Hi Folks!
Long time no see. Well, there's more to it than just that; there is always more.
It's election time in Florida. You can bet that I have some distinct thoughts about the gubernatorial election coming up. If you have been watching the news, even in Oshkosh, you must have seen the brouhaha regarding a piece of electronic equipment which Mr. Crist had installed in his podium. That there was a tempest in a teapot. And it truly made me, although I was already in his camp, a (you got it) FANatic of Charlie Crist.
Too many folks don't realize that the best work for America has been done by Centrist, or God Forbid Liberal Republicans. Some of the best governors of the state of New York were Centrist Republicans; and I can say sadly that I was not old enough to be able to vote for Mr. Nelson Rockefeller even once!
"Conservative" Republicans or anarchistic Tea Party fanatics will tell you that Crist is a flip-flopper, in it for the money and fame, and not at all concerned with Florida. On the other hand they want to forget that he is a Floridian; and that he went to school here, lived here, and served the community here. Whereas Dick Snott is a life-long CON man. Oh folks, you know I like to give praise when it is truly due. Dick Snott is GOOD at being a CON man and a fine actor to boot. It's just that I am tired of seeing this country torn apart by money grubbing corporations while the rest of us are treated like second class citizens and very soon, if they get their way, SLAVES.
So I don't really have much to say about the gubernatorial elections in Florida .... HA!
There will be more to come on this point.
I will also be covering education (M.S. in Ed.), the influx of children from Mexico and points south (lived and studied in Mexico City for seven and a half years as dad worked as a legal attache to the American Embassy), teaching in the United States, learning in the United States and the economy and the morality of being RICH.
I think that's light reading for any one. Meanwhile I'll ponder the do's and don'ts for a man close to seventy; and how to schedule all the doctor and surgeons appointment so that one might also go out and look at property with realtors (have also sold and listed properties in Florida and before that in Virginia before coming here).
There's more to come on almost everything except quadratic equations. Whichever of you with questions regarding that subject may now leave the room. More to come..........
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
To Thine Own Self Be True
It's been awhile since I bothered these pages with news of any kind. This all has to do with my body and me; and parenthetically, your body and you. One week ago yesterday, I was released from the campus of Florida Hospital Rollins in downtown Orlando. That's not where the trip started, though.
Two weeks earlier I appeared in my G.P.'s office with complaints about a sinus infection. He prescribed the normal medicines promptly and left me with this warning, "should this not work out or other symptoms creep up, then please just come down to the office". One week and two days later, the medicine having run out several days earlier, I realized that all was not well. I was tired; excessively tired. I could not sleep on my back or stomach. A comfy chair was best suited for sleeping as everything was kept upright. And then there was the sloshing.
My uncles were both doctors. My brother and I were guinea pigs for almost everything that came down the pike which was not surgeon-ready; as I assume now that they just wanted to be careful in keeping their nephews alive. We were poked and prodded from one end to another. And when dad was assigned a position with the American Embassy in Mexico City, the uncles followed with syringes ready because in the 'states' polio was on the march and they were bringing the latest 'lifesaver' to inject into us. Thus, I am very familiar with the words, cajoling, and psychology necessary to get a patient.....impatient.
Even the fact that I had been carrying around Congestive Heart Failure since it's first appearance in 2001, had no bearing on my mental state. It did not register. And the sloshing, I heard, just reminded me of the boat that my uncles bought together. We had such fun in the Long Island Sound SLOSHING around........an still it did not register.
Only my G.P. on my second visit, after ordering two chest x-rays asked if my wife had driven me to the office. When I affirmed, he said quickly, "you are going in"; and just flat left me in the examining room to await their return.
I am used to this already. Having hit, and successfully passed 67, I thought I could fight almost anyone. This I had not expected. It had come on slowly over a long period of time, but the enlarged ankles and feet did make a statement of their own.
We left his office, went home and packed up a bag with underwear and gym shorts. The idea that another old Geezer would be added to the mix at Florida Hospital in a gown with NO BOTTOM was not in my vocabulary....not at all.
We loaded up the car. especially with me, and headed off to FH. I had been there many times over the years since my first bout with CHF. And every time we went, the ER was crowded with people. Where were they at four thirty in the afternoon? The place was, you'll excuse the expression, like a morgue. But that was good. I was admitted and placed in my own room in the ER. And then came the fun.
