OOPS...I think I did a Mary Moon...

 As in putting up a video not intended for posting...Sorry and I hope Mary that you are not offended by my title. A busy day at the flat doing chores and paying bills got capped off by a miserable experience courtesy of the customer service and other departments at my insurer. I had a basic inquiry regarding a letter I should receive regarding their plan. They are removing the plan from their offerings and must, by federal statute. communicate this to their insureds in time for open enrollment for Medicare that begins October 15 and runs through December 7.

Because they are ending the plan entirely and I am not simply leaving at my choosing, the letter constitutes legal proof of this that permits me to re-join original Medicare and receive medi gap and drug plan sans any questions about my health. The letter also gives me an extended enrollment period. Both are extremely important given the current state of so-called advantage plans.

They are increasingly being rejected by hospitals, clinics, doctors and other medical providers for payment delays, frequent denials of care and delayed authorizations for care among other things. Some advantage plans are also stripping out providers. This practice reduces the number of in network providers available to their enrollees. Another practice involves advantage plans hiring third parties to handle claims and often deny needed services entirely. All of this impacts a patient, especially those needing continuity of care.

Mine is not the only plan disappearing from the Medicare market at this point, either. Given the state of things, no improvement is on the horizon.

Apart from getting this resolved for the coming year, Mercy and I are okay. She is getting a pedicure at lunch time and I am enjoying a fun series by British author SJ Bennett.

Have a good day...

How are you?

 That question comes from reader Denise in VA after thanking me for the Medicare video I posted.

Mercy and I are okay. I am researching provider options prior to open enrollment as my plan is being axed by Humana. Daily chores, bills and the care of Mercy seem to consume the majority of my days. I got the tax stuff to my CPA in advance of the October deadline. That is a load off my mind once the return is submitted.

It is slightly cooler here today at 81 degrees and breezy, a nice change from stifling humidity and temperatures above ninety. Fall is finally upon us, I hope.

Please spare kind thoughts for the friend that sometimes brings blooms and has seen me through cancer diagnosis, surgery and recuperation. Her husband is having a revision knee replacement surgery Monday as the first ended up a botched job. He has another surgeon so fingers crossed this attempt is successful.

I still tire easily and require naps. Today though I'll also cook dinner and catch on laundry, both things that seem to take longer than anticipated to do. Mercy gets a package of catnip mice and her kibble delivered today, both in anticipation of her upcoming birthday and "gotcha "days thereafter.

Have a good day!

For those on Medicare...

 

Hard at it...

 That describes my day of document hunting, phone calls and emailing my CPA...There is more to come and papers to be mailed to her. The return is due on 15 October and from the looks of things, next year should be even more fun...

Aside from this I enjoyed an Amy's Organic burrito for a mid morning meal accompanied by green beans and hot honey carrots. I plan on making another set of meals on Sunday for the days ahead. The box the burritos came in contained a third party certification as a non-ultra-processed food, something I've not seen before. I plan to learn more about this out of curiosity. My trust in food producers is virtually gone at this point, as is any trust in government.

I enjoyed your comments on my breakfast from the previous post. I do try to be diligent about eating as healthily as possible. and on a budget. The latter is becoming more difficult by the day it seems.

Mercy has become a napping champ. She also has a penchant for finding unusual play things. I chanced on her boxing the strings on the sleeping mask I got in the hospital after my surgery...she's still a baby at heart.

I hope to spend some time outside later today, there is nothing like blast furnace heat and humidity to cheer a sarcastic body up!

Happy Friday...

Are you busy?

 I am...trying to locate papers, receipts, online payments, and more...I am usually much more organized and this is a reflection of my preoccupation during the run up to cancer surgery...stuff is not together in one place so I must search online, in desks and in a carved chest in my front room.

Last night I prepared a couple of quick meals to accompany some leftovers and have only to re-heat and enjoy. A friend asked about breakfast and after my report of sour dough and butter, fermented chickpea salad, a hard boiled egg and beets, a brief silence ensued. Then she asked, "Do you usually eat like that?

Yes. The probiotics, protein and other things are good for me and breakfast is a good time to use up leftovers from other meals.

Hungry yet? Food prices are enough to almost to kill the appetite...

Enjoy your day...it might take me til Tuesday to be done!

Monday, Monday

 My taxes remain undone...the laundry, phone calls, bill paying and some tidying took more time than allotted as did food prep, cooking and clearing up. I steamed vegetables, baked fish, made mash and gravy and some vegetarian Chunk, a product designed to taste a bit beefy. Both the mushroom gravy and mash improved it greatly. I'm glad I do not rely on such products for the bulk of my diet.

