Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the house....

 

Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the house....

Well, the stores were all stirring with people returning gifts, and those shopping for food in advance of the oncoming snowstorm.

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RQS and I knew we had to go out to get some food before the snow started, and we didn't get out early enough to get a lot of things done.  I decided to go out as Mario today, as there was no sense in presenting as Marian on a day where I might need to present my legal ID.

Our first place to stop was the local BJ's.  However, the parking lot was too crowded for us to risk spending time there to return an item I bought before Christmas.  (I can return the item as soon as I shovel out my car after the snowstorm ends.)  And then, it was off to Trader Joe's - a place much more crowded than usual, noted by both the numbers of shopping carts in use and by the lines of people waiting on line to pay for the food in their carts.

Next, was a stop at the drug store.  I was supposed to pick up a prescription for a GLP-1 drug.  However, when I saw the price of the drug ($510 for a low dose), I decided NOT to buy it.  I'll discuss this with my doctor when I see him in January.  There is no way that I'm going to spend that much of my after tax money on a drug which may aggravate other problems I have with my body - and I'm referring to my GI Tract.

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When I got home, I checked the prices for GLP-1 drugs on my plan, and they are insane.  Unless the price drops significantly, I will not bother with these drugs,  RQS wanted to suggest a few things, but I knew that having her try to help when I'm not ready for help would make things worse.  Thankfully, she knows how to read me well enough to let me process things if I cut her off.  Our communication style and skills may not be perfect, but we are lucky to be able to air things out before they fester and make things worse.

Lots of stuff is on order - some needed, some just wanted, and some that may not make perfect sense.

This is a lousy picture of me. I finally got the chance to go out tonight as Marian, and decided to try on this Universal Standard "Mystery Box" dress after I got home, while I was still made up to go out.  I'm not so happy with this color, and I am not that happy with the way it drapes on me.  But maybe, it's because I'm tired and looking to get ready for bed.

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Right now, I have a similar dress on order, as well as a body short.  I think that the above dress will look OK in a darker, stronger color, and may be good for wearing in the summer.  As for the body short, it doesn't make sense unless I find a local yoga class for beginners that I can go to which accepts gender non-conforming people in the class.  (And I have been looking!)  In addition to this, I have a couple of bracelets from Lane Bryant on order that I know I'll be wearing often.

It is not only clothing and jewelry that I have on order.  I also have my daily medications coming from the mail order pharmacy.  However, my doctor just changed my prescriptions, and some of what I'll be receiving will simply get stored away until a possible future need.  It's hard to believe how expensive some medicines can be.  On my last visit, my doctor suggested that I try a heavily advertised drug to see how it works.  Since I couldn't get refreshed information on which drugs to stop taking when taking the new drug, I skipped it and stayed on the old regimen.  This is just as well.  My doctor found out that the new drug costs $500/month and is not covered by my insurance.  I'm glad that I didn't place an order for this drug!

My doctor runs a small private practice.  He has avoided joining the big chains, and has figured out how to stay relevant in an age of large medical chains.  He also hates "Big Pharma", but  was unable to engage him in a long enough conversation to find out what his issues with the medical establishment are.  Given that he is a conservative person a few years older than I am, I have no intention of presenting myself to him as Marian.  I'll start presenting myself as female to my next doctor when that day comes.

I figure that I still need to find a small gift for RQS within the next week.  What I get may not make much sense.  But I must make sure that she feels good when she gets it. 

A visit to the Doctor - A Quick Post

 

Last month, my doctor gave me a physical and had some blood work done on me.  Seeing some of the results of the blood work gave me some concern - I didn't have a bad cholesterol level before, but I did now.  So it was with some trepidation that I visited my doctor today.

I arrived at 10:00, but the doctor lost track of my appointment. He was seeing another patient in waiting room #1, so I was placed in waiting room #2.  At that point, the fun began - they wondered where I was, as if I never made it to my appointment.  It wasn't until I came out to the receptionist's desk at 10:20 that they realized I was there, and that my appointment would finally start.

First up was someone new in the office.  If I recall correctly, this woman was a newly minted doctor doing an externship.  (She could be looking at the practice, trying to figure out whether it would be a good one to buy out, or buy into.  But that's another story.)  She did the first run on my vitals before my internist came in to double check his assistant's work.  Instead of reviewing the results of my lab work as planned, I came out with the expectation that a new medication can help with some of the medical issues I have.  If this drug is affordable and covered by my plan - Great.  If not, I'll ask him for alternatives to this drug.

Within an hour after arriving, I was out the door.  And just as well.  I simply wanted to get into Marian mode for the rest of the day....

 

PS: If the doctor is looking at selling his practice and this woman buys it, I will talk about my TG nature with her....

Quickie - A rude awakening

 

One of the headaches I'm dealing with is switching insurance from an Obamacare plan to Medicare (with all its pieces).  And I'm seeing that there are more levels to this onion than I knew....

In the past, all I'd need to do to change insurance companies is to show my new card to each service provider.  Now, I have to make sure that all the secondary components (Parts B, D and G) are paid for and are in sync.  This may be the easy part of things.  Getting all providers to switch over the card (issues with Part D, drug coverage) is something else.  I've just fount that Caremark has no ability for me to make this change online.  Therefore, I might have to open up a new Caremark account (with new email address) AND get my doctor to write new prescriptions for everything I need.  AARGH!

Why did I have a rude awakening?

In the past, I paid $50 for a 3 month supply of test strips.  Without coverage (remember, Caremark does not have my new plan on file yet), the same strips cost $350.  AARGH!  No wonder why poor people go without.  Our system is designed to rip off people by default.

As you can guess, I now support single payer health care.  This will never happen here, but it is a nice dream....