I think the hardest part of moving is finding doctors. How do you know? I have done a LOT of research online, healthgrades, google, websites. I have asked for recommendations on the Next Door App and FB.
After trying to get appointments with the PCPs who were at the top of my list and finding that they didn't have any appointments for a few months, I found a doc that had openings. (Should have been my first warning). We saw this doc and he seemed ok and at least now I can get my prescriptions refilled. But I had the sense that they have figured out the medicare system and have an in house sonogram tech. So after sonograms of heart, thyroid, kidney and Chest Xray, I learned I had a kidney stone. Interesting but probably an unnecessary tests. After doing some additional research online I found that this doctor is pretty high on billing to medicare. Richard is probably the healthiest person I know. Normal weight, low body fat, eats super healthy, exercises. So he saw this doctor too in a 5 minute visit to get the results, was told he needed to take shots every three weeks and take a new medication. Really! One blood test and no confirmation retest, no discussion of options or alternatives. With all my issues and medications, the doc told me I was in good health. No suggestion to lose weight or exercise etc. So now we are looking for another practice. I have an appointment for a consultation to interview a new doc next week. Found a dermatologist that came highly recommended by people on Next Door that I will see next week. Saw an eye doc that was recommended on Next Door and he was OK but not as good as the one I had in CT. Cardiologist is in April and was a recommendation by the Vascular Surgeon who did my veins. So I hope we hit it off! I guess medical care is a journey.
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Not too much going on the past week. I had the last big vein treatment for what they call a Perculator Veins that connects the big surface vein to the deeper veins. I had two that were kaput and not doing what they were supposed to do. Couldn't use the medical adhesive for these so they do a Radio Frequency Abalation. Only pain was the numbing stick. My left leg has always been more swollen and tender than the right and that is where those two veins are. Later in March I will go back for treatment of a few superficial veins. But overall, I am just over the moon at how much better my legs feel.
We have been watching the spread of the new virus and are more than a little concerned. My immune system seems to be over reactive and together with my Asthma, I fear being able to fight off the virus. We are waiting to see how it develops before we make any more travel plans this year. Meanwhile, lots of hand washing and avoiding crowds when possible! I am thinking if the outbreak continues to get bad here in the US that maybe cloth masks would actually be a good way to go. Since the masks mostly prevent you from touching your face and infecting yourself, a cloth one would do the same thing and would be washable. Plus you could decorate them with all kinds of designs or different animal noses and mouths or smiles or mustaches. Thinking about getting my sewing machine set up and experimenting. Surprised they are not already flooding the market given the lack of mask availability. Cold Front finally arrived in Florida. High 40s and 50s over night but high 60s and 70s in the day. it has been refreshing and funny watching all the down jackets and fleece. Everyone is bundled up when it seems like a sweater is plenty! It will be back to 80s this coming week so I think this was our winter. If you are of medicare age, you know that each year you have to choose which medicare and drug plan you want for the upcoming year. You can use traditional Medicare and a Medicare, supplement plan, A drug plan or a Medicare Advantage plans (Medicare Part C) which includes both medical and drug coverage and are managed by an insurance company funded by Medicare and may or may not have a premium depending on the level of coverage and the state you are in.