All of that aside, Miss Mercy and I have attempted more beauty rest. She's a champ. I, it appears, am an abject failure courtesy of my aging bladder. Nature calls me from sleep and after a point, I simply cannot go back to the land of nod no matter that I am bleary-eyed and horribly annoyed. It rained here this afternoon, usually an ideal time for a nap. Unfortunately the lightening and thunder rattled the glass and my cat...She is presently collapsed on the bed in a heap of blankets apparently exhausted from fright.

Happy evening...

Happy Tuesday...

 It is Sept. 8 and not my birthday though I appreciated the salutations. Born 4 August, and at a mere 4 pounds 3 ounces in 1959, my lungs not yet matured, my prospects for a future uncertain, I spent a little over a month in the hospital and got released at five pounds after doctors determined I could feed and breathe satisfactorily. My mother divorced at the end of Sept, and by Nov. she and I had travelled to Florida to meet relatives before going on to the then Panama Canal Zone. She had been raised there, her siblings born there and both her parents employed there.

I've blogged a bit about this over the years but  the discoveries made researching my family that led me to the exact date I came home. As indicated in my previous post, I am grateful that my maternal grandparents stepped up.

Happy Tuesday...

Today...

 Mercy and I are catching up on our beauty rest. Thanks to those of you for commenting on my previous posts regarding the late Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem. Since Blogger does not simply permit the removal of videos from posts, those posts have been removed entirely.

September is upon us and it still feels like a blast furnace outside. Tuesday, September 8 marks the day I came home from the NICU as a preemie. I celebrate the date quietly and raise a cup to my mother, a then-terrified twenty year old, and her parents. They took us in and provided stability so she could re-build her life and obtain the education she had so carelessly tossed aside for a bad marriage.

Aside from this, I plan on getting my tax items together and getting them filed, finally, doing a bit of food prep for the days ahead and tackling the laundry. 

Hardly exciting, but necessary.

Happy Monday...

Pondering...

 In memory of Joanne and all of the loving, brave fighters...

Goodnight...

It feels like this...

 The Daily  Cartoon courtesy of Ellis Rosen

Mercy and I...

 Have lost our favorite pet sitter to the demands of a degree in microbiology and a busy family life. I have another from the cat hospital coming next month and have high hopes based on remarks from Mercy's vet. I miss L but hope she is happy and successful regarding her future plans. This is going to be yet another adjustment for a cat that does not like strangers, hides and is suspicious and anxious about any change.

As for me, I am coping and dreaming of salad and fresh veg and fruit amid increasing recalls and rising cases of cyclospora. 

Happy Friday...

A post from 2011

 

Dream girl: Moments In An Afternoon

The whoosh of rubber against the hospital floor was uncharacteristically the only sound in the corridor as the woman propelled forward, her gloved hands resting lightly over battered rims, slowing her descent down the deserted hallway. Hitting the carpeted surface of the lobby entrance provided an automatic break. She stopped just long to roll neck and shoulders, adjusting her grip for the more powerful pushes needed to get to the waiting bank of lifts.

Rumbling, and a series of clicks announced a lifts' arrival, its opening releasing a woman with an infant on her hip, another with a gangly teen following behind and a man of indeterminate age, clutching two large envelopes in one hand and the top of a cane in the other. No-one said anything as the woman rolled into the newly-emptied gaping maw beyond the lift doors, turning herself around to face the row of buttons within and pressing the one which would get her quickly to the floor below.

Shooting through the hospital's automatic doors, the woman felt a slight rush of air as the mid afternoon heat hit her face. Brilliant blue sky and a slight breeze greeted her exit, just before her eyes fell upon the image of a bird. Woven wool, black strands accented its wings and beak, causing the woman to recall similar images from her Central American childhood. Looking up, she caught the profile of a young girl. Lithe and long limbed, dark hair held in a pony tail, the girl turned, and smiling, said, "My grandmother got this for me on one of her trips."

A slight conversation ensued before the girl, perhaps twelve or thirteen, introduced herself and proper greetings were exchanged.

Regarding this girl silently for a moment, the woman flashed back to a memory of herself as a preteen. All legs and arms and awkward reserve, she too had been tentatively curious about many of the adults she encountered. It did not startle her when this girl ventured beyond polite bounds and asked why she used a wheelchair. Carefully choosing her words and abbreviating the answer, the woman stopped, surprised by an enthusiastic high five against her hand. This was followed by a hasty, "goodbye, Miss," as the girl spotted her mother, and disappeared inside their car

Remembering...

