Saturday, June 29, 2019

I really don't know what to say this week. That should tell you that it's been a pretty boring week.

I did have to have a little discussion with ExpressScripts about Bill's insulin. They want us to switch to home delivery which will save us about $50 a year. I may have told you this before, but the story now continues. I called them to find out why they keep cancelling one or the other of the 2 insulins he takes. They told me that the prescription has to specify how they are to be taken before they will fill both of them. So I found out exactly what they want the prescription to say and then I called the dr. I talked to the nurse who handles the scripts and told her what they needed and that they had tried to contact them. She said they had not contacted them, even leaving them a message because it didn't show up on Caller ID that they had called, nor did they get a page that they were on the line. It doesn't matter who said what or did/didn't do what, just as long as it got straightened out. I talked to the nurse again later in the day as they didn't have his sliding scale amounts for the regular insulin in the system. That's because Connie was just leaving it up to me with what the nursing home did. So, we got all of that settled and then she was going to call ExpressScripts right then. Well, guess what! I had an email yesterday from ExpressScripts to call them about a problem with the prescription. It said it had been more than 24 hours since they had contacted the Dr. with no response. Now, it hadn't been 24 hours since they received the prescription. So, guess what I get to do today! They also wanted me to switch his transplant meds to save money...until I told them that the 2 most expensive ones are covered 100% by Medicare Part B under the transplant. They did not know that, so it wouldn't save us anything, it would cost us more.

I needed to go to Walmart yesterday and got Bill to go with. We also had McKenna as she was coming here for lunch (spaghetti from her church for a fundraiser). He used his walker with the oxygen attached to it and he and Kenna sat on a bench and waited for me. He did pretty good and at least got him out of the house again. 

He did bang up both arms later in the afternoon. I was busy in the kitchen feeding the animals when the mail came and when I noticed he had a skin tear on his elbow, he said that he just about fell out the front door getting the mail. I noticed last night that he had a smaller tear on the other elbow so he must have hit both of them.

I doctored our neighbor's foot Thursday. She had a skin cancer cut out and it is a pretty big area. Where it is located is not a good place for a wound vac, so they are using a wet to dry packing with an antibiotic pad. She can't see where it is clearly enough to do it herself, so they asked if I would do it. We got it done without much trouble (they gave her all the supplies, but no real instructions). The wound dr. will do it Monday and then we will do it again on Thursday. I don't know why they didn't contact Home Health to do it. They told them that insurance wouldn't cover it, but I bet Medicare would. I wanted to call Ricky to see if he was close enough to run by, but I know he couldn't dr her since she isn't a patient. But I think we did a good enough job that it will be OK.

We were going to go to Memphis today with Emily. A man from her church, who also works at our hospital, had a major heart attack Monday and he's now been told that he will need a heart transplant. The wife is in total denial about it because he was fine the day before, so it can't be as bad as they say it is. So we were going to go talk with them. He's also a smoker and a diabetic and they've told him that before he can be listed he has to be smoke free for a year. I think the criteria for Mayo is different, as long as he has quit, and continues not smoking, they will list him sooner. They do want a second opinion, but they've been told that Memphis is the best place to be. And, that may be true for their insurance. You all know my feelings about the program by now. Vanderbilt in Nashville has an excellent program, as does Little Rock. And, if insurance would approve it and pay the relocation expenses, I would prefer they go to Mayo, of course. But, we are not going today as he's going to be released this week-end and we don't want to get there and they are going through the discharge process. But, Em is going to give the wife my number and tell her to call me with any questions. So we shall see what happens.

That's all I've got for this week. It's hard to believe that June is over already. Before I'm ready summer will be over and I won't have gotten anything done on my list of things I wanted to do this summer. But, oh well, most of them will keep. Have a happy and safe 4th holiday! We have no plans and will problem just stay home and watch fireworks on TV!

Saturday, June 22, 2019

I don't know why I start thinking it's the week-end when Tuesday rolls around! I guess it's just a quirk of retirement! But it makes the weeks seem even longer!

We've had a fairly good week. We're both feeling better and Bill has done a little more on his own. I still can't get him back on his treadmill, but he's emptied the small trash cans and is getting his own drinks from the kitchen, unless I'm heading that way.

I've felt better the last 3 days now since I've felt in a long time. I guess the antibiotics were what I needed. I've had some energy that I hadn't had. Part of it could be that we've had a couple of sunny days with no rain. Or, it will rain in the night but be sunny in the day. My foot also has stopped hurting as much. I've been able to wear regular slipper for the last couple of days and cut way back on the Ibuprofen. Maybe it is finally healing.