I choose to keep Traditional Medicare with no restrictions or approvals needed for specialists as long as they take medicare assignments. Since Medicare only covers about 80% of the cost most people buy a Medicare Supplement or Medigap policy that covers some or all of the remaining costs and or deductibles depending on the level of coverage and premium you want to pay. Then you also need what is called Part D which covers your drugs. That is the one that you really have to pay close attention to during the December open enrollment. Every company has a different list of drugs they cover at various levels of payment. You have to input all the drugs you currently use and then figure out which plan provides the best overall savings between deductibles and premiums. I chose a company with no deductible and a higher premium so my drug expenses are spread across the whole year and not a bunched in a front end $450 deductible. So all that leads me to today's insurance company battle today over a prescription I picked up on Sunday. I take Symbacort as a preventative inhaler for my asthma. It is generally very expensive and they charged me $142.23 for a generic version. I have never had a generic version in the past so I was concerned if it would be as effective and the price seemed to be way too high. After looking at my notes and spreadsheet when I chose my drug plan I was convinced the price was too high. I went online and confirmed on the website that the price for Symbicort should have been $47. So I called the drug insurance plan and talked to the first person that agreed it should be $47 but send me to the pharmacy side. They also agreed and then sent me to billing to see how to get a refund. I knew that was not going to help, but told them my story too. They then transferred me to another department and that person could actually see the drug that was fulled and told me that yes, the price was correct for GENERIC but if I got the brand name it would be $47!!! Go figure. Fortunately I had not opened the package so I went back to CVS and told them it was the wrong medication. They told me that Florida law requires them to fill with generic if available as a cost savings. I explained that in this case I needed the brand name and the pharmacist plugged in the info and in 3 or 4 minutes had issued me a refund and charged me the $47 for the Brand name drug. I was very impressed with CVS fixing it so fast! But all this takes time to sort out. I probably spend 3 hours researching my notes, checking into the website, an hour on the phone and a second trip to CVS to sort it all out. How on earth do people manage the process who are not as technologically inclined, or familiar with the whole process, or not mentally challenged due to age and disease. Editorial soapbox comments! It seems to me that if anyone thinks Medicare for all will be the answer to the healthcare crisis I believe it is not that simple. Figuring out Medicare is not that easy and I have worked int he insurance marketplace and still find it very complex and difficult to manage. AND Medicare is not FREE! Everyone pays a part A and B premium that mostly comes out of the Social Security check. Then there are deductibles and copays for traditional medicare, so you need a supplement/ medigap policy to cover that. The public will need another tier of people to help individuals navigate the mess and collect all the copays and deductible. It will be a mess and really not much different that what happens now with traditional health insurance. Ok, off my soapbox now! Last week I had work done on my Varicose Veins. I had no idea how bad my legs had gotten as I guess over time, small changes become the norm and you forget was the ideal looks like. I don't think I have seen ankle bones for some time and I guess I just assumed it was due to repeated sprains and getting older. I had noticed over the last few year that my legs seems to swell a lot when I was on my feet for an extended period of time and my upper leg would ache. Sometimes if it was hot I would get red splotches on my ankles. I had not idea that was from bad vein flow. Sitting helped relive it some as well as putting my feet up. My legs were also tender, so when I went for a pedicure I had to tell them to just lightly massage as any deep pressure was painful. Now I look down and see ankle bones. Where the skin was always taut around my lower leg, it is relaxed and supple. Some of the bulging veins in my legs seem to have diminished greatly and are no longer tender. Pretty amazing that there is such a difference in just a few days and should continue to improve over the next few weeks. So I am a very happy camper and happy I finally got this done. If you are interested, below I will try to provide some details of my experience but if medical stuff makes you queasy you might want to skip it!! GrMy vein Journey actually started 7 or 8 years ago. I went to one of those Vein Clinics and Med Spa places in CT. They did the sonogram and confirmed that I needed vein work and that medicare would approve it if I told them I had already tried losing weight and wearing compression stockings of which I had done neither. I agreed to proceed and they fitted me with compression pantihose that I would need to wear for two weeks. After trying to get into the hose, they brought another pair and although I finally go it on the toe part extended 6 inches past my toes and when I bent my knee it was so tight I was sure it was cutting off the circulation in my leg. They also did cosmetic surgery and gave me a free facial and tried to sell me more of those. I left feeling very suspect about the place and decided not to go back.