Early tests did not make the staff happy. They wanted to send me home. It was after my cardiologist chimed in that I stayed and got a semi-private room. I had patches all over. It had occurred to me that they were going to change my oil also because I had to tubes in each arm ready for placement .... of something.
I stayed there that Friday night until Monday afternoon. Tests had shown dark splotches in my chest. Little did I know that the heart was afloat in water. Remember the sloshing? They were amazied that I could stand, if not walk. I was pretty amazed too.
My cardiologist made a surprise visit to the room. He told me how sick I really was and that there was a helicopter waiting for me downstairs to spirit me off to FH Rollins, which is the downtown campus of Florida Hospital. In addition, we had to call my wife so that she might get here early to pick up my belongings and rush across town to meet me in Recovery after the DRAINING. I called her and announced I was leaving for FH Rollins. She started the ball rolling at home. The Thorcic surgeon on staff had been advised that a patient was coming from across town. He and his staff were awaiting me. I didn't even get the chance to feel fear about flying strapped into a 'copter. Amazing.
It was all over before six p.m. I was recovering, and my wife had just arrived. They removed two point three litres of water just in the first incursion. A drain attached to a very light and portable pump were left attached to my lower chest. Not much fluid emanated after that; and by that Thursday afternoon, I was discharged
But that's not the whole story. I want to commend everyone at both FH campuses. They made a difficult move easy ...... What I really want to say here is that when push came to shove, they all acted. Except that now that I am out of the hospital, I still have to go to outside agencies, as I have for lo these many years, for blood to be drawn and tests to be made.
The name of the company rhymes with a cardinal point on the map of the world.
Two months ago, I had gone there for my normal series of blood tests. One month later, I received a letter telling me that one of the tests was not necessary and that a particular insurance company would not pay for it. That was interesting, because the payor of the test was Medicare. And they had NEVER not paid such a test because it is tied intrinsically to my ingestion of Warfarin. When I got home from the hospital, there was another such letter awaiting me. Earlier, I had called their home office to complain. They re-submitted it to Medicare and all was well. Now here i was at home, leaving the house for blood tests, and getting the ROYAL injection in the rear.
It turns out that these boys are so incompetent that they do not instruct their worker ants to get new information on each patient every time. All I ever got was the question regarding my insurance, usually in the following manner ..... "you still with United?" And I would answer that Medicare is my primary and United my secondary. "Do you want to see the cards?" I would ask. And the answer was always no ..... and on we went happy happy.
Turns out that the home office wants to see the cards EVERY SINGLE TIME because they do not SAVE the information in their computer. These folks are idiots.....or damned smart....and here is why I say this. If they wait for Medicare to pay off a test done in April, it could be payday by June. If they coerce the patient to pay up now ... well then .... that much the better. Are you still with me?
You NEED to check with your Lab now to find out if they are using computers in the way they were meant to be used. Computers do repetetive tasks gladly and never quarrel. They also hold what is meaningless to you and me in secret....and it can be held in secret for a price....so as to save money and make the whole process invisible to the PATIENT.
I don't know if they are all doing this, but some of them for sure are; and it's not right. Today's tests will be bounced again in a month. You can be sure that the next time I go for blood tests or Urineanalysis I will pull out my cards and make sure that they bill the correct one.
Other than that......heh heh heh heh ..... I feel as right as rain.
Two weeks earlier I appeared in my G.P.'s office with complaints about a sinus infection. He prescribed the normal medicines promptly and left me with this warning, "should this not work out or other symptoms creep up, then please just come down to the office". One week and two days later, the medicine having run out several days earlier, I realized that all was not well. I was tired; excessively tired. I could not sleep on my back or stomach. A comfy chair was best suited for sleeping as everything was kept upright. And then there was the sloshing.
My uncles were both doctors. My brother and I were guinea pigs for almost everything that came down the pike which was not surgeon-ready; as I assume now that they just wanted to be careful in keeping their nephews alive. We were poked and prodded from one end to another. And when dad was assigned a position with the American Embassy in Mexico City, the uncles followed with syringes ready because in the 'states' polio was on the march and they were bringing the latest 'lifesaver' to inject into us. Thus, I am very familiar with the words, cajoling, and psychology necessary to get a patient.....impatient.