We've actually gone out to eat now a couple of times. The first was just here in town and to a restaurant not too far from the house. Bill ate quite well and may have eaten more than me. 

He had been watching the ads for Olive Garden and Red Lobster and said the food looked good and he liked everything they were showing. I told him he just had to say the word and we would go. We've had gift cards to several restaurants from his sister and husband. So we decided to have a date yesterday (Friday). But, before I get into that...

There was what turned out to be a minor crisis with Ryan and his truck. He called me from a strange number and his truck had broken down on the side of the highway about an hour away. He had been heading to a different town to check on a job and the transmission went out. So, called a wrecker service owned by a friend of Bryan's and $344.76 later, finally got him home. The next morning he got under the truck before having it towed to a shop (his insurance would cover that one) and saw that the hose had split, leaking all of the transmission fluid out. So, it was a relatively minor fix, but it took their grocery money. Now, back to the date yesterday...

When Ryan called about not having money for food, we decided that we would just buy them about a week's worth of groceries and take it to them since we were going kind of that way anyway. So, I loaded all of the oxygen supplies into the car and then went to the grocery store, then came back and picked Bill up and headed to Ryan's. We got the food delivered and put away and visited with them for a bit. By that time it was early afternoon and Bill was getting hungry. We knew that we were going to eat a late lunch/early dinner so we loaded back up and headed for Jonesboro. Decided we would go to Olive Garden and when we got there I discovered that I had gotten everything for his oxygen tanks except the key that opens the top. I thought it was in my purse, but it was in the matching tote...at home! So, we used the battery powered one that we plug into the car. It was no big deal, just that he wouldn't have his walker. But, the hostess seated us fairly close to the door and Bill walked it pretty well without getting too winded. (I guess the antibiotics worked on him too). We both brought part of our meals home. Bill again ate more than I did, and I was totally miserable on the way home and headed straight for the bathroom, leaving Bill to fend for himself getting into the house. But he was pretty close behind me and he did it without oxygen, but put it on as soon as he got in. He ate some leftovers from the night before for dinner, but I could only manage a few bites. But, we did split the chocolate cake we brought home.

Maybe now that I've gotten him out twice, he'll want to go more. He's agreeable to using his walker when we are out so that makes it easier. And Joe and Barb, our neighbors, are using our wheelchair. She had surgery on her foot last week.

We've had trouble with some dogs in the neighborhood. Someone is raising some white German Shepherds and there have been 2-3 wandering around, getting under the house. I know part of it is the heat, and they are friendly, but I'm not fond of big dogs I don't know. Comes from a childhood bite on the face. Anyway, I put something on facebook about it and another friend from around the corner called and said that she knew where they lived.  So, we both called the non-emergency police number since you can't call animal control directly and reported them. I later found that Joe and Barb had also called about them. I never did see animal control in the neighborhood but I haven't seen the dogs anymore. There have been a couple of other strays around, so we are going to fence in the patio. The type of fence I want to use the cats will still be able to get through, but not dogs. I'm not real sure if the possum will fit but I haven't seen him for awhile now. Ryan is going to come and do the fence for us. We went to buy the pieces the other day, but Lowe's doesn't have the kind I want anymore and the other the have that would work is too expensive. But, I've found some from Tractor Supply. It's online only so I can only go by the picture and have to order it. It may have to wait until next mornth.

We had a little storm come up yesterday. We got a lot of wind before the rain and when I went out to look at the sky (weather junkie that I am) there was a pretty good size branch laying up against the house. I'm not sure if it came from our tree or the one in between our house and the neighbor's house which loses branches like crazy. I suspect ours with the way it was laying. It just missed the dining room window, but it did miss it and that's all that matters. It's light enough that I can pull it to the curb myself (I think). If not I'll see it Bryan will come and get it. 

I think that's it. Happy Summer! It's already hot, supposed to have heat indexes above 100 today so we'll probably stay in the the most part.

Saturday, June 15, 2019

This has been another long week. From Wednesday on I kept thinking that the next day would be Saturday. I don't really know why it matters since we're retired, but I guess it still does.

 We're both feeling better, although yesterday and this morning I've woken up tired again and I'm grumpy this morning. The weather changed again and now we've had fall for the last couple of days. It's supposed to get hot and humid again this week-end (joy, joy) with rain chances most of the week. Like everyone else, I'm getting tired of rain. I did get my potassium checked yesterday and it's come up some, but it's still low.