Today

The solitary practice of making tea by the cup…

A prelude to our late morning phone calls

Started when your girls were in diapers and down for naps

You always began with a joke or a funny story

Our natter quickly turning to the world beyond our doors or

Some book neither of us could put down

Your treks into the desert, telescope in hand

Looking for the perfect night’s sky, filled notebooks

Now in a box, closeted in a city apartment, far from the landscape you adored

I sip my tea alone, the only sound

Your voice in my head...

This commemorates the passing of my friend Pauline  ten years ago. Knowing someone from college to  death is a rare privilege, and I think of her and the family that included me often.

Many thanks for the birthday salutations and my apologies for spotty blogging.

Another Birthday...

 

A favorite post from, 2009

Do you remember where you were in August 1973???

I was in Paris...My parents decided to show me all of the well-known hallmarks of the city one day, then the Louvre the day after. This was followed by a trip to Versailles and its Palace.

The whirlwind of these events remains in memory to this day. I was a gawky thirteen-year-old who spent much of my time craning my neck at paintings, in awe of towers, arches, speeding cars and growing crowds. While the Hall of Mirrors fascinated, it also repelled, as I could not imagine myself beyond what I thought of as the "ugly duckling phase" or walking in such a place routinely.

The day of my fourteenth birthday found Paris clear, bright and beckoning. I did not learn until then that London awaited yet another trio of tourists. Travel to England was so uneventful that I dozed until our arrival at the flat we stayed in that week.

The flat was near a park, and across the street, a Wimpy's, England's answer to the now ubiquitous McDoos. Never a fan of fast food, I nonetheless made Wimpy's acquaintance when my parents announced one evening that they had plans and I was to remain in with the telly. My dad said my dinner was in a bag in the kitchen, piping hot. I have no idea whether the Wimpy's creations of today bear any resemblance to those, but I do remember them as fresh and better than any burger I had thereafter. My choice to become a vegetarian in adulthood is no reflection upon Wimpy's.

It wasn't long until telly and burgers were supplanted for all time by a trip to the Piccadilly Theatre, featuring a production of Gypsy, with Angela Lansbury. It was my first opportunity to view professional actors on stage and I remained transfixed the entire time.

Sadly, the cherished playbill from that occasion, along with other mementos, have been lost. You can find out more about the theatre here: http://www.london-theatreland.co.uk/theatres/piccadilly-theatre/history.php.

The postcard you may have seen during a previous post. While this entry is of no historic importance to anyone but me, I wish every kid could have the chance to experience the London stage and the sights of Paris.

Have a happy day...

Nothing abnormal and 67 today...

 Hoping all of you have a great day. Though it is rainy and humid here, I plan to enjoy some cards and treats and a visit from a friend later this morning. My recent exam revealed nothing abnormal...An excellent gift, I think.

No routine here...yet

 I am struggling to once again establish a consistent daily routine. Since the surgery that has gone completely and I think having some semblance of structure beyond basic chores once I manage to arise might be helpful. The girl is pooping slightly more often, so there is that. The bills are paid and the place is tidied and I've managed to eat more than one meal, arrange a possible ride to my surveillance appointment on the 31rst. My vote by mail ballot is done and I baked an organic sour dough not from scratch and gave it to a friend because she has done so much for me and is at present taking care of her husband. I am so tired I can barely sit up.

Time for bed...Have a good night.

Mercy and I: An update

 Mercy' s litter box issues continue. It is an anxiety problem, from my reading. She is taking Miralax and Metamucil. They assist her in going so she does not become constipated and unable to go...Things are improving bit by little bit.

As for me, I am doing more daily but still tire easily. The outbreak of cyclospora has changed my eating, a pain for someone primarily existing on salads and fruits. A recent broadcast featured a physician telling us, "if you cannot peel it or cook it, do not eat it." I heard this all the time living and travelling abroad.

I've had a bout of food poisoning from pre-cooked, vacuum packed clams from Vietnam courtesy of Amazon Fresh. I'll not be ordering those again.

Happy Saturday. My first ninety day check for cancer recurrence is July 31.

Living Ground Hog Day

 Mercy came home on Tue after pooping her heart out unbidden at her vet. There has not been a repeat performance here since her return and she is on Miralax per instructions to see if things improve. Should they not. the next step is anti-anxiety medication. I have never seen this behavioral problem in a cat and I feel for her. This is a re-living of the last days all over again. Same non-poop, different day, so to speak.

Your good thoughts are appreciated.

Mercy tonight

 

Mercy back at vet

 After three days of no poop or urination and reduced appetite, Miss Mercy is once again at her vet. At arrival, she produced a soft pile of mush...so much for the constipation theory. I hope the vets can sort this out. 

Time for a nap here...