I sent this in an email to a very good friend, and wanted to add it here as it sums up my most recent feelings.

Sometimes I wonder if I wasnt rich and famous would all this be behind me already? Its so hard when you are lower income to get people to take you seriously, and to get things done, especially medically. I have had thousands of dollars worth of surgeries done, and am facing about the same cost in terms of fixing the damage this tumor has done to my face. I have found the Medi-Cal system to be ridiculous (CA's low income medical insurance). They do not care about you unless you are dying- their care in terms of preventative medicine is just absurd. The team of surgeons I was working with did a lot for me in the initial removal of the ameloblastoma, but I started to feel like a walking tumor, not a human being dealing with a life altering disease. I am so tired of all of this.