A whole week with NO medical appointments!

I'm so grateful for this "off" week. No needing to find drivers to appointments. No bloodwork or IVs where I have to have painful needle holes stuck through my skin. No sitting in waiting rooms. No hobbling into and around medical offices on my walker.

Just a whole week at home! (Knock on wood. I hope I didn't jinx myself).

My sister headed home on Sunday, and I've done just fine. I still have some lingering effects of the stomach bug that hit at 2 am Saturday morning, but they're no big deal compared with what I've been experiencing. Heck, I felt almost good for a few hours yesterday afternoon!

My breathing is improved, though it's not back to "normal." I still get winded a little when I'm moving around. And my blood oxygen level can run a little low when I'm sitting around. But I haven't been gasping for breath at all.

I sit here especially grateful for good health insurance. Since I'm over 65 I have Medicare, and I have good Medicare D coverage as a retired teacher in Georgia. I just got my November Explanation of Benefits, and I see that the price of Kisqali, the oral targeted med I can't tolerate, was $18,379.27! Yes, that's 18 THOUSAND dollars!! But my copay was $80.

What do people who don't have health insurance do? I worried about them when I was going through chemo in 2011 and 2012, and I worry now because in January way too many folks who currently have health insurance won't be able to afford the increased premiums. Not many people can afford to pay 18 THOUSAND DOLLARS a month for medications. Yes, there might be help in places, but when you're sick, all of the extra work to figure out how to pay is more exhaustion on top of exhaustion.

I'm guessing that Ibrance, the different one I'll start next week, will be super expensive, too. Maybe not as much as Kisqali since it's an older drug.

Though I'm in a good situation with my health insurance, going through all of these health challenges makes me especially aware of those who aren't as blessed as I am. And it makes me feel gratitude that I don't have those big challenges on top of this health challenge.

I'm especially grateful this week for lots of things. Though I have days of frustrations and weariness and sadness, overall gratitude is what I feel.

I'm going to focus on that.

May you, too, end your year focusing on gratitude.

Find one person today to thank. And it's even better if it's someone who'd be really surprised at your expression of gratitude. That's what I'm about to do right now.

Think of someone who would not expect to hear from you. For me that will mean putting something in snail mail.

But choose what expression is right for you.

And join me in a small expression of gratitude on this next-to-last day of the year!

And may you have a blessed beginning to 2026!