In May we had a hearing in Phila court to try to stop our former attorney's agreement with the trucking company. Our complaint was that he agreed to the very low amount without our OK. In fact we were not even THERE - we had left and he was instructed to call us - he didn't call until AFTER he accepted the offer. Well the judge finally ruled against us. So now we are stuck taking this low amount or we have to appeal in order to get the judges reasons in writing, and to have a leg to stand on to go after our former attorney for all the money he lost us by doing such a rotten job. The wheels of justice turn VERY slowly and we think they are rusted in place actually. Right now we don't have a lot of hope that we will ever see justice this side of heaven.
Please pray for us as we are very discouraged. We have to find a way to keep our business afloat until either the insurance or the trucking company pays us for our losses. We are not expecting anyone to pay without a fight.
Signing off for the weekend.... thank you all for holding us up in prayer. We need it.
Karen
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Glimmers of Hope
#1 - Got a call from our attorney Friday (yes that in itself is some sort of miracle!), and he reported that Judge Allen in Phila court called him to say she was making her ruling "momentarily".... so it is on its way to our attorney now by mail, we assume he will get it by Wednesday. She had been holding our case since May, deciding if we could refuse to accept a low settlement offer from the trucking company that our prior attorney accepted without our consent last October!!! If she rules for us, we get a new trial. If she rules against us we get the low settlement or have to appeal. Either way it is better than NOTHING happening for a year!
#2 - My family doctor called me today to say that she got my CAT scan report and it was all clear again! I had called the oncologist on Friday for the results and they said that they never give those out over the phone, incase it is bad news or incase the doctor sees something on the films that the radiologist did not see. :-/ I can understand what they mean, and I was ok with waiting until I see the doctor tomorrow to find out the results. If it was bad news not knowing for a few more days was worth the wait. But since my family doctor took it upon herself to call me I was happy to hear at least those preliminary results.
PLEASE KEEP PRAYING for the insurance company to do the right thing and pay us for our financial / business losses from the long ago truck accident. What a relief that would be!
Karen
#2 - My family doctor called me today to say that she got my CAT scan report and it was all clear again! I had called the oncologist on Friday for the results and they said that they never give those out over the phone, incase it is bad news or incase the doctor sees something on the films that the radiologist did not see. :-/ I can understand what they mean, and I was ok with waiting until I see the doctor tomorrow to find out the results. If it was bad news not knowing for a few more days was worth the wait. But since my family doctor took it upon herself to call me I was happy to hear at least those preliminary results.
PLEASE KEEP PRAYING for the insurance company to do the right thing and pay us for our financial / business losses from the long ago truck accident. What a relief that would be!
Karen
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Still Plodding
Hi everyone,
I just finished the second 4 week chemo cycle. Did a lot better overall since this was the lower dose, but still by the end of it I am pretty wiped out. My mouth got very sore the last few days, stomach issues got more uncomfortable, and this time around I got the "hand and foot" side effect - only the foot part - which I didn't get last round. It's a strange thing - soles of feet get very sore and tender, a bit swollen, and then start to crack and peel. I could barely walk a few days. Ouch.
Please pray for me as I have started to develop a respiratory infection on top of everything. My chest is very congested and I feel pretty weak today. I was hoping to come out of the chemo and have a few good strong weeks but this virus kicked in right as the chemo was ending. I had my labs drawn today (Monday) and so we will see if my white count is low, which would make it harder to fight off this infection, of course. I have my every 3 month CAT scan on Wednesday. I dread it a bit since the contrast stuff made me kind of sick last time and now my stomach is more sensitive, but also because of the underlying fear that it will find more cancer. Of course, in a few days, when the chemo wears off and the CAT scan is fine, I will be in a whole different frame of mind! Please pray for me to hang onto that hope for the next few days, looking forward to better things at the end of the week!
Thankfully, I was able to homeschool the kids through most of the round of meds, with assistance from my mom (a retired teacher) for the last week or so. That was a big help as my energy only goes so far and she was able to help some kids while I helped the others. I was thankful to be able to keep them on track and not let them fall behind even when I wasn't feeling great. Funny to watch her say the SAME things to them that I say all the time. "did you read the directions", and "look it up in the dictionary" , "let's check that again for errors" and "I know you can figure this out"... Gee Whiz, I went to school to be a nurse not a teacher, but apparently I picked up a lot from my mom by osmosis!
A few of the kids are voicing some fears about the cancer returning, the medicine making mommy sick etc, so please do keep praying for them.
Charles and I are still pretty overwhelmed by the financial stresses but God has provided help in the last few weeks through the generosity of some friends and family to encourage us. We are trying to hang on until the Lord answers our prayers! We had not gotten any replies from our lawyer for WEEKS and it was so discouraging. Last week Charles finally got a short reply from him, which basically sounded like he has made no progress on our behalf. :-( Since then our former insurance agent has reached our attorney and together they came up with another way to approach this which they are trying next. ARGH!!!!
