I've got to take a break before I do anything else

I just got home. It is freezing (23 degrees!) and windy. I've been running strong for seven hours, five of them out and about, and two of them on the phone with two different companies trying to sort out a mess with my flexible spending card.

First I worked on notes, getting them done early on a Saturday, which is better than normal, although I should transcribe them earlier in the week. And the batteries for the voice recorder are charging. Then someone I know from the pharmacy came and got me on his day off to take me in to work with them on the card issue. United Healthcare, which is not only my medical insurance company but also my flexible spending account company, was very helpful. Medco, which is my pharmacy insurance company, really was, well, not, although she at least admitted that she was out of her league and no one there knew what to do. It looked like I was going to have to pay $400 out of pocket and then get reimbursed. Then the pharmacy tech ran them through one at a time, and virtually all went through. Anything where I pay less than the normal co-pay, including my pen needles and one of my meds, declined, and they had been declining the whole thing. Still, it's crazy that they have to run ten meds through one at a time, especially as they get charged by the credit card companies for each transaction. So I'm not giving up, and I'll call the companies again this week. But it took two hours on the phone just to get to that point. In the end, I had to pay $60 for the things that wouldn't go through, which is far better, but the point is all those have gone through before and should continue to do so without problem. I am definitely going to let our human resources people know as well, in case others are having the same trouble.

The pharmacy was closing by that time, so we left and my ride, who had mailed that package for me, suggested trying the vegetarian oyster sauce at Good Food Co-op, but it was to no avail. At that point, I realised that I'd left my wallet and phone back at the pharmacy. Fortunately he had a key and I knew where it was, so he ran in and got it for me. Then he dropped me off at the Richmond Road Kroger so I could look for oyster sauce and do a little shopping. He was so great about taking me around.

When I came out of Kroger, the bus had just gone by, and wouldn't be back in over an hour, so I went over to Subway, because I hadn't eaten since 8 am and it was 2:30. I'm still used to checking my blood sugar and giving myself an insulin injection in public, but I think I do it fairly discretely.

Then I waited at the bus stop with several people including a woman who complained about how rude Southerners were, but was fairly, well, odd (read possibly mentally ill) and frankly wouldn't have been happy anywhere she lived, by the sound of it. She should go back to wherever she came from, in my opinion.

I stopped by the library briefly and then walked home, carrying many things and generally freezing. The one thing I had considered doing, but forgot to do at Kroger, and that's probably just as well, because it would have been a waste of money, was play the Powerball, which had the highest jackpot tonight in its history. I sure wasn't going to walk down to the Circle K station laden as I was. So now I'm in, I'm warm, and I'm thinking of taking a nap. This early in the afternoon I doubt I'll stay asleep for hours on end. Maybe. I still have a lot to do, of course. But all the absolutely vital-had-to-do-it-today stuff is done, although the laundry really does have to be done before Monday.

Big ball in sky go down, temperatures plummet

Okay, it's not as bad as yesterday when I went to the bus stop early in the morning with -2 windchill. But it is really cold outside, even when you're bundled up, and the wind just goes through you. Have I ever mentioned that I'm a springtime/autumn kind of girl? I don't like very cold or very hot temperatures. Snow is pretty, of course, but it has its own issues.

Today I had a very productive day at the hospital, working completely through my to-do list. My new planner is much like my old one but more compact, at it includes space at the bottom of every day for a to-do list.

On my personal to-do list I had to call LifeScan about my blood glucose meter, which was giving an error and staying on, and no button would help. Taking the battery out and re-seating it brought it back to life. The nice thing is that if we had not been able to troubleshoot it into working, they would have sent me another one for free, which really says something about how they stand behind their product. I have one of the original One Touch Ultra Minis, so I was impressed that they would replace it even though I've had it quite a while.

I also activated my new flexible spending account card. I still have $177 on the old one, and I have until March to spend it; I think I did pretty well with it, all things considered. I'll use that first, obviously, but that's about three medicines. I elected a slightly smaller amount with the new account; last year was $3,000 (yes, I have that much in medical expenses, isn't that scary, and that's with good insurance). This new one is a little less, since I don't think I'll need more crowns (I had three put on in 2009). But I do need orthotics for my feet, they're not covered by my insurance, and they are $360. So it's time to make a call to the podiatrist. I was waiting for the new account to kick in so that I could pay for them. Here's hoping they'll solve the foot issues.

