KarenK

When I chose my supplement plan 7 years ago, I was a lot healthier, but I chose on the "what if" basis. The premiums were higher, but I have no co pays or deductibles. Everything is paid 100%. I was able to choose this because of my company reimbursement of premiums. Because I take few everyday meds, I chose a cheap RX plan. Co pays are $1-$4. If I'm prescribed any higher tier drugs, I do without. If one becomes an absolute necessity to live, I'll probably just go ahead and die. The problem with all insurance crap now is the rising premiums. The total of my medical, dental, and RX premiums has risen $500+ over 7 years and it seems the sky's the limit. Unfortunately, my reimbursement allowance remains what it was 7 years ago.

I am still having dreams that make no sense and I don't sleep soundly. I have slept with one eye open ever since Ron got cancer. For the past couple of months a scary thing has been happening. I wake multiple times and each time I hallucinate spiders and red or yellow dots on the ceiling. They fade away in a couple of seconds. Today it was a big moving spider right next to my head. It seemed so real that I sat up and yelped. Marley looked up at me like "What the heck?" I know I'm not crazy but this is something new for me. My son said it's probably from sleep deprivation. Could be, but I sure don't like it. Almost makes me afraid to sleep, so I don't wake up and see things that aren't there.

As I sit here in my 96 degree weather. lol Not laughing at you girls, just the weather in general. I'd love to see ❄ or even ☔. Ain't gonna happen😂

Kay, I'd been waiting to hear how everything went yesterday. I'm so sorry it was such rotten news. You're in the same boat with Gwen as far as extensive surgery, long recovery, and no guarantees. Hopefully, the carpal tunnel surgery won't be too bad, the recovery time short, and the cortisone shots will be helpful. It seems you do so much for other people, there must be someone to return the favor when you need help if it turns out that the hand surgery is absolutely necessary. Someone from your church, maybe? Fingers crossed that won't happen!

Gwen, this may sound silly, but why don't you go out to the car with a comb or brush and gather up a bit of Ally's hair, the a little ribbon around it, and put it in a baggie or envelope. Somewhere around here, I have a lock of my toddler? hair that my mother saved. Now that's some old hair. Strangely enough it looks like it was cut yesterday. Don't think I've dropped anything recently. Worst thing I ever dropped was a new bottle of apple juice in the kitchen. What a mess! Stuff was sticky as hell.

Marg, I'm so sorry that death seems to be visiting so many of your friends and family, even if they are older. In a way, I guess it's a blessing that I lost touch with all my old friends eons ago. I don't have to watch them leave. Half my family missing is more than enough.

This Covid crap is finally really starting to get to me. Not that I have anywhere important or exciting to go, but it would really be nice to go into someplace without wearing a stupid mask. The grocery store's parking lot has a short strip mall with a Subway. Just walking the short distance between the businesses makes me out of breath and even more so with the mask on. It's even hard to breathe getting groceries. I was thinking today how Covid is effectively destroying humanity in more ways than one without a visible weapon. Why worry about nuclear war? We've got Covid! I've decided to skip the stupid chest x-ray and sputum test. I cough because I smoke. The new little doctor said my lungs were nice and clear. I'm probably just one of his quota for the month and I'd rather avoid all the medical places I can. I went back as far as I could in the ancestry.com stuff. One of my long ago ancestors was a Potomac Indian chief. One of Ron's was High Sheriff of Essex Aide to King Henry VIII. Pretty interesting stuff that you take with a grain of salt. Not much evening entertainment back then I guess, so they made a lot of babies. One couple had 33 children in 35 years. She was a tough old broad, lived to age 88. lol

Wow Kay, so glad it's no worse than it is. You are ready for Halloween now. You can go as the battered woman. I know.......not funny. Did you report your car damage to police or insurance? There may be security cameras around that picked it up. Definitely take it easy for a few days.