Basically we had a policy that would pay someone to replace Charles if he was disabled in a business truck accident, which he was. We have been paying the replacement worker for 2.5 years with no reimbursement and it has drained us dry. The insurance company continues to stall and fight and double talk. Their latest argument was that we are not really self employed!!!!! ARGH ARGH ARGH!!!! Then why did they sell us a policy for self employed only???? They have had 15 other stall tactics too. Of course if we sue them that will stall it another 2 years, but it seems every other action we take is powerless to push them into paying.
Please plead with the Lord on our behalf to get this burden off us and to have the insurance company do the right thing and pay the claim. We know that the Lord must have some reason for allowing this to drag out so long but we are so weary of it.
Thank you all for checking the blog and not forgetting about us. Keep it up, and hopefully my next update will have some answers to your prayers!
Karen
I just finished the second 4 week chemo cycle. Did a lot better overall since this was the lower dose, but still by the end of it I am pretty wiped out. My mouth got very sore the last few days, stomach issues got more uncomfortable, and this time around I got the "hand and foot" side effect - only the foot part - which I didn't get last round. It's a strange thing - soles of feet get very sore and tender, a bit swollen, and then start to crack and peel. I could barely walk a few days. Ouch.
Please pray for me as I have started to develop a respiratory infection on top of everything. My chest is very congested and I feel pretty weak today. I was hoping to come out of the chemo and have a few good strong weeks but this virus kicked in right as the chemo was ending. I had my labs drawn today (Monday) and so we will see if my white count is low, which would make it harder to fight off this infection, of course. I have my every 3 month CAT scan on Wednesday. I dread it a bit since the contrast stuff made me kind of sick last time and now my stomach is more sensitive, but also because of the underlying fear that it will find more cancer. Of course, in a few days, when the chemo wears off and the CAT scan is fine, I will be in a whole different frame of mind! Please pray for me to hang onto that hope for the next few days, looking forward to better things at the end of the week!
Thankfully, I was able to homeschool the kids through most of the round of meds, with assistance from my mom (a retired teacher) for the last week or so. That was a big help as my energy only goes so far and she was able to help some kids while I helped the others. I was thankful to be able to keep them on track and not let them fall behind even when I wasn't feeling great. Funny to watch her say the SAME things to them that I say all the time. "did you read the directions", and "look it up in the dictionary" , "let's check that again for errors" and "I know you can figure this out"... Gee Whiz, I went to school to be a nurse not a teacher, but apparently I picked up a lot from my mom by osmosis!
A few of the kids are voicing some fears about the cancer returning, the medicine making mommy sick etc, so please do keep praying for them.
Charles and I are still pretty overwhelmed by the financial stresses but God has provided help in the last few weeks through the generosity of some friends and family to encourage us. We are trying to hang on until the Lord answers our prayers! We had not gotten any replies from our lawyer for WEEKS and it was so discouraging. Last week Charles finally got a short reply from him, which basically sounded like he has made no progress on our behalf. :-( Since then our former insurance agent has reached our attorney and together they came up with another way to approach this which they are trying next. ARGH!!!!
Basically we had a policy that would pay someone to replace Charles if he was disabled in a business truck accident, which he was. We have been paying the replacement worker for 2.5 years with no reimbursement and it has drained us dry. The insurance company continues to stall and fight and double talk. Their latest argument was that we are not really self employed!!!!! ARGH ARGH ARGH!!!! Then why did they sell us a policy for self employed only???? They have had 15 other stall tactics too. Of course if we sue them that will stall it another 2 years, but it seems every other action we take is powerless to push them into paying.
Please plead with the Lord on our behalf to get this burden off us and to have the insurance company do the right thing and pay the claim. We know that the Lord must have some reason for allowing this to drag out so long but we are so weary of it.
Thank you all for checking the blog and not forgetting about us. Keep it up, and hopefully my next update will have some answers to your prayers!
Karen
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Plodding along...through the mud.
Hello dear faithful friends,
I am finished 2 weeks of chemo this round, on the 25% lower dose. I have been tolerating it better so far. My mouth is sore and most things taste funny or metallic but not like acid at least - so that is an improvement! Still some GI issues but I can function ok in spite of them so far. I have not been too tired to manage things at home yet although around early evening I am pretty burnt out some days. We have some meals coming this week and next which will be a blessing as I really don't have much reserve energy but I am thankful to have been able to care for my family so far this round. It is really important for our kids to see me seeming as healthy as possible. They need to be kids and not be thinking about mommy being sick any more than necessary.