I got my new pants from Land's End (via Amazon) that I had ordered, paying partly for it with money my grandmother gave me for the holiday. They meet all the criteria for work: twill, Dockers style, belted, and black (khaki is also allowed, but subject to coffee spills and other stains). I guessed on the inseam being 26 and apparently was right. They have elastic in the back which is covered by the belt. They fit fine, which is good, as they were about $50 with the tax and shipping! Considering that the belt was also $30, and I need more pants now that I know they fit, I really wish I could talk to the corporate person who decided on this uniform policy about how difficult it is for larger women to find such pants. Even one of my co-workers, about my size, who gleaned several pairs from consignment shops and Goodwill, had a pant accident the other day, as a seam ripped down her leg, even though they fit her waist.

Okay, I guess that's enough for now. I'm going to try to watch tonight's two-hour 'Heroes' episode, although I have it set on DVR just in case I get sleepy. I need to do laundry, but I'm thinking about getting up early tomorrow and doing that. Now that I've warmed up I don't want to go back out in the cold. Of course, it'll be colder tomorrow morning, and we have more snow.

Brr...i-i-it's c-c-old...

Today I participated in a web seminar on how to do podcasting put on by the Greater Midwest Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. It was fun, I enjoyed it, and I know a lot more than I did (which was almost nothing) of what podcasting can do and how to make them. My only complaint is that being in an office with several other cubicles, I couldn't just put my phone on speaker but had to hold the receiver to my ear for an hour and a half. I'd rather use some sort of conferencing software that just played the audio over the computer that I could listen to via headphones.

One nice thing about the meeting was that none of us had to travel. In fact, the instructor was doing the presentation from home using an iPhone. Considering it was the Midwest Region (even though Kentucky is really part of the South, it tends to get lumped into the Midwest often), people traded temps outside and one lady was somewhere where it was -35 degrees Fahrenheit. I so could not live there. I might be conflating but I think she was the one who walked to work and didn't see why they closed the schools. Those Midwesterners are a tough lot.

After work I took a couple of friends around for errands. Then one of them and I did what any sane person would do when it's 6 degrees outside--we took three dogs to Incredipet, a local pet store with a dog wash area, and bathed them. Don't worry, they got good and dry between the towels and the drying cage (one really, really liked that, which is surprising, as she's the one that doesn't stay in place much, but she just kept going back in when we tried to get the others to). One whinged all the way to the store because it was dark and the aliens might get her. She's the only dog I've ever known who was afraid of the dark. The largest dog is usually hard to get up the ramp and into the sink, but she was a real trooper and surprisingly went right on up. When all was said and done (and they'd had treats as a reward), we went back to their home, and I was the one in wet clothes freezing in the weather, although it's amazing how warm a car can get with the heater on and three dogs in the backseat steaming up the windows. Yes, it was an adventure.

But now I'm home and ready for bed. I've caught up on news and on mail. My schedule changed for the store tomorrow so I will be working 10 hours rather than five, which sort of sucks, but hey, it's extra money, which I could really use.

Oh, I got my W2s from the hospital on Thursday. I hope the store's are on their way, although since I didn't file a new W4 until late in the year, I'll probably have to pay extra again this year rather than get a refund. I also got paid Thursday and I found out that with the raise and the higher flexible spending account deduction I pretty much evened out and I'm making just a few dollars less a pay period than I did last year. But I've got over $3,000 to use for medical expenses, so that will help.

Thursday I also paid my rent, and managed to get a break because neither I or the leasing agent can do math. I figured up the late fees twice and got two different amounts, so I called her for the official total before getting a money order, and she gave me the lower total. Later, she said not to worry about the extra five dollars I did owe since she made a mistake. Yay for getting to live indoors for less! And I didn't have to pay as much as I have the last two months, so maybe I can finally get caught up. We'll see.

Well, that's enough for now. I'm going on to bed and plan to get up fairly early to take care of some things around the house. I really need to do dishes and take out the trash, for example. Good night.

Two great things today, one not-so-great

I have my meds! My card works now, although one of the reps tried to tell me the problem was on the hospital's side, when the necessary paperwork was sent to Ceridian in October. This also means I can go to a doctor about the pelvic/lower back pain that I'm experiencing. I'm going to call tomorrow to see if I can get in for Wednesday; that's my first opportunity with my schedule.

I found out today that I'm getting a market raise effective this pay period of $1.12 an hour. Plus, we're getting a better-than-normal raise in March of 4.25%, so that's another 84 cents. Whoo-hoo! If I were working full-time, I'd be pulling over $42,000 a year. Alas, this is not the case. But this will certainly help, especially with medical costs going up this year.

Finally, I found out this afternoon that I have to go to court tomorrow morning as a witness in a case. I'm not looking forward to it.

