
A New Me Blog
#29 A Time to Kill
Monday, February 3, 2025 by Deb Vellines
With my God-letter, I reached a decision – get radiation treatment.
The very next Sunday in church, I heard the words from Ecclesiastes : “a time to kill.” I felt like that was confirmation of the decision—time to get treatment, time to kill this tumor, kill it with radiation. And here I thought kill meant kill another person. Kill can mean many things. We can kill ugly emotions, kill negative feelings, kill depression, and fear. And radiation can kill my tumor!
Some patients need to have the tumor out of their head. I never felt that way. BUT I did need to know the thing is dead = not growing.
I gathered my pages of information. I knew where I wanted to go for treatment, “a Center of Excellence.” A center of excellence has lots of experience treating acoustic neuromas, whether radiation or surgery.
It all felt so right. Next I had to wait for the HMO answer. I couldn’t believe it. The HMO said NO. Why did the HMO say, “No?” They said no to going out of state for treatment when I could get the same treatment in state. But wait a minute. They don’t understand how rare this tumor is. When something is this rare, it’s important to find a doctor who has treated it many times. One out of 100,000 people is rare. It’s not like treating a common appendicitis.
The more patients a doctor has treated, the better the results. It doesn’t matter if it’s surgery or radiation. Do I want to be the 10th or the 100th patient? Or even the 1,000th? I want the doctor experienced with this tumor. Before every procedure each patient should always ask their doctor – “How many times have you done this procedure?” and “How many times a week or month do you do this procedure?” and “What’s your success rate?”
And I don’t want to hear a hesitant answer. I want to hear a confidant answer, one that will fill me with confidence.
*****
Readers: Are you shy to ask a doctor his success rate? With important appointments, be sure and have someone with you to take notes. A second pair of ears helps.
*****
Dear God,
I feel like you are blocking the treatment. I don’t understand, but I feel like I should talk to the doctor that they want me to see. Again, I ask for help at this appointment. Help me to hear what You want me to hear. Amen.
A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to rebuild. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. Ecclesiastes 3:3-4
Previous Posts
# 77 – 21 Stress Busters
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
# 76 Claustrophobia
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#75 Facial Issues
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#74 Phantom Sounds
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#73 Walk Without Falling
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#72 AN Awareness Week
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
# 71 Hearing Loss
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#70 Understanding Changes
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#69 Is It Growing?
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#68 AN Facebook Group
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#67 Turn Off Anxiety
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#66 Decisions & Stress Busters
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#65 Control and Choices
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#64 Surgeon Questions
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#63 Virtual Education Event
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#62 Three Ways to Connect
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#61 Reminders
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#60 Grocery Shopping
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#59 9 Conversation Hints with Masks
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#58 A New Me & New Ways
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#57 Irritable?
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#56 11 Reasons to Try Chair Yoga
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#55 Hints for the Holiday
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#54 Treatment Ideas for Headaches
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#53 Headaches
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#52 Hyperacusis
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#51 ** 5 Ways to Prevent Falls
Deb Vellines
2/4/2025
#50 Closed Captioning (CC) at the Movies
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#49 Hearing Loss Advice
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#48 Networking8 Networking
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#47 Help Me Hear
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#46 4 YouTube Videos
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#45 Get Connected
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#44 Signia Hearing Aids
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#43 Improving Balance
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#42 Treatment of Depression
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#41 Depression
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#40 ** 7 Ways to Fight Brain Fog
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#39 ** 5 Fatigue Busters
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#38 Tinnitus
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#37 Phonak CROS Hearing Aids
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#36 Hearing Devices
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#35 Single Sided Deafness
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
# 34 Post Treatment
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#33 Treatment
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#32 A Hit Over the Head
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#31 National Symposium
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#30 Knots with Purpose
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#29 A Time to Kill
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#28 A Letter
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#27 Peace With Trust
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#26 Joy is a Choice
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#25 Flat Emotion
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#24 New Thoughts
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#23 Acceptance?
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#22 Help!
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
#21 Crying
Deb Vellines
2/3/2025
# 20 Full Plate
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
#19 Concentration
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
#18 Worry versus Trust
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
#17 For Healing
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
#16 Who’s in Control?
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
#15 Depression
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
# 13 Doctor (specialist)
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
#14 Different Treatments
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
#11 Support Group
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
#12 Thank You
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
Step # 10 Questions
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
Step # 9 Bargaining
Deb Vellines
2/2/2025
Step #8 Energy
Deb Vellines
2/1/2025
Step # 7 – Reactions – of others
Deb Vellines
2/1/2025
Step #6 – Do I share my News?
Deb Vellines
2/1/2025
Step #4 – To stay calm waiting for test results
Deb Vellines
2/1/2025
Step #5 – Why?
Deb Vellines
2/1/2025
Step #3 – Courage – to make an appointment for a test.
Deb Vellines
2/1/2025
Step #2 – Wisdom – for the doctor
Deb Vellines
2/1/2025
Step #1 – Wisdom – to know when to call the doctor
Deb Vellines
2/1/2025