Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts

Thursday, September 21, 2023

Try To Remember... September

 My senior check-up today went well. I could remember the three words and set a clock. I told them they should ask me about the calendar instead, since half the time I don't know what day it is. My doctor, who is probably half my age, said she can't either. 

The doctor I see is lovely. She doesn't berate me about my "herbal" experiments or refusal to take certain medicines or shots. They gave me a pneumonia shot, but I refused the flu shot. I told her the only time I ever got a flu shot was in 1999 and it made me terribly sick. I haven't had one since. She said, "I saw that."

I've lost 10 lbs in the last month. It is probably because I've cut most of my carbs and I've eliminated one meal a day. I also have been taking B1 for three months now and it has had a huge effect on my sugar cravings. So, we'll see how this goes.

The effect on my fibro is nothing sort of miraculous. Brain fog disappeared and my pain from fibro has dropped very low. I still have RA and fibro, but most of the fibro symptoms are barely noticeable. The only thing I still notice is fatigue. It has lessened but not disappeared. 

I have started back at the gym but I'm not doing weights for a bit. My arm is doing well, but they've said to wait because of the pain I've been having in the arm. 

I've been trying to get myself organized. Again. I've been making lists of things I need to do the next day. Then, as I do it, I mark it off. This may sound fairly normal to you, but for me it isn't. I'm definitely not a list person. 

For weeks, I've had problems with depression and a sense of despair. Auto-immune diseases do that to you. But so does the news. No one wants to hear about your problems, so you have to keep it bottled up. Again, not a good idea. So, I spent an afternoon ranting to God. He's much nicer than people. He listens, doesn't smite me, and once I'm finished, he helps me see much clearer. I had a short piece of writing that day that came to me and was surprised it helped me. For some reason, the contents helped me. I'll share it on Rendered Praise soon. Maybe someone else needs it.

After my meltdown, I realized the people who fail you are often the most surprising. People say things you never dream they'd say. It's painful when it happens, but it reminded me that what a person says in those moments tells you more about who they really are than the face you often see. Those unguarded moments, reveals the person behind the mask. 

For a day, I hung clothes on the line. I planned to hang more, but by the time I got to the next load, it was getting dark and I don't actually like hanging clothes in the dark. I don't get scared, but having my back to the dark part of the yard is uncomfortable. Having my back to open doors is too, but in the dark, that's worse. 

Last weekend I priced wall panels for the half bath. Bead board panels. That bathroom is so small I can't do a lot of crazy stuff. The wall is so damaged after having contact paper on it, that I either have to rip it out or find something to go over it. Panels are the easiest and bead board, I think will look nice in a small space. To make it feel less closed in, I plan to hang a picture of a window with an exterior view on one wall. A smaller sink will also give me more space. I mean, all we do in there is wash hands and brush teeth. I'm not washing my hair or doing laundry. 

So, that's my September. 


Thursday, December 13, 2018

Wednesday Rant 10/12/18

I just needed to vent, I guess. Sorry if you're bored or annoyed but I feel ever so much better! There is some kind of hiccup about two minutes in and the audio is out of sync. I've tried to fix it but it was so time consuming I got aggravated. May do that later but hey, this is just for friends and family anyway.






Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Charges or Changes

Yesterday as I was paying bills, I reviewed some medical bills I received and when I went online to pay it I saw something confusing. They'd billed me twice for the same visit but it wasn't on the bill I held in my hand.

My insurance sends me an Explanation of Benefits that shows what they were billed and how much they paid. It also tells me the amount of my portion and a lot of other things. I always keep these in a file on my desk so I can compare them to the bills I get from the medical providers to ensure I'm not overcharged. Yes, that has happened twice. I pulled out my EOBs and found two for the charges mentioned on the website. They did, in fact, bill me twice for one visit. I lay it aside until I could call them the next morning. That'd be today.

When I called and explained my concern, the woman was very nice and happily explained that a lot of people get confused about their billing. I agreed they had a system that was very hard to follow. I get bills for Deaconess services from three different billing offices. Here's the story.

First, the reason the bill I had didn't reflect the second charge was that I hadn't been billed yet. Good to know but I don't know why they hadn't billed me at the same time since they had already billed the insurance and were paid. But moving on.

So why was I billed a second time? Well, you see, one bill is where you saw the doctor. That was $123. The other bill is a facilities charge of $177."

......

"I see," I said. I didn't but I'd give her a chance.

"That's for the use of the facility," she said.

 "OK." Did she say to use the facility? I didn't go to the bathroom. "Well," I said. "Thank you for your help."

After I hung up, I pondered this conundrum. I paid to see the doctor in their office. I paid to see her and I paid to use the office so I could see her. There is something wrong with this but I'm at a loss as to where exactly it is.

I am paying to use the building to see the person they HIRED to see their patients. And I'm PAYING to see the person they hired to see their patients.

I can't figure it out. One thing I do know it that I'm ready for a change. I think it is time we went back to house calls. If they can charge me a facilities charge, I figure I could do the same.


Friday, November 24, 2017

Fadings

I've been asking myself if I should let this blog just fade away. I rarely write here anymore and it seems wrong to just ignore it. I'm mostly on the writing blog or the faith-based one. I have tried to think how I could blend them but the reason the other two exist was that I didn't think it would work. I keep links to them in the headers of each blog so anyone can go to them from this one but honestly, I don't have that many readers. I'm not that interesting.

I'm doing much better this week. Starting the weekend I notice the muscles in my back were less sore and I could move my shoulders without a lot of pain. I also noticed that my sleep is much better than it has been in probably years. I'm less tired most days but do have bouts of extreme fatigue. I've learned to just go to bed and nap for a couple of hours. Sleeps makes it better.

My Thanksgiving holiday was relatively quiet. I spent the afternoon with Sarah's other grandparents. They invited us over and Sarah, Mike, and I went. We had a great lunch and I enjoyed just relaxing and talking. I made a banana pudding and carried that but it was nice not to have to do all that work. I would have been totally wiped out if I had had to deal with a holiday meal.

Holidays are not usually fun for me but at least it wasn't filled with the usual stress. I've spent today just sitting around reading, crocheting and listening to podcasts. I've come to really enjoy those and I can crochet and listen at the same time. Even my Kindle fire will read my book to me. 

I'll leave this for now. I started it a few days ago and forgot it. Doctor's appointment on Monday morning for them to follow up on my surgery. I"m hoping I'll be allowed to do a bit more.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Eyes Wide Open

I have an appointment today with an eye doctor. Yes, I had an eye exam a few weeks ago. My annual check up... did I blog about it? Can't remember. Anyway, they dilated my eyes then as they usually do.

They are sending me to a specialist to be checked for Placquanil toxicity. Precautionary at this point. This is the RA medicine I take and it can cause blindness  with prolonged use. I've been on it for about 5 or 6 years. So, if they find I have it, I have to stop taking it immediately.

Guess what? Today this new doctor will also dilate my eyes! My last experience was horrible so today, I'll take Mike with me and he will drive me home. I was virtually blind last time for hours. I had to drive in bright sunlight without adequate sunglasses. I stopped and bought some but they were not enough. My eyes were so dilated that there was no visible color, just two huge black pools. Freaky.

I shall let you know what happens.