Category: Blog

My mother gets government run health care: goes to a University Clinic paid for a combination medicare / retired AF Colonia’s plan (not VA, not sure what it is).

They did not bother to check her blood sugar even though she had infections that they couldn’t cure with antibotic regium.  Not that I’m sure they really tried — at 70, she’s going to die soon anyway right?

And my sister and I have done more to get her blood sugar under control than the doctors.

I have uncles that get VA care — after they drive 400 miles to the nearest center since they can’t get VA care in their community.  And once they get care — they usually have to go through a battery of paperwork and other hoops.

Oh, and they live in Central Illinois, certainly not in the backwoods.

No, I don’t want that form of government health care.

And the main reason health care is so expenstive these days is a) we’re paying for R&D for the rest of the world, and b) we’re curing diseases that used to kill period — or at least keeping them under control (Type 1 diabetes for example).

First, I’ll say that I took the job I have because of the health care benefits (and every other job before it), and that I have only had one medical procedure denied in the past 4 years. 

In fact, my lap band surgery cost me less than $1000 total, even jumping through the hoops.  My insulin pump did not cost me anything out of pocket.

That being said, Obama Care scares me.  I don’t want my insurance messed with.  And I pay quite a bit monthly for premiums, about $300 a month right now.  But with my medical issues, I need that much health insurance and I would pay for supplemental if it still was available.

My first argument against Obama Care is to look at the “Cash for Clunkers” program.  It is an example of the current administration way of doing things:

• The method of communication did not work well.
• They ran out of money
• They screwed up other entities (local charities are claiming they lost donations)
• The car dealers have no idea when they are going to get their money.

My second argument against Obama Care is the number of industries and job we’ll lose.  We will eventually lose companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield and their workers will lose their jobs. You think the economy sucks now … and a lot of those people are pink collar workers.

So here’s my solution:

The existing health insurance programs should be expanded so that people can buy their own policies.  They still won’t be cheap, but it should be competitive with group policies.

Health savings plans should be mandatory for people under 30.  A health savings plan (as opposed to a flexible spending plan), allows a user to save money in an account forever, be drawn for medical expenses, and earns interest.  That way if they do not choose insurance they still have a fund.  Also, health insurance plans should be able to be paid for out of the fund.

I think we’ll actually make more jobs this way.

I have a problem.  My clothing doesn’t fit.  Yeah, one week before I report to school.

Here the deal. 

I can wear my shirts.

I have a few dresses I can wear.

I can’t wear any of my skirts.  Okay, a few.  One set of skirts is too big.  Within thirty minutes of wearing them, they are hanging off of me and I’m constantly adjusting them.  And showing belly skin which is none too pretty between the lap band scars and healing insertation set wounds.

The majority of the rest of my skirts are too tight. 

Both are no fun.

I can’t wear pants either — I tried on Saturday at Lane Bryant and I have the same issue, I am just between sizes.

I like my skirts as they hide a lot and I can put my pump in my pocket.  My new Ping is really too big for a bra, especially with a dress as it pulls the fabric up, and makes them too short.

And yeah, I know I’ll go through this periodically.

One of the best things I did for myself last year was to hire "The Maids".  I use the franchise based in Farmers Branch.

The first trip was a bit scary and frustrating but it was worth going through the process.  I didn’t realize the house was as bad as it was.

However, I’ve been having them come over every two weeks and cleaning the house.  It’s lovely, one day every other week I come home to a house that is clean, smells clean and I didn’t have to do it.

I do have to straighten things — and I am a bit bad about putting that off.  So in order to make it better, I’m having them weekly from now on. 

Can’t wait!

I have a ticket to the Paul McCartney concert here in Dallas, but I had a transportation problem.

I’ve already found that if I am going to have blood sugar control problems, it will definately happen at a concert venue.  I’ve have gone really low twice at Dallas American Airlines Center, and have gone low at Reunion, so I don’t want to go through the find a parking space, walk through the parking space, walking through the venue thing.

My shrink and I were even working on the problem last session.

Husband isn’t going (and in fact will be out of town), so we came up with using a car service or cab.

I’ve tried a car service and they wanted almost $175.00 and I just isn’t into that.

Yesterday I found a cab driver who transport people on Craig’s list, but that scares me.  He wanted $100.

But after I posted a question about how to check someone like that out, I came up with a BETTER idea.  I had met a local diabetic who is a truck driver and lives closer to the stadium that I do.

I asked, and this is the perfect solution — I can drive part way there, leave my car there, and have someone take me and pick me up that understands the problem himself and understands.  I’d rather pay him, and it’s a win win for everyone!

And as always Twitter helped me find the solution!

Tonight’s class was the best class in a long time (in other sports, you’d call what we do practice, but we call it class.

