24/7 Chat About Anything

[maki2]

Windy weather is just a lot more of an impact living on wheels than in a strong house. The wolf is at the door saying, I will huff and puff and try to blow your house down. You will feel and hear it trying to do so in the desert where you are the only wind block. Going to be close to 40mph winds this afternoon. Glad that I am not in a tall RV and that the wind is out of the south and my trailer’s nose is faced pretty much into the wind.

Time to get a move on and get my errands run this morning.

 

[SLB_SA]

What is the Moral of Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Goldilocks and the Three Bears

 

[maki2]

The moral is pretty young blond girls can break into houses and avoid going to jail; but can’t avoid social media talking about it.

 

[vanbrat]

Moral is Don't go into stranger's homes.

 

[vanbrat]

Windy 4 days ago and just now got my power back. I hate big ugly windstorms. I don't mind not being hooked up to power when we are out and about. But wow did we ever have a ton of trees down and it was not easy to get on and off the island. Even cell phones where down.

 

[NctryBen]

Moral is Don't go into stranger's homes.

And nothing stranger then three bears!

 

[NctryBen]

Windy 4 days ago and just now got my power back. I hate big ugly windstorms. I don't mind not being hooked up to power when we are out and about. But wow did we ever have a ton of trees down and it was not easy to get on and off the island. Even cell phones where down.

Been pouring rain all night here. I’m hoping I’m not in a mud pit here at my daughters. I wanna leave today by noon...
In the afternoon there were snowflakes the size of bricks... just passed midnight, I hope it stops...

 

[Morgana]

So the next step in the sore-foot saga is waiting for days for the doctor to do the paperwork so I can get the foot cast/boot/thing. Does anyone else have the feeling that having Medicare puts you squarely in the “red-headed stepchild” category with doctors’ offices? I assume because they get more $$ from other types of insurance?? Either they’re rushing you through a five-minute visit that leaves you with 101 unanswered questions, or they’re prescribing a bunch of expensive cr@p you don’t need (anything to suck money out of your pocket or Uncle Sam's).

Or maybe it's not Medicare and I just had some random bad luck?

(The best-of-a-shady-bad-lot walk-in clinic told me no podiatrist would see me without a raft of blood tests I might have to pay for myself. In fact, the podiatrist wasn’t remotely interested in blood tests. Creepy clinic also told me, which is glaringly untrue, that I couldn’t make my own specialist appointment. Can you imagine how much worse it would be dealing with these people if you were seriously poor, or uneducated, or didn’t speak English, or didn’t have a car?) (And this is just the legal skeeziness — imagine what a field day a real crook could have.)

I’d really hoped to go all-out to try to fix this foot before my new volunteer gig starts in December — so I could, haha, put my best foot forward. Now revising my goals to “not falling flat on my face” and “not losing my temper and making it worse.” Man plans God laughs, right? Could be way worse. This is a medically underserved area, so hopefully the next place (T minus 15 days and counting!) will be better.

This whole thing has convinced me of the importance of having a regular doctor that you trust and that knows you. Half the reason I got into this mess was that I procrastinated getting a new doc when I first moved here. By the time I realized what a long, convoluted process that would be, it was too late. You really want those relationships in place before you need them. Sadder but wiser!

 

[maki2]

I suspect you just got a very busy doctor. It can be difficult to get appointments in an already packed up schedule.

Not being able to make your own initial appointment with a specialist is very much a normal situation. They quite often require a referral. I have had to deal with going to my GP or an urgent care clinic first situation to get a referral to a specialist many times over the years including for orthopedic appointments. That system keeps the specialist from being overwhelmed by patients with conditions a GP could easily deal with. But there are some specialist who do not require a referral such as many of the dermatologist.

 

[bullfrog]

It definitely can be important to maintain a relationship with your doctor but helps to keep track of your records and a medical log especially when dealing with insurance companies and doctors that are in network. Most medical records can be electronically stored and transferred today. I used to carry a box of them to each new VA hospital I went to! Lol!!! My much smarter than me wife just brings up an app on her smart phone!

 

[NctryBen]

Typically I’ve needed a referral, but once in they can do pretty much anything.
My surgeon in Minnesota sent orders to physical therapy in Utah and I basically paid the same copay as if at home.

 

[Morgana]

Some types of insurance require a PMD referral; others don't. Medicare does not.

