My amazing, generous, understanding employer

    I am remiss in not acknowledging the unfettered support from my workplace during this journey with pancreatic cancer.  Many of you don't even know that I have been working in the billing/insurance department of a dental clinic called Smilebuilderz since July 2011. Our website is here. Don't look for me in the group photos as we just took new pictures last month and the website is undergoing a revamp which will include the new photos.
     Smilebuilderz is a full service, one-stop, one-shop, full service dental practice offering hygiene, periodontics, endodontics, orthodontics and oral surgery services. Dr. Anthony Skiadas, a Lancaster County native, and Temple University dental school grad, opened the office in 2006 that today - after only 5+ years - boasts 30,000 patients. Yes, you read that right.... 30,000! Needless to say, this business is on the fast track. As you can see below we were ranked #12 in the Central Penn Business Journal's Top 50 Fastest Growing Companies in 2010. We have since moved up in the ranking, but I'm not sure where. We now have over 140 employees, including about 15 doctors.
     We just opened the only urgent care dental clinic next to Lancaster General Health's urgent care clinic in Lancaster. We plan to open another clinic in Ephrata by Jan. 1, 2013. Very ambitious growth plan. As you may imagine, this kind of growth comes with some problems, so it is very interesting to be part of it.

As you can see, my job title is "Billing Specialist" which is a little far-fetched since this is whole new learning experience for me. My duties include sending claims, pre-determinations, entering payments, pre-determinations, reviewing ledgers, and answering phone calls from patients and colleagues. Although very fast-paced and working mostly with members of generation X and generation Y, it has been a great, although humbling, experience.

    Anyway, everyone working there from housekeeping to Dr. Skiadas has given me incredible support and latitude with my schedule to accommodate my daily radiation and weekly chemo treatments. I can't tell you how important it has been for me to have the freedom to work the hours that suited me. Being able to keep working gives me a sense of purpose and "normal" life. It would be tough to be unemployed, moping around at home. Throughout treatment, I've been working mornings totaling 25-30 hours a week. They also allow me to travel at will for family trips to Seattle and upcoming to Freeman the end of March and Adam and Annie's wedding in Mpls. in June. Pretty cool, huh?

     They passed the hat and gave Barb and me a variety of gift cards and cash. Dr. Skiadas gave us a very special gift of an iPad2. You just don't get that kind of support at every workplace. I feel very fortunate to have received this kind of encouragement.

      Also in the good news column. I had my last chemo of this regimen last Friday. HOORAY!!! I am off all the antibiotic pills and don't have any sideshows open except for nausea. I have only three more radiation treatments, the last on this Thursday. I am really looking forward to being away from treatment and allowing my body to "heal" for about four weeks.

     One frustration is that we don't know how I've responded to the treatments. We don't expect a cure, but would like to know if the tumor has shriveled up into a little crusty spot or is still fat and sassy. The docs say to wait until after the heal-time to have a CTscan to look inside me.

    Here is a quote that likely appears often in cancer blogs, but summarizes my thoughts about cancer treatment: 

    "If you're going through hell, keep going."  —Winston Churchill

     Thanks for all the prayers, food, gifts, cash, thoughts, etc. Very nice to have and sure do help me "keep going".