I sure understand that, Gwen. There were all kinds of little inside jokes that only the two of us shared. I miss that also. You can bet Steve's co worker will probably want to talk about him. The loss does not stay with others as it does with us. Be gentle on yourself and do the best you can. Did some more goofing around on ancestry.com and discovered that my half sister died 10 years ago. I never met her and didn't even know she existed until after my father died. I guess she and her mother were taboo. I did speak to her once on the phone and I could tell she was hurt that he had just disregarded her. He had a lot of secrets I guess.

Gwen, I did see names associated with England and Canada while I was perusing. One of the places Ancestry sends you is a website for gravesites which is where I got all my info. Surprisingly, on my father's side I was able to get as far as 4 greats on his mother's side and 3 greats on his father's side. On my mother's side I got as far as 3 greats on her mother's side, but only 1 great on her father's side. Tons of sisters and brothers, but I didn't get into that. I didn't know any of my grandparents. I knew 3 of my grandmother's sisters (mother's side), but my grandmother died with the flu in 1917. It was pretty interesting.

Found something really interesting to do for a while. Our library(and I'm sure others) is offering free access to ancestry.com until Dec. I know very little about my father's background. So far I've found pictures of my great grandparents and their children. What a hoot! Gotta keep going and write all this stuff down. My great grandfather was in the Civil War. I'm feeling really old. lol

Oh, Kay! I'm so sorry to hear this. Please check in when you can and let us know. Hope someone is driving you.

Gwen, yes I got my refills along with my paperwork for a chest xray which I'll do when I get around to it. Finally managed to get my dermatologist appt for the 20th. My brain jumps all over the place(always has). Was looking at places on realtor.com in Wy and Mt the other night, even though I'll never be able to move there. I just like looking, especially at the real expensive ones. lol That got me to thinking about the big Yellowstone earthquake in 1959. We lived about an hour south in a travel trailer. Middle of the night. My dad grabbed his gun. Thought it was a bear shaking the trailer. Found out a few hours later about the earthquake and devastation. Funny how we can't control our thoughts any more than our dreams.

Kieron, I think it was last year that my doctor wanted me to get a physical. He agreed that I really didn't need it and flat out told me it was a requirement for him in order to meet some Medicare requirement. At least he was honest about it. We'd all like to think that our doctors are concerned for our health when they send us to Joe Specialist because of a blip on the screen. Most times the blip is in their wallet. Where's Doc Adams when you need him? lol

It seems to me that a lot of doctors prescribe drugs that don't mix without a second thought. My records show that I take Trazodone. It's a good thing I don't really take it, because he went right ahead and gave me Tramadol. Major interaction. I always check drugs.com on anything I'm given. Did that for Ron's meds too because he took a lot of pills. Don't know much about pain patches except my daughter was given high dose Fentanyl patches the last few months along with max dose of IV morphine. At that point they were only concerned about pain control, not interactions. It's a completely different scenario from yours. Do you know what the patches are? I got some Tylenol PM and am going to try that in a couple of hours to see if it helps me sleep. If I could afford the gas I'd just drive up to the mountains every so often just to escape civilization. As it is, I escape to the lawn chairs in the front yard after dark when it's cooler. That and the grocery store are about it. BORING! Learned something interesting from my son today. I get tons of calls from unfamiliar numbers which I don't answer. If for some reason I decide to answer, I just say"Yes ? ". He told me to never say yes because they might be recording your voice and then run a scam and swear that you agreed to something. I never thought of that at all. Learn something new every day.

Sometimes I think doctors order tests just because their in cahoots with the labs and imaging places. Went to the doc today. He was a nice enough old guy. Said my lungs were nice and clear, but then told me to get a chest x ray and a sputum test because I cough in the mornings and evenings. Well, duh, I smoke. What do you expect? All I wanted was a refill on my meds..........

Guess I'll be playing "musical doctors" tomorrow. Need script refills by Friday and my doctor is not available so am stuck with a new doctor. New to that office anyway. I googled him and he had terrible ratings at former offices. Oh joy! I am a stubborn old broad who refuses to go to the heart specialist, urologist or have a mammogram or colonoscopy or quit smoking so doctors don't like me much. My doctor and I have an understanding on this. It should be interesting.