Even the fact that I had been carrying around Congestive Heart Failure since it's first appearance in 2001, had no bearing on my mental state. It did not register. And the sloshing, I heard, just reminded me of the boat that my uncles bought together. We had such fun in the Long Island Sound SLOSHING around........an still it did not register.
Only my G.P. on my second visit, after ordering two chest x-rays asked if my wife had driven me to the office. When I affirmed, he said quickly, "you are going in"; and just flat left me in the examining room to await their return.
I am used to this already. Having hit, and successfully passed 67, I thought I could fight almost anyone. This I had not expected. It had come on slowly over a long period of time, but the enlarged ankles and feet did make a statement of their own.
We left his office, went home and packed up a bag with underwear and gym shorts. The idea that another old Geezer would be added to the mix at Florida Hospital in a gown with NO BOTTOM was not in my vocabulary....not at all.
We loaded up the car. especially with me, and headed off to FH. I had been there many times over the years since my first bout with CHF. And every time we went, the ER was crowded with people. Where were they at four thirty in the afternoon? The place was, you'll excuse the expression, like a morgue. But that was good. I was admitted and placed in my own room in the ER. And then came the fun.
Early tests did not make the staff happy. They wanted to send me home. It was after my cardiologist chimed in that I stayed and got a semi-private room. I had patches all over. It had occurred to me that they were going to change my oil also because I had to tubes in each arm ready for placement .... of something.
I stayed there that Friday night until Monday afternoon. Tests had shown dark splotches in my chest. Little did I know that the heart was afloat in water. Remember the sloshing? They were amazied that I could stand, if not walk. I was pretty amazed too.
My cardiologist made a surprise visit to the room. He told me how sick I really was and that there was a helicopter waiting for me downstairs to spirit me off to FH Rollins, which is the downtown campus of Florida Hospital. In addition, we had to call my wife so that she might get here early to pick up my belongings and rush across town to meet me in Recovery after the DRAINING. I called her and announced I was leaving for FH Rollins. She started the ball rolling at home. The Thorcic surgeon on staff had been advised that a patient was coming from across town. He and his staff were awaiting me. I didn't even get the chance to feel fear about flying strapped into a 'copter. Amazing.
It was all over before six p.m. I was recovering, and my wife had just arrived. They removed two point three litres of water just in the first incursion. A drain attached to a very light and portable pump were left attached to my lower chest. Not much fluid emanated after that; and by that Thursday afternoon, I was discharged
But that's not the whole story. I want to commend everyone at both FH campuses. They made a difficult move easy ...... What I really want to say here is that when push came to shove, they all acted. Except that now that I am out of the hospital, I still have to go to outside agencies, as I have for lo these many years, for blood to be drawn and tests to be made.
The name of the company rhymes with a cardinal point on the map of the world.
Two months ago, I had gone there for my normal series of blood tests. One month later, I received a letter telling me that one of the tests was not necessary and that a particular insurance company would not pay for it. That was interesting, because the payor of the test was Medicare. And they had NEVER not paid such a test because it is tied intrinsically to my ingestion of Warfarin. When I got home from the hospital, there was another such letter awaiting me. Earlier, I had called their home office to complain. They re-submitted it to Medicare and all was well. Now here i was at home, leaving the house for blood tests, and getting the ROYAL injection in the rear.
It turns out that these boys are so incompetent that they do not instruct their worker ants to get new information on each patient every time. All I ever got was the question regarding my insurance, usually in the following manner ..... "you still with United?" And I would answer that Medicare is my primary and United my secondary. "Do you want to see the cards?" I would ask. And the answer was always no ..... and on we went happy happy.
Turns out that the home office wants to see the cards EVERY SINGLE TIME because they do not SAVE the information in their computer. These folks are idiots.....or damned smart....and here is why I say this. If they wait for Medicare to pay off a test done in April, it could be payday by June. If they coerce the patient to pay up now ... well then .... that much the better. Are you still with me?
You NEED to check with your Lab now to find out if they are using computers in the way they were meant to be used. Computers do repetetive tasks gladly and never quarrel. They also hold what is meaningless to you and me in secret....and it can be held in secret for a price....so as to save money and make the whole process invisible to the PATIENT.
I don't know if they are all doing this, but some of them for sure are; and it's not right. Today's tests will be bounced again in a month. You can be sure that the next time I go for blood tests or Urineanalysis I will pull out my cards and make sure that they bill the correct one.
Other than that......heh heh heh heh ..... I feel as right as rain.
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