Update on Yvonne & Life in Saudi
I have been trying to find the time to write an update on my sister Yvonne, and my life in Saudi this year. It’s amazing how busy it gets once school starts. As I’m only in my second year of teaching, I’m going to use this as my excuse for my pathetic lack of communication.
Yvonne is now writing her updates on a blog that anyone can access. Check it out at: http://www.yvonski.blogspot.com/
Yvonne found out 5 weeks ago that she has a particular kind of breast cancer called “HER2 Positive.” Only about 20% of breast cancer patients have this very aggressive cancer. Sounds like bad news, but it’s actually good news because there is a fairly new drug on the market called Herceptin that targets this cancer specifically. They use it in combination with chemo and she has been receiving these chemo/Herceptin treatments for about 5 weeks now. I've been calling Von every week and she sounds pretty up. Walt told me that she seems to have more energy and doing things that she couldn't do a month ago. She also is able to sleep on her sides better now without as much pain. She hasn't felt any nausea, thank God, but her hair has started to fall out now and she’s considering shaving it this week and wearing a wig. She turned 50 on Sept 16. She told me that she used to dread the turning-50 thing, but now she's so grateful to be alive that the birthday party became a true celebration of life. It's interesting how your attitude can change with these circumstances.
I am mostly OK emotionally, but every once in a while something hits me out of the blue and I feel sad or scared again. Last week I found out that Herceptin is an outrageously expensive drug, so much so that women have taken the British health system to court for refusing to pay for it. I did some internet research on it and found one source that said the combination of Herceptin and chemo, doctors & hospital charges can add up to about $14,000 per weekly treatment! The article was several years old, so the cost may be different now. Yvonne's insurance has a deductible, and we’re still not sure how much they have to pay out of pocket before insurance picks up the rest. In January, the deductible starts over from scratch again. Some very generous gifts have come their way to help with these expenses so some of the financial stress has been relieved. The treatments are supposed to go for a year or more, and then Herceptin for the rest of her life if she survives.
While I was researching Herceptin, I came across some articles that spelled out the statistics on Herceptin. In the cancer world, it seems like a miracle drug. Her doctors have talked so optimistically about it that they have practically guaranteed that Von will survive. But that's not what the stats say. In reality, it sounds like Herceptin might change it from a 10-15% possibility of survival to a 50/50 chance. The family has all been saying that we're "cautiously optimistic" since the doctors are very optimistic. But when I read these stats, I felt this horrible dread again. 50/50 doesn't sound good to me. I cried again over that. I watched "Finding Neverland" on TV and bawled my eyes out when the mother died, thinking of Von. I look at her picture on my frig sometimes and start to cry. It comes & goes. Most of the time I'm OK and I'm feeling a little more optimistic since she's feeling a little less pain now. They won't do major tests on her for another month, so we are just waiting, waiting, and hoping for good news.
School is in full swing and already very busy. The one truly bright spot about teaching this year is my Yearbook class. It's my one creative outlet and the students in that class are amazing. It was a very difficult class that I inherited last year and I struggled the entire year to get work out of the kids. This year, I required students to fill out "job applications" to be in the class and there was a waiting list to get in. I have the cream of the crop. They are all dying to make the best yearbook ever. I actually feel excited walking into that class every day. The best part is that about two-thirds of the class are getting into photography and buying their own cameras. We had election speeches at assembly last week and since they are still in the learning stage, I didn't assign anyone to cover it but asked all who could get their hands on a camera to shoot. It was great, like the paparazzi had come to Dhahran High School. And the best part was that they were doing exactly what I told them to do...to not be afraid to get up in front of the crowd to get the right shot, to get close to the subject, to try different angles, to anticipate when something interesting was about to happen and find the right position for the best shot. I felt euphoric watching them.
It looks like I will be doing a lot of traveling this year (if Yvonne is improving and I stay here for the year). I am involved in the Model United Nations (MUN), which is a club at the school. MUN conferences for international schools are all in foreign countries. This year there are 3 conferences, one in Berlin, Cairo, and Qatar. I will co-lead the group going to Cairo. I'm also hoping to co-lead a student trip to Italy in February. Both those trips are paid for by the school. There are several vacations as well and most people leave the country as there is nothing to do here. I will wait for the results of the testing on Yvonne before I decide what to do for the winter break. My brother, Jon & Cher, have begged me to come to Uganda for Christmas, so that is a possibility if Yvonne is clearly improving. The cost to fly home is double that of a flight to Africa.
I feel like I have some good friends here and the atmosphere among the teachers this year is 100% better. I’m taking things one day at a time, making plans, but knowing that anything can change at a moment’s notice.
I’m sorry I haven’t answered every email personally. I will try to do better, but I have been so showered with love and support that I can’t keep up with the mail. Please know how much I appreciate every letter and love to hear from you. I’m still hoping to some day answer the over 100 emails in my inbox.