Macy’s class is first, which is a bit of a cheat for Maggie, as she is a faster running, more of a distance dog.  She prefers it is I move more but by the time I get to her….

The other nice thing, is that both classes will have similar courses, but Maggie’s will be a bit more difficult.  That can also be confusing and it was for Maggie’s first run.

Macy has two real problems with agility — she is afraid of the teeter, and doesn’t like the chute.  She has gotten caught in it during a storm, and she’s small, so who would blame her, plus she’s a bit claustophic.  Thus, in descriminations, she always prefers the contact obstacles — plus they earm more cookies.

She has developed a little leap off the end of teeter that I’m trying to get rid of, even is it is a tad cute.  Never want to make a judge think and it can look like a flyoff — not a good thing — plus it could develop into a fly off.

She did some really good work tonight.  We’ve also got to do some backyard work on weaves and on stays.  Mom has just been very lazy this summer (or I’ve been working hard and traveling a lot and haven’t had time — you pick).

My biggest problem with Maggie is to convince I can run the whole course and she doesn’t have time to go sniff the grass, tree, or fence.  It’s coming though.

I’ve got the girls entered in 5 trials, 2 confirmed, and 3 entries out, and I’ll decided what to do after we compete in the first trial, we could go back to just Sundays, or withdraw from the trials and wait until January.

Quoted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8182371.stm:

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Domestic dog origins challenged

The authors say the process by which humans domesticated the dog is poorly understood.

Having been a beagle owner for over 20 years, I can tell you up front, they are looking at it backwards. I’ve been quite convinced that the ancestor of the beagle, saw us sitting at a fire, eating food, and thought: how do I get some of that?

When I married my husband, his beagle had completely trained him — if I give you a sock, you’ll give me something to eat.

In fact, the most effective means of training both dogs and cats involve a give and take situation — also know as clicker training. Both parties think they are training each other, so both parties are happy and get what they want.

I find that bolus rates are influenced most when I lose (or gain) weight.  I will start seeing that my blood sugar is lower than I want it to be after corrections and/or meals.

When that happens, I’ll do an adjustment in carb ratio. 

The first thing I do is record my blood sugars and use the rule of 1500 and 1800 to make sure that my boluses are at close to what is recommended.  You can do an internet search on “Rule of 1500” and “Rule of 1800” to find them.

I also adjust by meal, as I have found that I need high insulin to carb ratios in the morning, and lower in the evening.

Same thing goes for correction rates.

When I start seeing that my basal / bolus rates are off (I think it is recommended that they be 50%/50%, I’ll adjust the bolus rate, lowering it by 10% overall.

Then I start watching my bolus rates again.  Sometimes I need to adjust them up.

By the way, I didn’t come by all this magically, it’s in the Insulin Pumper’s Book

First problem — I am missing a sock.  So I walked over to Walmart and got a pair of diabetic socks over at Walmart, so now do I have to test the blood sugar on the sock too?

Went across the street to eat at a local BBQ, it isn't Dallas BBQ, but not bad.  I'm spoiled because I live very close to Marshall's BBQ in Farmers Branch and it's some of the best BBQ in Texas.

Then I came back and started packing.

I'm so funny when I'm traveling.  As soon as I get to the room, I spread everything out and get everything out of the suitcases, etc.  On the night before last day, I do the opposite, I put everything I don't need in my suitcase and start packing.  By the time I go to bed, everything is packed except what I need in the morning.

Then as I get ready in the morning, everything gets packed and moved close to the door.  I've found this method keeps me from losing things.

So I'm now at the workshop, checked out of my room and have my stuff in the corner.  And yes, I'm very anxious to go home.

Especially after the snide remark that was made by another participant in the workshop.  I was particpating, but have decided to quit for the rest of the day.

I’m almost sleeping like a normal person. Woke up at 4:30, rolled over and went back to sleep and then woke up again at 6:00 am.

Had breakfast in the hotel lobby — Fairfield Inn is coming in a second behind Embassy Suites for the two most important things I want at a hotel:  ability to sleep and breakfast.  I don’t mind a hotel that doesn’t have breakfast, I just don’t want a lousy breakfast if they do.  I have to have protein.   This morning was sausage, gravy and biscuits. Not my favorite choice but I eat mostly sausage and gravy.  Tomorrow is my favorite — scrambled eggs!

NWMS is hosting and they have us in a building they share with the local high school. It’s VERY nice.  They have a shuttle bus taken any one who wants back and forth — most of the workshop participants are from NWMS and drove here.  Tall bus but I’m surviving.

Food is fabulous — as good as Virginia University was.  Lunch was chicken, vegetables and rice.  I went with the NWMS staff to dinner at Olive Garden which is probably a big avoid if you have a lap band.

Got in 20 minutes of walking on the treadmill before dinner and doing well.  Miss home though.