagrisso and both Leland and I were under the impression that it would reduce (and maybe even eventually eliminate) the existing cancer cells. In the Tagrisso Facebook group there are lots of people who now have "no evidence of disease" (NED). That is what everyone with lung cancer is hoping for...but now I'm realizing that I have to adjust my expectations about what Tagrisso might do for me. Tagrisso doesn't k...

All options have been exhausted. I will have to pay $210-250 per month for my blood thinner medication (up from $41). There are no coupons, cheaper pharmacies, or co-pay programs. There is one blood thinner I haven't tried that is supposed to be as effective as enoxaparin and costs $50 (ironically, it's a more expensive medication so it qualifies for the specialty medication $50 co-pay). However, my hematologist doesn't want to "rock the boat" yet. I will touch base with him after my next oncology appointment in Pittsburgh.  To be clear, we can afford this cost. But the price increase is infuriating, even more so because it's clear I'm not the only employee facing higher prescription costs. One way PSU will save $20 million with switching to Highmark is by passing on higher prescription costs to employees. Yesterday I learned about a horrendous health insurance situation with a PSU student whose parents are professors (the dad is also in the College of Edu...