As soon as I finish this round of chemo (Oct 14) I will have another CAT scan to make sure no cancer is returning. I am not too worried about the results at this point but probably closer to that time I will be nervous. The test itself is a little bit unpleasant too- last time they gave me what seemed like a gallon of barium to drink, the IV leaked after several attempts to start it etc. oi vey!
I have an underlying notion (or is it God's peace?) that during this year on the chemo I will not see a reoccurance of the cancer, but that it is being held off at least for now. I have not yet convinced myself (or let the Holy Spirit convince me?) that it is never coming back. I have hope, but that is as far as my heart will allow me to go right now. I am putting some pressure on myself to make this year count for eternity as if it might be my last. Or maybe I should have been living that way all along and it's a lesson God is trying to teach me. Please pray I would have more peace, more joy and more grace in the months ahead. I know God is not finished teaching me yet. I am doing pretty well over all, but waves of fear do still hit me from time to time.
The cancer is becoming a "minor" issue these days compared to the insurance settlement delay. We are really so very, very discouraged about this and it drains both Charles and I emotionally. We were promised a written offer of settlement would be in our hands by 2 weeks ago OR we would be in non-binding mediation. No offer came, no mediation news, no answer from our lawyer even to two emails and a phone message that week and last week. Please PRAY that the agony of this wait to be reimbursed will soon come to an end. We are having a very hard time keeping our heads above water here, and it is really exhausting. We are really between a rock and a hard place and so need God to intervene on our behalf. This settlement will not be enough to dig us out of all the losses from the accident, most likely, but it will help. We still have the trucking company case locked up in Philadelphia court too - Judge Allen told us she would rule by the end of May..... it's now October.
Our kids are showing some signs of the stress. More meltdowns and fears coming to the surface for a few of them. Remember, these are kids who had their share of trauma prior to being adopted, and although we are trying very hard to protect them from the stress, and keep life as normal as possible for them, it is hard on all of us. Charles and I don' t have a lot of reserve emotional or physical energy to pour on them and they need all we have plus more. We are concerned about them.
Thank you so much for standing with us in the battle!! PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!
Hangin' onto hope,
Karen for all of us
I am finished 2 weeks of chemo this round, on the 25% lower dose. I have been tolerating it better so far. My mouth is sore and most things taste funny or metallic but not like acid at least - so that is an improvement! Still some GI issues but I can function ok in spite of them so far. I have not been too tired to manage things at home yet although around early evening I am pretty burnt out some days. We have some meals coming this week and next which will be a blessing as I really don't have much reserve energy but I am thankful to have been able to care for my family so far this round. It is really important for our kids to see me seeming as healthy as possible. They need to be kids and not be thinking about mommy being sick any more than necessary.
As soon as I finish this round of chemo (Oct 14) I will have another CAT scan to make sure no cancer is returning. I am not too worried about the results at this point but probably closer to that time I will be nervous. The test itself is a little bit unpleasant too- last time they gave me what seemed like a gallon of barium to drink, the IV leaked after several attempts to start it etc. oi vey!
I have an underlying notion (or is it God's peace?) that during this year on the chemo I will not see a reoccurance of the cancer, but that it is being held off at least for now. I have not yet convinced myself (or let the Holy Spirit convince me?) that it is never coming back. I have hope, but that is as far as my heart will allow me to go right now. I am putting some pressure on myself to make this year count for eternity as if it might be my last. Or maybe I should have been living that way all along and it's a lesson God is trying to teach me. Please pray I would have more peace, more joy and more grace in the months ahead. I know God is not finished teaching me yet. I am doing pretty well over all, but waves of fear do still hit me from time to time.
The cancer is becoming a "minor" issue these days compared to the insurance settlement delay. We are really so very, very discouraged about this and it drains both Charles and I emotionally. We were promised a written offer of settlement would be in our hands by 2 weeks ago OR we would be in non-binding mediation. No offer came, no mediation news, no answer from our lawyer even to two emails and a phone message that week and last week. Please PRAY that the agony of this wait to be reimbursed will soon come to an end. We are having a very hard time keeping our heads above water here, and it is really exhausting. We are really between a rock and a hard place and so need God to intervene on our behalf. This settlement will not be enough to dig us out of all the losses from the accident, most likely, but it will help. We still have the trucking company case locked up in Philadelphia court too - Judge Allen told us she would rule by the end of May..... it's now October.
Our kids are showing some signs of the stress. More meltdowns and fears coming to the surface for a few of them. Remember, these are kids who had their share of trauma prior to being adopted, and although we are trying very hard to protect them from the stress, and keep life as normal as possible for them, it is hard on all of us. Charles and I don' t have a lot of reserve emotional or physical energy to pour on them and they need all we have plus more. We are concerned about them.
Thank you so much for standing with us in the battle!! PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!
Hangin' onto hope,
Karen for all of us
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