I'll get some of that next time I'm at Walmart. It will be okay with the Tramadol. Thanks. Gwen, it's the Belsomra that's so expensive. Trazodone is not expensive, but moot point now as neither mix with the Tramadol. When I got the Aspergillus in Kentucky I was given a specific med for it(along with a bunch of others). It was covered by insurance while hospitalized. This is a lifelong thing and has only one med for it. I was given a script and was quoted about a $400 price for it so I simply refused it. As long as I can breathe well enough to get around, I'll do without. Yes, it's real pain in the butt that the med companies hold us prisoner.

Marg, I know I've tried Trazodone and one other(can't remember what) in addition to the Belsomra which worked before and didn't leave me a zombie. I didn't get a scrip for it as insurance didn't cover the $400 price. I started taking Tramadol for headaches as OTC meds don't cut it. I discovered it works pretty well for me as an antidepressant, where actual antidepressant meds don't work for me. Go figure! Tramadol is habit forming and if I miss one, I feel like I'm jumping out of my skin. I'm pretty sure sleeping pills are out for me now anyway as they don't mix with Tramadol(might put you in a coma). Doesn't seem like worth the risk to me. I think I'll just muddle along with my crazy sleep patterns. Bad dreams do me in every time.

Well, I tried a sleeping pill last night(Belsomra). I had some out of date samples left from the doctor. When I tried them before, at least I wasn't zombied the next day. Didn't work at all and made me jittery. Can't take Tramadol with sleeping pills so I skipped that. Maybe why I was jittery. Also messed my stomach up. Sleeping pills are not my friend either.

Some days it feels like he was standing next to me or calling to me from the next room just five minutes ago, but most days it feels like forever. It feels like yesterday that I brought my tiny baby daughter home from the hospital. Where did our lives go? We all know the answer to that one. Yet somehow we move forward alone.

Sleep has not been my friend for many years now. I finally gave up on trying to be normal, whatever that is. I try to manage 7 or 8 hours in a 24 hour period, not necessarily all together. It's rare for me to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time. It makes no difference when I sleep as I rarely go anywhere except grocery shopping. I manage to fix dinner for us each night and keep the house in order, but that's about it. I am beyond bored, but not sure I have the energy for anything else. Gwen, what crappy news about your insurance payments! My checking acct. would not withstand an extra payment. Something would bounce. I have always carried overdraft protection, but dropped it this year when they initiated a yearly fee even if it was never used. So I'm real careful with my balance. They need to straighten that out for you immediately! I'm with you on standing in line for any length of time. My back doesn't like it either. I got stuck behind a lady at the grocery deli today buying a ton of stuff for her daughter's outdoor wedding reception. One harried kid running the counter. After about 15 minutes, she asked him to help me(my half lb. of turkey) because she still needed a lot more stuff. I was so grateful to her. While we're creating a broken down old lady, I don't have much to contribute except my shortness of breath which slows me down considerably and my ongoing exhaustion(probably from not getting enough rest). It wipes me out just to go to the store. Maybe we should take our good parts and make a healthy old lady. lol

Mary So sorry about your aunt. The happy memories somehow help us to keep moving forward. I'm glad you have those.

I have always worn Wranglers, even as a kid. They have a style called "As Real As Wrangler" which fits me perfect. I am at the other end of the spectrum being 5ft. tall. Hope the 6 or so pairs I have last till death. I am appalled at the price of jeans! Silly me, I thought we might have smooth sailing for a while. Dodged a bullet in replacing a toilet flush valve. Googled the problem, tried the fix and it worked for now, knock on wood. But(there's always a but), my son and grandson no longer qualify for the state health insurance plan. With a raise he received at his new job, he makes too much money. He expected to lose the food assistance and that's fine, but the health insurance is another matter. I have had health insurance since age 19 through my company. I have no idea where or how he can obtain insurance or if he can even afford it. On some fronts, you're almost better off with a low paying job or a very high paying one. You sure don't want to be in the middle. Sure hope neither of them get sick or injured.

Kay Just so very sorry. Sending vibes of peace for your sister and the entire family.