From the Medicare website:
"Original Medicare benefits ... do not need their primary care physician to provide a referral in order to see a specialist."

I was pretty sure of that before I asked the guy at the seedy clinic; after I got home, I double-checked it with a customer service tech at Medicare. So that makes two falsehoods that seedy clinic guy told me -- about referrals under Medicare, and about the blood tests being a prerequisite to the referral (that was just ridiculous). I suspect he gets a lot of vulnerable and not very critical patients.

I did make my own appointment with the specialist, and I got in in less than a week. That is the guy who is now dragging his feet on the paperwork, without which I can't get the treatment, which he himself says is essential and should start asap. He is apparently well known for doing this. I'm sure his bill to Medicare went out much more quickly.

Referral to physical therapy would probably be different from referral to another physician.

 

[Morgana]

and oh, yeah, compared to the old days, transferring records is a snap now! (or can/should be -- I remember someone in another thread saying they'd had some problems with it)

 

[Lil Pasquale]

Hello. My brothernlaw who is a doctor tried to talk me into medicare when I turned 65. I said no, I'll just go to the VA. Best decision I made in a long time. About six weeks ago I got a bad case of poison ivy. I called the dermatology clinic the next morning around 8:30 to see when they could fit me in. They asked if I could make it in by 11:15? They had a cancelation. I got lucky. I was home by 4:00. Now that was service. No paperwork. No copay. No medicare.

 

[bullfrog]

^^^Yep the VA is basically a largely socialized form of medical treatment as it is paid for by the government. I have a hard time understanding how those that don’t qualify for it don’t want something like it! Serving in the military or doing public service should be required of all citizens for a few years and rewarded with free education and medical benefits and would solve a lot of problems people are experiencing today.

 

[Morgana]

I'd go for that.

So has care at the VA improved a lot? I remember some very negative stories about it, but that was from a long time ago and I don't remember enough about that to know how serious it was.

 

[bullfrog]

A lot seems to depend on which VA hospital you go to it seems. They do I believe for veterans living more than 60 miles from a VA facility allow and pay for treatment in certain situations at private medical facilities as well as they have a few satellite offices which makes it easy for nomadic veterans. The system has worked well for me, not perfectly but close.

 

[Morgana]

Good to know!
You guys have earned it.

 

[sithigh]

Thinkin' again:
I'm thinking again right now, I'll probably think some more tomorrow. BUT here is the point which I will have to explain.
My pickup, which I will use to tow my home on wheels needs to patching up, Michigan uses salt on the roads in winter which wreaks havoc on fenders and such.
So, before I take off, I need to patch up some of the more awful places. Since It's and old pickup, I am not going to replace anything, just patch it up. To that end, I went to the hardware store today and bought a roll of roof flashing (Al-U-minium).
My plan is to pop rivet it in place and then later do some bondo when I hit some warmer climes.
Anyway - I was thinking about yesterdays thinking and decided that what I thought in the past day must be what I thunk about.
The point of of this is that I find myself forgetting thing more than I have in the past.
Extra trips to town where I get one thing and find when I get home that didn't get the other thing I went for, Or end up in a store that I know I stopped there for something but can't remember what it was. Like today, I got motor oil and on second thought, bough anti freeze also only to find that I'd got that last week. so now I have 10 quarts of motor oil and 4 gallons of antifreeze which I don't need. In the process, I forgot to eat anything so far today..
What I'd like to ask? Is this normal? Do other older guys like me forget stuff or only remember one thing at a time? Is there a pill for that?
Ken
.

No. But you can just stop reading my lady's posts. I on the other hand...

 

[maki2]

Nice day here. Not as much wind as was predicted. Filled a few extra bags with trash and while downsizing and packing up stuff for the move.

Time for a quick run to Home Depot and Walmart so I can get back to camp before dark.

It has been an OK stay, good stuff like making a couple new friends. The downside was more strong wind and annoying noise than I prefer to be around. Not much a person can do about winds in the Western US. But sometimes I wish I had one of those spy movie devices you could aim at a generator to zap it (or a loud music source) and shut it off leaving the owner baffled as to the cause of the shutdown. No loud music this time, just lots of big generators. It will be quieter one of these days when more people have adequate solar and battery systems for running AC, big screen satellite TVs, microwaves and such.