That's it. Hope you're having a great week. I have to go on to bed as I'm up way too late considering I have to be up at 6 am. Goodnight.

Oh, I don't feel so good

Not to sound like a weeny, but I'm having some unusual pelvic pain that really needs a doctor's attention. I still haven't had a chance to go since right before the holidays. Last night it was much worse and now it's running up my lower back. I think I may have an infection of some sort. Today I got paid and although I really need all the money I can spare, I may have to make an appointment and nevermind whether my flexible spending card is ready or not. My meds are also still over at the pharmacy. One is the main diabetes medicine that seems to work on my blood glucose the best. Yesterday my glucose level in the morning was 355, way into the danger zone. No wonder I felt like crap. I managed to push through and get a lot of interlibrary loans through at work, do a lot of other stuff on my list, and then went to a friend's and did my laundry, but I was very tired, and today I'm achy and don't feel like I even got any rest. I didn't even bother to make the bed.

Blah.

Well, I should go ahead and get my shoes on and leave for work. I've had trouble getting up the last two days and I've been a little late. I want to be early today. On the other hand, today I went up on my Strattera samples to 25 mg, so hopefully that's on the right track.

That's three calls to Ceridian

The status on the card is active and I have an available balance of $3,120, but it just won't work when I try using the card for my medicine. I've called three times. The first two were helpful about checking out the account, but they assured me it would work and that it was just a holiday glitch, but it was denied when I tried again to get my meds this afternoon.

The third time the person put in a trouble ticket. I am apparently not the only person from the hospital who has called today, she said, but she checked and there wasn't any problem on the hospital's side. I was very direct that I wanted to know what was up with my account and wanted it resolved as soon as possible, as I'm on a medication that I can't go off and then on again--it could be life-threatening. I'm out of that as of Monday. I can probably go 2-3 days without it, but not very long. I was polite but insistent, and she was very competent. I got her name. They should be notifying me once the problem is resolved. I am somewhat sceptical, but we'll see.

Okay, theoretically

yesterday was just a glitch and my card (which is active, with a balance of $3,120 on it), should work in getting my medicines. So I get to try again, today.

I just took a shower and feel nice and clean. I've eaten and taken my medicine, including a vitamin. (My nails were breaking badly and I decided it was time for Flintstones again. Hey, what can I say, I hate horse pills. Flintstones vitamins have 100% of everything an adult needs and they're chewable.)

The bed is made and the counters clean. The aquarium is so much clearer and I've adjusted the temperature. I've balanced my chequebook (yay, I can get gas and toilet paper and still have plenty left over). I'm just waiting for the floor in the bathroom to dry so I can sweep and mop (I got out of the shower to get a new facial scrub, and got water everywhere). I got new razor cartridges at the pharmacy yesterday. It amazes me how much more expensive the cartridges are for reusable razors than disposable or just the razor itself. Between that and the facial scrub (which did at least come with a trial tube of moisturizer) and a plug-in air freshener refill, I spent quite a bit more than I meant to of my regular money (as opposed to the flexible spending amount).

I think I'm going to do an hour or so of notes whilst waiting for the floor to dry. Then it's a quick sweep and maybe mop, calling about the leaky faucet, getting gas, trying the card again at the pharmacy, and then I have to be over at a friend's by 2:30. I work from 5:30-9 tonight; it's truck night since yesterday was a holiday. But I'm off tomorrow. Then there's the game prep and game itself on Sunday, and I'm back to work at both jobs on Monday. But I must admit, it's been a productive vacation, and I've still gotten rest.

I am really not happy with my flexible spending company

Ceridian handles our flexible spending accounts. It's bad enough that last year, in the middle of a plan year, they froze the cards for a month and issued new ones whilst re-launching their website to supposedly give us new features.

Then there's the fact that almost every time I have had to call them in the past, it has been busy for so long I can't get through, because I don't have time to wait a half hour to get someone to talk to. I think I finally got someone once.

But today, the start of a new plan year, I went to get my medicine and it denied the purchase. So I called the customer service number on the off chance that someone might be there on a holiday, without luck. It took five menus, including three requests to speak to a real person, before it told me they were closed. It did take me through plan balances, etc. My card has a balance of $3,120. The card doesn't expire until September 2011. I don't know what the deal is. Hopefully they will be in and answering the phone tomorrow, because I want to know why the programme I'm paying into throughout the year isn't working. Grrr.

I'll be out of Lamictal on Monday and I'm out of the other two medications I'm trying to get. I don't have $85 to spend on them. I need to be able to access my account. Hopefully it's just a glitch they can fix,but in the meantime, I am not happy. We never had this sort of problem with our old company.