Mouse got to come home Monday and the change in him was amazing! He's now very calm, most of the time. He hasn't attacked Cat at all, although she's still very  wary of him. They have both started sleeping in the bedroom with us again. For the first couple of nights, Cat would not sleep on the bed if Mouse was on it. And if she was already on it and he got on, she got down. She also stopped bringing me "presents" in the night. But, Thursday night they both slept on the bed and last night I got some presents. But, Mouse has started exploring again, which in turn gets Bill hitting the bed and telling him to get and then asking me what the noise is he's hearing. So there's no going back to sleep. I rebelled a little this morning. He told me that Mouse was on the bookcase at the foot of the bed and I told him that it didn't matter there was nothing on there he could hurt. He said he would just knock stuff off and I said I would pick it up if he did. Right about then, some stuff hit the floor. When Bill said "see" instead of getting up and picking the stuff up I turned on my bedside lamp on full blast (it is the kind that can be very bright or very dim). All he had knocked off was a portable case of CDs and some Christmas cards. When Bill then asked what the noise was I decided that was enough and got up, at 5:10! Of course both cats left the bedroom and now he gets to sleep until it's time for his pills at 8! OK, enough griping. At least I'll get some quiet time since the cats have eaten and gone back to sleep!

I started a Bilble study at Emily's church on the book of Ruth, which is one of my favorite books. It's different than I expected, but still interesting. We'll see how it goes in the coming weeks. It does give me a little over an hour away from Bill which doesn't include going to the grocery store or running errands so that's a good thing.

That's about it. Oh, I almost forgot, I'm officially old. I got my first SS check this week! I'm a little confused about why I got it the 2nd week of the month since my birthday day falls in the first week of the month, but since I don't need it that week it doesn't matter. Now just waiting for Medicare to kick in in a couple of months. I'm already tired of all of the supplement mail. And since we have Tricare for Life, I don't need the supplement. Oh well, that's why we keep a trash can by our chairs!

Have a good week-end. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

Saturday, June 8, 2019

This has been a trying week. We are both sick with this sinus mess, but got some meds at the dr. yesterday so hopefully they will kick in soon.

I took Mouse to the vet to be neutered on Tuesday and when I picked him up they told me that the cost was double, which was not a problem, because of him only having 3 legs. I don't know all the ins and outs but it could be that the stump doesn't move like a leg would. Anyway, it had to be done through his abdomen. He was still bleeding some from under his tail, and it looked like there was a little place that had herniated. We put some puppy pads in a big box, thanks Chewy.com, and he stayed in there for awhile, but then he pulled himself out and hid under the kitchen table, back in a corner. I just left him there, but I slept on the couch and checked on him about every hour, or at least every time I roused up. 

I got him out Wednesday morning and he had bled all over the floor, so I called the vet when they opened and they wanted me to bring him back in. Putting him back in his carrier he just cried and cried. The vet took one look at him and said he thought he needed to stay to get some high-powered meds and to get the bleeding stopped. He didn't come right out and say it, but he led me to believe that there wouldn't be any extra charge. He did say that the surgery was a very difficult and complicated one.

He's still at the vet and will be there through the week-end. I talked to one of the vet techs yesterday (I've called to check on him every day) and he's better. The bleeding has finally stopped, but he's had quite a bit of diarrhea, but that could be from the medicine they are giving him. He's going to stay through the week-end so hopefully he'll get to come home Monday. I miss the little critter.

Kitty has enjoyed being the only kitty again. She's become more vocal and plays with her toys again. She's not wary about walking by the bed, afraid to be attacked from under the bedspread by Mouse who likes to hide. And hopefully neutering him will calm him down some.

Now, on to me and Bill, which is the main purpose of this blog. I started feeling bad again on Thursday and he's been coughing quite a bit. But, he says that it's all from "up high" when I ask where it's coming from. We went to bed Thursday night at 8 and I didn't hear my phone ring at 8:30 and it was right by my head on my nightstand! Kitty got me up at 6 and I fed her, took my meds, fixed a glass of diet Coke and laid back down on the couch. I wanted the Coke instead of coffee because my mouth was so dry that I was just parched. 

Bill's white count was up again, but his chest x-ray had improved from the last one they did in March. One area was completely gone, but there was another place in the other lung that wasn't there before. She didn't think it was pneumonia and I don't remember what she did call it.  We each got some antibiotics and my potassium was down again so she upped that and wants to recheck it in a week. Bill's kidney function was nearly perfect so Mayo wants to cut the amount of Lasix in half for a month and then check it again and maybe get him off of that.