Love, LuAnne
Yvonne is now writing her updates on a blog that anyone can access. Check it out at: http://www.yvonski.blogspot.com/
Yvonne found out 5 weeks ago that she has a particular kind of breast cancer called “HER2 Positive.” Only about 20% of breast cancer patients have this very aggressive cancer. Sounds like bad news, but it’s actually good news because there is a fairly new drug on the market called Herceptin that targets this cancer specifically. They use it in combination with chemo and she has been receiving these chemo/Herceptin treatments for about 5 weeks now. I've been calling Von every week and she sounds pretty up. Walt told me that she seems to have more energy and doing things that she couldn't do a month ago. She also is able to sleep on her sides better now without as much pain. She hasn't felt any nausea, thank God, but her hair has started to fall out now and she’s considering shaving it this week and wearing a wig. She turned 50 on Sept 16. She told me that she used to dread the turning-50 thing, but now she's so grateful to be alive that the birthday party became a true celebration of life. It's interesting how your attitude can change with these circumstances.
I am mostly OK emotionally, but every once in a while something hits me out of the blue and I feel sad or scared again. Last week I found out that Herceptin is an outrageously expensive drug, so much so that women have taken the British health system to court for refusing to pay for it. I did some internet research on it and found one source that said the combination of Herceptin and chemo, doctors & hospital charges can add up to about $14,000 per weekly treatment! The article was several years old, so the cost may be different now. Yvonne's insurance has a deductible, and we’re still not sure how much they have to pay out of pocket before insurance picks up the rest. In January, the deductible starts over from scratch again. Some very generous gifts have come their way to help with these expenses so some of the financial stress has been relieved. The treatments are supposed to go for a year or more, and then Herceptin for the rest of her life if she survives.
While I was researching Herceptin, I came across some articles that spelled out the statistics on Herceptin. In the cancer world, it seems like a miracle drug. Her doctors have talked so optimistically about it that they have practically guaranteed that Von will survive. But that's not what the stats say. In reality, it sounds like Herceptin might change it from a 10-15% possibility of survival to a 50/50 chance. The family has all been saying that we're "cautiously optimistic" since the doctors are very optimistic. But when I read these stats, I felt this horrible dread again. 50/50 doesn't sound good to me. I cried again over that. I watched "Finding Neverland" on TV and bawled my eyes out when the mother died, thinking of Von. I look at her picture on my frig sometimes and start to cry. It comes & goes. Most of the time I'm OK and I'm feeling a little more optimistic since she's feeling a little less pain now. They won't do major tests on her for another month, so we are just waiting, waiting, and hoping for good news.
School is in full swing and already very busy. The one truly bright spot about teaching this year is my Yearbook class. It's my one creative outlet and the students in that class are amazing. It was a very difficult class that I inherited last year and I struggled the entire year to get work out of the kids. This year, I required students to fill out "job applications" to be in the class and there was a waiting list to get in. I have the cream of the crop. They are all dying to make the best yearbook ever. I actually feel excited walking into that class every day. The best part is that about two-thirds of the class are getting into photography and buying their own cameras. We had election speeches at assembly last week and since they are still in the learning stage, I didn't assign anyone to cover it but asked all who could get their hands on a camera to shoot. It was great, like the paparazzi had come to Dhahran High School. And the best part was that they were doing exactly what I told them to do...to not be afraid to get up in front of the crowd to get the right shot, to get close to the subject, to try different angles, to anticipate when something interesting was about to happen and find the right position for the best shot. I felt euphoric watching them.
It looks like I will be doing a lot of traveling this year (if Yvonne is improving and I stay here for the year). I am involved in the Model United Nations (MUN), which is a club at the school. MUN conferences for international schools are all in foreign countries. This year there are 3 conferences, one in Berlin, Cairo, and Qatar. I will co-lead the group going to Cairo. I'm also hoping to co-lead a student trip to Italy in February. Both those trips are paid for by the school. There are several vacations as well and most people leave the country as there is nothing to do here. I will wait for the results of the testing on Yvonne before I decide what to do for the winter break. My brother, Jon & Cher, have begged me to come to Uganda for Christmas, so that is a possibility if Yvonne is clearly improving. The cost to fly home is double that of a flight to Africa.
I feel like I have some good friends here and the atmosphere among the teachers this year is 100% better. I’m taking things one day at a time, making plans, but knowing that anything can change at a moment’s notice.
I’m sorry I haven’t answered every email personally. I will try to do better, but I have been so showered with love and support that I can’t keep up with the mail. Please know how much I appreciate every letter and love to hear from you. I’m still hoping to some day answer the over 100 emails in my inbox.
Love, LuAnne
posted by LuAnne at
3:01 AM
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