Fast forward to last winter as I was sitting on the beach in Florida, I noticed brown patches on my lower legs that I had not seen before. Google told me it was a symptom of CVI. Chronic Venous Insufficiency. While in Florida I heard or read about a new treatment called VenaSeal that was now approved by medicare that did not require compression hose after treatment and no activity restrictions. I immediately searched for a provider in CT and went to see them when we got back. They confirmed that I needed the vein surgery and I was ready to go. Then the house sold so fast and we had to get ready to move so I put off the treatment until we got settled in Florida. I found a vascular surgeon in Florida nearby that treats vein disease and uses the Venaseal procedure. He does not do facials or all that cosmetic stuff and I liked that. I went to see him and after the sonogram they determined I had bed valves in both legs in the Great Sapehenous Vein. They showed me on the sonogram how the valve just flopped around and allowed the blood to back flow creating pressure in the leg. Tuesday I had my left leg done. I have to admit I was pretty anxious not knowing exactly what to expect and what the outcome would be. After drawing a map of the vein on my leg, I went to the procedure room where they wrapped a sterile drape around me and the leg. The doctor came in and after getting into sterile gown and gloves, checked my leg with the sonogram himself and then numbed the area where he would put in the access port for the catheter. That was the most painful part since my legs are already pretty tender. Then he inserted the catheter which I could feel the pressure of it going up my leg but no discomfort. He has a caulk like glue gun on the end of the catheter and once he got to the bad part of the vein, he inserted the medical adhesive, compress for 30 seconds and then move the catheter down, click click, more glue, repeat down the leg and then out it comes. The nurse wrapped my leg in a compression wrap like when you give blood to stop the bleeding from the access point and off I went home. I went to the beach that afternoon! Thursday I went back for the second leg. That one was a bit more uncomfortable as he ad to access just above my ankle as there there some bad valves lower in the leg. The vein down there is smaller so it was a little painful going in but just for a few seconds. I could see the improvement by the evening after the procedure. I have a few tweaks of discomfort as the feeder veins sometimes get a little inflamed as they reorganize where the blood is going but nothing more than an Advil once a day the first couple of days. All in all, a great experience and I wish I had done it sooner. My legs feel so much better and I look forward to being able to be more active. I am involved in a non profit called Prayer Soup.
"Prayer Soup has been created to share the many ways we use the process called "prayer" to search for meaning. We want to present a nonreligious-specific, non-dogmatic forum for sharing our unique prayer experiences with others. We hope this process expands our understanding of prayer, and encourages us to discover the commonalities of prayer within the rich and diverse communities of our human family." I am on the advisory board for a scholarship they award each year. High School seniors are asked to share a prayer experience, positive or negative that impacted their life. Reading some of these essays has been very rewarding, inspiring and moving. There is a lot of hope for the next generation if any of these young people are typical of the kinds of young adults who will be the future of this country. You can visit the website and and read last year winners. We are currently in the process of screening the current year's submissions. It is so hard to rate some of them better than another, but we have limited funds and can't award everyone a monetary scholarship. If you happen to be looking for a good place to make a donation, there is a spot on the website to accept your gift. Frustration! Earlier this week I wrote a pretty extensive blog. I went to add a picture and in a moment of senility I dragged the photo from my desk top into the text window instead of dragging an image window into the text area and then adding the picture. I am pretty sure I had done that in the past but the photo replaced all the text I had written and I could not find a way to undo what I had done. I was so disgusted I closed the blog and am just now returning. Lesson learned! Now I save my work periodically to avert total wipeout. Live and learn. Doctor Doolittle We went to see Doctor Doolittle on Saturday. It was pretty funny in places and overall it was enjoyable but not a block buster. Then we tried out a new restaurant. Burger and wraps with sweet potato fries. We don't often have fries but I have been craving a good burger and this was good but I sure miss Ted's Montana Grill bison burgers. Atmosphere was typical bar food with a few TV's. The next day I payed the price of all that salt, but it's hard to eat health all the time!! Hobe Sound Art Festival
We are making progress with making our place look more like home than a furniture display. Decided where and what to put on the walls is always a challenge. Most of the walls are textured so I can't use the command strips that allow you to change your mind without making another hole! So for better or worse, I finally decided that thinking about it was not going to get things on the walls!
So here are some more pictures to give you a better sense of our place. The kitchen is mostly complete. The living room has one blank wall that I want to put up some floating shelves and make it my family wall and fill it with pictures of kids and grandkids without making a million holes in the wall. The bedroom could still use some things on the wall, but not a high priority. My office still needs some shelves for some art work from Dad that I want to up up. The front door to the courtyard is the last pictures and to provide a bit of privacy if anyone wanders into the courtyard, I put up a glass film that is clear but reflects the light like prisms. I am happy with the way it came out. I also put that film on the oval windows in the kitchen. Hugs to all. |
Author: Penny
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October 2020
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