One thing that I've noticed since I took that medicine for my foot, my blood sugar has been high, and it's never over 100. I asked Connie about it and she said it's from the prenisone and if I had been taking any over the counter cold meds, which I had done. So, I'm not as concerned about it as I was. My blood pressure was low again yesterday, and she said that could be the same reason, cold medicine and just being sick.

Today I feel like my face is swollen and the entire face hurts. Around my nose and eyes it's just throbbing. My teeth even hurt, but I know that's from the sinuses being so full. I want to sit with my coffee cup pressed up against each place. So, I'll probably get a hot rag to hold over my face in a while. I do feel better though, which is good, since there is no food in the house to cook, we ordered pizza last night and of course in our area there's no GrubHub or Deal Dash. None of our grocery stores deliver, so I will have to venture out. But if I just get enough to get through the week-end we'll survive.

So, that's our week. It's another humid, rainy Saturday. We have a flood watch for through the week-end. We haven't gotten near the rain that the rest of the state has gotten, or even from Memphis south. But, it's enough. I hope everyone has a good week ahead!

Saturday, June 1, 2019

I've been sick most of the week and don't have the energy to do this yet today. Maybe after the meds kick in...just keep checking back periodically.

 I went back to bed and slept until it was time for Bill's meds. Feel much better and even had some coffee for the first time since Wednesday.

We had a very nice Memorial Day. Bryan smoked a brisket and Em made potato salad and a jello cake. They brought everything to our house. I had some baked beans, and of course she had to make mac and cheese for Kenna. But it was all good.

The problem with my medicine and the pharmacy, and I can't remember if I said anything last week so I'm doing it again, was that it was sent to Walmart instead of Rose. So I was able to pick it up and it started. Before the day was out, my heel didn't hurt at all, but I also didn't do much all week-end. It did hurt some later in the week, but I was on my feet more.

Ryan came and did some honey-dos for us Tuesday to make a little money. He was going to come back yesterday, but since I've been sick most of the week he hasn't.

I woke up at 4 Thursday morning throwing up. I know, too much info, but I hadn't thrown up since sometime while we were in Florida. It was mostly just phlegm from sinus drainage and Emily brought me some Zofran on her way to work. She also stopped and picked us up dinner from Perkins. I managed about 10 bites of soup and that was about it.

Still felt bad Friday, but could tell it was more sinus/cold than anything else. My head felt like it was going to explode so got some sinus medicine that has worked some. The most troubling has been fatigue and clamminess. I'm used to getting up at 4:30 and getting things started for the day. The last few days I've thrown the cats out of the bedroom and gone back to bed, or fed the inside ones and laid on the couch and went back to sleep. I would also lay back down after tending to Bill's morning meds and shots and sleep for 2-3 hours! That is not like me at all! And I would wake up more refreshed, but drenched in sweat. I don't know how many times I've changed clothes!

This is starting to trouble me, so I'm going to the dr. Monday. I'll keep a record of things all week-end. My blood pressure this morning was 105/74 which is really low for me, so who knows what is going on, but something is.

Anyway, I feel more awake now. Still don't have much appetite but I'm making myself eat.

Bill has had a good week. He's had to fend for himself some. I told him yesterday he needs to learn how to check his glucose and give his insulin shots, and he just ignored me. That was another ordeal this week.

We had gotten a letter from EpressScripts about switching his insulin to home delivery. The monthly cost is $28 per vial and for home delivery it would be $24 for 3 months. So, 3 weeks ago we set that up. I got notices that the drs. hadn't responded with new prescriptions, so I called them and they had sent them...twice! His old insulin became outdated yesterday and we still didn't have the new ones, so I pulled up his account, and 1 of the insulins and the syringes had been cancelled. He takes 2 different kinds, he takes a medium acting one and then gets supplemented with regular insulin if his glucose is over a certain number. So I called them and just cancelled the whole home delivery. Then I called the local pharmacy and ordered the refills. They asked me if we needed one of his other medications and I told them no, we were good with it. When we went to pick them up, there was 1 insulin and the pills and the cost was over $100! The 2 insulins shouldn't have been more than $56 and the pills aren't that much. So, when I told them we didn't need the pills but needed the other insulin, when it was all said and done, insurance would only cover 1 at the co-pay price, and we had to pay full price for the other. All in all $138!. In the 3 months since he has been out of the hospital, they have paid for both insulins, but they have decided now that most people only 1 or the other, not both! So, something else to ask the dr. about! No wonder I'm stressed!

So, that's been our week. We did get some good news though. McKenna got all As, with 1 B and made honor roll and Brianna was accepted into the RN program at college. She is so excited and we're proud of both of them.

Done for now. Have to get the bills paid and I can tell my energy is going fast! Happy June!