What I've been up to

Over the last three days I:

• Worked five hours on the notes Saturday night to get them finished in time for the game.
  
• Found out Sunday that there would be no game, because B's sheep got out and she had to mend fences, and M had some sort of family thing going on.
  
• Did do my normal Sunday chores and then read a couple of chapters of Lumley's Vamphiri! before heading back home before the buses stopped running.
  
• Got up early today to go to the pharmacy and get as many of my meds as possible before the flexible spending card goes on it's three-week blackout. Only really important one I couldn't get was Lamictal (too soon to refill), which is at least generic now, although I think it's in Tier 2, meaning a $25 co-pay. But I saved nearly $100 by getting what I could today. And at least I can get reimbursed for that $25 when it comes time to get it).
  
• Was very happy that National City would cash a FSA reimbursement cheque for $10 even though I had 24 cents in the bank. Yay, I can eat the breakfast-for-lunch menu at the cafeteria tomorrow.
  
• Ate very little early in the day (pre-$10) but had pizza for a meeting at the store, which I then continued with later for dinner, since it got left. Pizza Hut cheese pan pizza is pretty greasy, but it was good, and I'd been craving pizza.
  
• Accepted an invitation to be friends on Facebook from Bill, then superpoked him with congrats for the birth of his daughter. Read a funny exchage between him and his ex-wife regarding speed bumps, babies, and cat bells.
  
• Figured out how to tweet from Facebook. Now up to three friends. Always open to connecting to more. I thought MLA's group would be on my profile, but it's not. Maybe I never made it all the way into it. Hmmm...
  
• Got a unidentified phone call that is most likely from Insight. Fortunately I can pay my bill Wednesday. Let's hope they don't restrict the service before then.
  

Tomorrow I'll go into work (hospital) early so I can leave early to make it back over by St Joe's East and walk over to Bluegrass Orthopaedics for my doctor's appointment. It's about couple of blocks' worth of walking--not too bad. Then it's over to YKWIA's to read more Lumley.

I keep putting off my laundry. I could have done some during notes tonight but just didn't feel up to it. I'm all achy from work. Tomorrow night I really do need to do some, though.

Wow

This morning when I tested my blood sugar, it was 230. Then I took the glipizide that Dr Nesbitt prescribed along with my other meds. I just took my blood sugar again before dinner and it's 105. That's within normal range. It's been a long time since I was actually testing normal.

I also went to the dentist today to start the process of getting a crown. They had to do a filling on the tooth behind it and then work on the tooth to be crowned, take impressions, and put a temporary crown on. The impressions will go to a lab and in about three weeks I go back and get the real one put on. It took a couple of hours. This is the first time I've met the new dentist, and I liked him, although I had to be vigilant about the latex gloves (he finally put the box of nitrile ones on top of the latex so he'd remember) and I'd forgotten to tell them I was allergic to Lortab, so he had to re-write me a prescription for Darvocet. The crowned tooth was broken and a piece came out from deep in the gums, so he thought I might need it--although normally I'm pretty good with that kind of pain. (Really intense shooting pain, I'm not so good at.) It was about $340, so thank goodness for flexible spending accounts, although they do break things down in payments for people. The next appointment to get the crown on should take about 15-30 minutes and I'd only have to pay any residual that the insurance won't. But they're supposed to pay 80% for fillings and 50% for crowns, so I should be okay. The nice thing is I could go ahead and eat dinner immediately, since I don't have too much time between work. I just can't have anything really chewy.

Oh, I found out today that in March I'm going to get a 4% raise at the hospital. That translates to nearly $.75 an hour or about $75 net extra a pay period if I did the math right. Yay!

What else? Oh, about a week ago I joined a book club and when I received the confirmation, I realised they'd truncated my apartment number and the books had been shipped to another address. I left a note for the resident at the other apartment and he called me and told me he'd let me know when they come in. Woo-hoo.

Woo hoo! Woo hoo!

I came back to my apartment to get my shirt for work and lo! there was a flexible spending debit card from Ceridian. This means I can go back to my sessions with my counselor and even more importantly, get my full stock of medications, since I've been limping on the bare minimum the last month. I was actually down to samples of Lamictal and Abilify, and I've been out of everything else except for an old metformin prescription. I don't plan on going back on Avandia, though; the case against it concerning heart attacks just keeps mounting. If the Janumet doesn't do enough for my diabetes, then I'll ask for Actos. But I'd rather just start getting a little exercise and keeping my sweet and starch intake within reason and see what happens rather than add yet another pill.

