RQS had to go home, and I needed to rest a little

 

This morning, I let RQS sleep a little late.  She'd be rushing around for part of the week, and I figured that her last morning here should be restful.

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Around 10 am, the weekday alarms sounded, and RQS finally got up after a long sleep.  As for me, I was up earlier, and knew I'd need to rest sometime during the day.

Unlike most Mondays, where I'd get her to the station by noon, I got her to the station in mid-afternoon.  Things I have planned to take care of today got put off, such as scheduling an appointment for physical therapy, touching base with medicare in regard to the GLP-1 Bridge program, and doing another load of laundry.  (I could have done the laundry, but I was too tired to bother with it.)

It was nice to get out in a summery dress again, as I know that within a couple of weeks that I'll be wearing my autumn wardrobe.  There are new dresses I want to buy, but I have to limit myself - every dress I buy means that another goes into a donation bag for a charity.

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When I was home for the night, I rested for a while and watched the Vidiot box.  It keeps me occupied without having to think much.  Eventually, I made something to eat.  Nothing memorable, and that's a compliment to the dish.  I just needed calories, and I got them in the quickest way possible.

RO contacted me to say that our lunch was off for tomorrow.  I didn't mind this, but I did mind not getting a response from her afterward.  Could something be wrong?  I'll have to try and touch base with her tomorrow to be sure.  At least, this gives me time to take care of some of the things I didn't take care of today. 

Another visit to my doctor (a short post)

 

This is going to be a short post, as I am frustrated for understandable reasons.  I went to my doctor today, and got some more hectoring about my weight.  

Normally, I will fluctuate within a range of two or three pounds at any given time.  Today, I was at the upper range of my weight when I went to see him.  He asked me about the GLP-1 drugs, and then said that his office doesn't have the time to track things down.  Yet, later on, chatting to one of his staffers, the staffer said that she had received information that I had been approved for the bridge program, and that I am not alone in people from his office that she has been working on paperwork for these people.  

In short, it looks like my doctor is starting to check out of much effort needed for his practice.  (I could be very wrong on this.)

It's frustrating to find out that a foot doctor, someone who casually saw me less than a week ago, gave me a script for physical therapy and a recommendation to see an orthopedist, and then to find out that my GP didn't even ask me about the visit to the other doctor.  

So, the big question is:  When do I make my move to another GP?  

Taking care of business ...slowly

 

I'll be glad when I get back from my trip, as I can move forward with taking care of my legs.  Today, the thigh and calf muscles were "sort of" behaving, but my knees bothered me when I stood up.  Pain killers will help a little, but I bet that there will be more things wrong with me that the doctor has to diagnose.

- - - - - -

I didn't really start moving today until noon.  This time, my knees were bothering me.  So, I added some pain killers to my morning regimen of pills.  But, I couldn't go out until after 2, as I had someone from a financial firm I had to talk to.

In mid afternoon, a lady from the financial firm called, and we proceeded to start signing me up as a client.  Seems like the registration process stops when no beneficiary Social Security number is entered.  Although I got the information from RQS (she's going to be my beneficiary), their system wouldn't allow me to continue - there's a bug in the environment.  So, I'll have to make a phone call tomorrow.

Next, it was off to the drug store to get some pain killers.  While there, I got new passport photos for the foreign birth registry AND a digital copy of the photo for use when renewing my US passport.  Although the injectors (whatever you call the needles) were ready for me to pick up, the GLP-1 drug wasn't ready.  I had to give the drug store my Medicare ID again.  AARGH!   Let's hope everything is taken care of before I leave on my trip.

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With the possible exception of tomorrow, this will be the longest stretch of time I'll be spending as Mario for a long while.  I can't wait to get back home from my trip, so that I can schedule more doctor appointments, and in-between, spend some time as Marian again. 

 

Calling the doctor (another short post)

 

Today, I felt overwhelmed by circumstance.  I had to call the doctor regarding my X-Rays, and other stuff also came up as well.

But first....

It took me a while to get moving, and my legs bothered me when I did.  I fear my trip to RQS's place with my luggage, as well as the trip to the airport and on the plane.  So I waited a while for my doctor to respond to my emails, and then called his office around 11 am.    They didn't have much information for me at that time, but they wanted to do a tele-health call at 2 pm.

Clearing my schedule for 2 pm, I still had to wait for over a half hour for the doctor's office to call me.  It took a while for them to straighten out an issue with the statin my doctor was trying to get me to take.  Now, it will be added to my daily regimen for when I come back from my trip.  Next, the doc told me that when I get back, we'll need to schedule an MRI for my lower back.  Finally, I'm on track for the GLP-1 drug.  My problem is that if I start paperwork now, that I won't be around to pick up my doses until I return.  So, I'm not sure of what I'll do with paperwork for the Medicare Bridge Program.

During the day, I got more calls and emails, with the net result that there was a prescription waiting for me at CVS.  I'll take care of that tomorrow, as I don't want to go out of the house on a dreary day.  With that being said, I was able (without much trying) to crick my lower back as if I were cracking my knuckles.  Since I haven't been able to do that in a while, I consider this a temporary good sign for me, as I didn't feel too bad getting out of bed after a nap.

Keep your fingers crossed for me - I might just be able to enjoy my vacation after all. 

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A visit to the doctor

 

A cruise ship's doctor - one of the few people I never want to meet professionally.  Both RQS and I have done so on separate cruises, and it's no fun.  In my case, I was lucky - I was prescribed an antibiotic to deal with my issue.  In RQS's case, she hobbled around for weeks after someone on the ship fell and injured her ankle.

Recently, I visited my doctor's office to discuss the problems I've been having with my leg, causing any attempt to walk to be painful.  I arrived before noon, and it took over 45 minutes for him to see me - he was backed up with other elderly patients.  When he finally got to see me, I discussed the problem I was having and told him how painful it was for me to walk this past weekend.  He instructed me to walk around, hit my legs with a medical hammer, tested my sensitivity to light touch in each leg, and examined my feet.  As a result of all of this, he wants me to see a foot doctor and get some x-rays.  (I have flat feet, and he wants to check out an issue I have with my spine.  Too bad that he wouldn't understand the joke which references American slang:With these flat feet, I should have been a policeman walking a beat.)

While in his office, he asked me about the GLP-1 process.  I was a little annoyed at him, as I said that the onus was on him to start the process of qualifying me for the Medicare "Bridge" program, not me.  He has to contact the pharmacy, get the Medicare form, fill it in, and hope that my GLP-1 drugs can be subsidized by the program.  Luckily for me, a couple of his staff were in the room, and they understood what had to be done.  (You can imagine what was running in my mind.  I had told him that HE had to take the next step, and he didn't - for reasons unknown to me.  How dare he hector me about weight loss and GLP-1 drugs, when he doesn't want to do his share of the paperwork needed for affordable drugs.)

Once done with the doctor's office, I went home to rest. Soon, I'll start getting my luggage ready to go to RQS's place, staged for our upcoming trip.

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Later in the evening, I decided to do a light load of laundry - Mario's underwear.  Given how rarely I present as a male these days, I don't know for how long the earliest items of dirty laundry have been sitting in my hamper.  So it's going to be "fun" folding and storing what's been around for a while.

When I returned to my apartment, I found an email ostensibly sent from the daughter of a friend. It looked authentic until I saw the email address of the sender.  I was lucky NOT to go any further into the process of opening invite.  Instead, I sent an email to my friend's daughter, asking her if she sent anything to me.  (I'm also glad that this woman is a distant enough acquaintance to know that the only communication I can expect from her is when her mom dies.)  Hopefully, she can undo any damage a scammer has done to her computer.