Your Argument

A new t-shirt I picked up online. I am a little tired of being timid about my Army service. It is, in a large part. because of the way we were treated when we came home. This T-shirt expresses my feelings.

Contractors (and other vendors) Beware

Back on June 3rd, we got hit with a nasty storm.  My house suffered hail damage.  This is August 12, almost 2 1/2 months since the storm.  I am STILL getting unsolicited phone calls for roof and house repairs!

First - They are too late.  Do they really think I would wait for over 2 months to look for and contact a contractor?  I was on the phone and web sites withing a couple days.  I know contractors get busy at these times, so the best thing is to get estimates, Do the rest of your homework, and select a contractor.  Then you are on his list for repairs.  Nothing will happen until this happens.

Second - I do NOT work with contractors that solicit work over the phone.  I will work with local, known contractors that I contact and ask for estimates.  There are too many traveling, fly-by-night contractors out there.

Finally, my phone number is on the National Do No Call list.  Anther reason your phone calls will not generate any business for me.  All you do is make me angry and make sure I would never do business with you.

Rainy Day Errands

Sure glad the roof repairs were completed Tuesday.  Yesterday was a wet, rainy day - most all of the day.  Good day to do errands in town.

Started with a hair cut (I was getting a bit shaggy).  Then stop by the paint store to tal about paint colors for house exterior.  The clerk there said they could match just about any color I wanted.

Next stop is the hospital.  Short visit with the Cardiac Rehab folks.  Wanted to show them the selected photos for the 2015 calendar.  Then it was to CVS photo department for passport photos.  My passport had expired last year.  Need it renewed or a new passport card if i want to drive through Canada during my trip to Portland, Maine.

While the photos were getting processed, stopped by the bike shop to visit.  Talked to Zach - asked him to proof my calendar - I had e-mails it to the shop account. Bacl the CVS to pick up my photos.

DAMN! Passport photos are a rip-off!  I could have taken them myself, but hearing all the hassles with size of the face in the photo, size of the photo, not to mention of printing and cutting to size, I decided to have CVS do them. 

Now, anywhere, you can get 4x6" prints for under 20 cents.  Passport photos are 2"x2".  But, they cost almost $12 each!  And we need to get 2 (government paperwork is confusing - some places in the web site I see 2 photos are needed, other places need 1).  Anyway, $24+ (including tax) is a bit high.

Pain in the Back

No idea what caused it, but a couple weeks ago I was suffering a pain in my back.  Just a nagging ache, nothing debilitating. Had a pre-scheduled doctor appointment so asked him about my pain.  After all, it was in the left kidney area where I had a kidney cancer tumor "frozen".

With the cancer history, from his office I went to the UNMC Cancer Treatment area.  Ended up with a CT scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis,  This did not show any reason for my problem.

Next I was scheduled for a bone scan - make sure the cancers had not spread to my bones.  The scan just showed the arthritis I knew about in my left knee.  Final test was x-rays of the spine.  That just showed expected degeneration for age.

There is a little spot in one of my lungs that is starting to grew, so we will treat that with radiation.  My medical oncologist offered me to meet with the clinic's pain doctor. I was all up to me, but I figured it couldn't hurt.  I was able to meet her while that day at the clinic.

The resident (introduced to me as the doctor's assistant) did some examination and we talked about the complaint.  Told him I would not have worried so much about it except for the history of kidney cancer in that area.  I also said I would prefer not taking more pills, as I am already taking enough.  The pain was not even enough for me to take a Tylenol.

The doctor came in.  Did a cursory exam.  She said she had prescribed some pain medication (nonnarcotic).  Before I could talk about the cost, was it really needed, she had her office already called in the prescriptions to my pharmacy of record.

I was not please.  She told me my blood work was showing some possible problems by the kidneys with heavy medication, so was prescribing a lower dose plan.  She also mention about a cream (guessing a topical medication) but by then, she had lost me.  I do NOT like doctor's ASSUME I will take all of their advice without discussion.  After all, if the meds are expensive, I have dropped my MediCare part D because I could work with the VA for those.

My local pharmacy has called me that they have my prescriptions.  Just not sure that I will be picking them up.  Planning to call my medical oncologist's nurse to discuss this further.

UPDATE:  Looked at the discharge sheet from the clinic.  The pain doctor is prescribing "gabapentin" 300mg (aka Neurontin).  Googled the med and not sure I want to take this stuff.  For sure not until I talk more with my other medical contacts.

Soft Trails

Once again, we need to caution trail users regarding damage to dirt and crushed stone trails.  We have had a long Winter and folks are chomping at the bit to get out and ride/walk the trails.  The problem is that you are managing the trails when they are soft (until the frost is out of the ground). 

The dirt (natural surface - singletrack) trails are being torn up at some places.  If you leave mud in your shoes or bike tires, it is too soft.  If you are leaving marks in the trail surface, its too soft.

Look at this photo (upper photo) of the Wabash Trace taken in the Spring of 2012.  All of these ruts were caused by riding the soft trail surface.  Once these ruts are cut in, it takes a long time and several passes with a grader/scraper.  Mean time, you have to deal with the rough trail until it smooths out. 

Here's a photo (lower photo) taken by one of our THOR members, the damage done to the trail at Tranquility Park.  This photo was taken very recently.

PLEASE - Don't ride soft/muddy trails!

Issues with VA

I knew it would be too good to be true. Changed some of my drug prescriptions to the VA. Three of mine are expensive - help the finances to pay VA co-pay of $8 a month per prescription. 

Got ding letter yesterday that my account is past due. I had sent payment for one fill a month or more ago. Another payment for second fill (most of which I did not need but they sent anyway) in the last week. None is showing on my credit card. I was told it take 6-10 weeks for the VA to post money sent by credit card! Meanwhile - sending ding letters.

I also found I have additional VA clinic charges -- guess they were charging for clinic visits. No body told me about that - nor did they say that it is not covered on my Medicare or MediGap! I have not received any bill from the VA for the clinic visits.  At this time I was getting frustrated and having problems concentrating on the phone.  The rep that answered the VA photo call, said something like it could be several months for the visits to be billed.  Hell, the only reason I need to visit the clinic is they require regular visits to be able to dispense my medications.

What a bunch of BS. And, at this time, I can't change my Medicare coverage as its past the enrollment period.