I am debating about going on to the gym. I stayed late at work today since I have to leave early for an appointment and ate some tuna when I got in. I have to be at work at five. What I may do instead is spend some time on the exercise bike my grandmother loaned me and then start with the gym tomorrow. :)

I did make up a schedule for the upcoming week of what I'd like to get accomplished at work (I'm going to have a large shelving unit moved a few inches to allow for room between the cubicles and the unit...so I have to compact old journals, take off the ones that are on it at the moment, have maintenance take the units apart, move them, put them back together, and then I need to put the journals back in, making room to take some from the other unit so that things are more evenly distributed and there's room for new issues all around.) I also want to go to the gym each weekday if possible. There's my notes. I've also worked in a couple of small painting projects and some cleaning, both at my place and another's. And if I can just get up by 8 I have time for yoga, too. We'll see. It doesn't give me much free time, but I didn't have much to begin with; I just rearranged what I was planning to do anyway.

Interesting, ethically and medically

Face-Transplant Patient 'Satisfied': Some Who Criticized Procedure Are Impressed With Results

One of the US centres that is mentioned in the story as being interested in doing face transplants is Kleinert Kutz and Associates, who did the first US hand transplant. The Lexington office branch of that practice did my carpal tunnel surgery. I feel a bit like I'm playing six degrees of separation. My surgeon's in a different practice now, but I'd recommend either Kleinert Kutz or Dr William O'Neill of Bluegrass Orthopaedics if you ever need hand surgery.

It's funny, I'm very lucky that I live in a very medically- and specialist-dense town, and since I live within a couple of blocks of a major hospital (St Joseph East), there are a plethora of physicians and specialists whose offices are nearly in my backyard. Not to mention the fact that I have top-notch insurance through UnitedHealthcare. They paid every penny of my surgery, which ran about $10,000 altogether. I had no idea how crippled I'd become. Now I can use my hands freely. I've heard horrible stories of how much nerve conduction studies hurt since I had mine. I had no idea. My carpal tunnel was so bad I didn't really feel any of it. So I'm glad to have my mobility back, to be able to feel my hands, and to have them not draw up in pain at night. Plus, if I were ever to have children (let's face it, it's not bloody likely), it would cost me $10. Period--just the co-payment of the first office visit. Wow.

Of course, I went for years without insurance, so I really appreciate it more. I probably had a broken foot years ago, for example, when Bill fell on me. I just hobbled around in pain for months. Not to mention the various blows to the head I've had that I never went to see about. Hmm...maybe that really is part of my problem.

I'm not out of the woods in terms of medical expenditures, though. I have a flexible account that helps with any of my co-payments. But I'm on a slew of medications that are in the upper tier of what the insurance will pay for, so my co-payments are mostly $45 a pop. My flexible spending account ran out at the end of November (so at least I used it all--you lose the money if you don't--and it was much better than last year, when it lasted until May); but for December I really am struggling with enough bills that I simply can't get all my medicines. There are 2-3 absolutely vital ones; the rest I'm not filling until January. I normally take 7-9 depending on time of year (I take Lasix and potassium in the summer, when my ankles swell). I'm taking the opportunity to chuck Avandia entirely. I haven't felt any difference than when I took it, and there are just too many studies stacked against it. If my blood sugar tests show my sugar still up, I'll see about going on Actos. Otherwise I'll keep with just the Janumet, if Dr Nesbitt concurs. I found some samples of one of my drugs 'my smart medicine' as one friend puts it, so I'm using those for now. And of course, there's one I take that can cause a horrible skin-sloughing rash if you stop and go back on it, so I'm staying on that one as a priority. :) Plus I have plenty of metformin, so I'm temporarily on that instead of the combined Januvia/metformin Janumet. And I found some extra strips so I can check my sugar levels.

I know, it's not ideal, but it means $45 in drug costs this month rather than the normal $277 I'd spend a month out of pocket (with insurance!) ($291 in summer), with the occasional albuterol ($7) and then any over-the-counter medicines I get. (I'm off the aspirin, for example, now that I'm out of the boot). That flexible spending account is a lifesaver. I opted for the same amount next year since part of the expense this year was my glasses, which I shouldn't need again. That should get me through the year okay. I do have one doctor's appointment this month, too, but I've budgeted for that.

Okay, didn't mean to make this all about me, but I guess the article was just a jumping point for my thoughts. Hopefully January will bring a new debit card (we're going with a new provider this year--I hope they're as good as the last one) and I'll get back on track again.