Let’s Talk About Anything Else: the USA thread 2024
Nick Tamen
Shipmate
in All Saints
Well, 2024 is here, and I’m guessing that from time to time, the Americans on the Ship will need to talk about anything but elections.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipbMwr-a9Eg
With people like these in the US, there is hope...and, although the video is from quite a few years ago, the band is still going strong!
ETA: I've closed the 2023 USA thread.
So did we. 58 years later I still have the glasses from our Hurricane Cocktail.
(My mother-in-law was born in New Orleans, but the family soon moved, and she grew up in Miami, which at 93 she still pronounces “my-AM-uh.”)
The city directly south of me was over two feet shy of the rain they should have gotten. This is a huge blessing!
Is anyone here affected by the major snow storms in the Midwest? @Lamb Chopped, have they been a problem in St. Louis? Or where Little Lamb is in school?
LL, though... well, he's in Minnesota, and has snow more or less always (it seems!), and is moving dorm rooms RIGHT NOW in zero degree temps. Because if he waits for a day or two longer, it'll be in the negatives. Poor kid.
Now inside, it's lovely. For some odd reason I’ve got tropical hibiscus and plumeria both in bloom inside the house over my desk (the plants are eight feet tall in pots brought in for the winter). Wasn’t expecting to get a plumeria blossom dropping on my keyboard, but so it is...
Last week, my two sons and two friends drove cars from Wisconsin, though Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Washington just has the Artic Air came roaring down through Canada (in the plain states, it is said the only thing stopping Artic weather is a fence at the Canadian border, and it is down). They actually made it to Tacoma a day earlier than they had planned. It was bitter cold in Montana. Some snow, but the roads were relatively clear.
In our state of Queensland there have been flash floods and some people's homes have flooded (again) after them only just having returned home from previous floods. So much wild weather in many places
They are excellent!
I've been going to the same heart doc for at least ten or fifteen years. Benign conditions!! Nothing to worry about! However, the new, younger cardiologist put me on new meds about six months ago and I went to the follow-up a week or so ago.
At the follow-up, the tech asked me if I had a pharmacy, which is surprising since they've been sending my scripts to the same pharmacy all these years. So, she inputted the info: P at V.
Cardiologist wanted to double my dose, so said he'd send the script to my pharmacy. After not hearing anything for a week, I went in and asked the pharmacist if the new script had come in. He said it hadn't. He looked at his computer with a puzzled look on his face and asked if I go to a different P. I said no. He called the doctor's office, with more puzzled looks, then dove deeper into computer land and came back to talk to me. The prescription was sent to V, but in China!!
Who in their right mind sends a local prescription to China??? I assume this person still gets a paycheck!!
While on the phone she mentioned I had a refill available for F. I think in this case it is because of a change order sent in by another physician reducing the need for F. Just got a message reminding me it is available. Aaargh.
On top of this, my primary physician and I agreed to increase my dosage of M, I did not hear from the pharmacy it had been filled. I went in to ask about it. They only had the original order and filled that one. This particular medication is a tier II medicine, meaning I have a higher copay for it. I told them I did not want the lower dosage, to put it back on the shelf. I waited another week. Still no response. I went back in. Turns out the physician's assistant had sent in a revised order,, but it sounded as if I would have to take the lower dose twice a week. The way the increased order was written seemed confusing to the on-staff pharmacist. I tried to explain what it meant to me, but he would not listen. After all, who am I but a layman--and a drug seeking person at that. Note: M is not a narcotic. While it was still the lower dosage, I ended up picking it up.
But, now the new dosage is in and ready. I have to pick it up by tomorrow. And pay the double co pay again this month.
You may ask why I am staying with this pharmacy. Well, up until these past three months, they have been consistent, and they are competing against three large chain pharmacies in town. I want to remain loyal to them as long as possible.
On top of this, yesterday, I went in for a cortisone epidural for a chronic back ache which started twenty years ago. I have been able to control it with this epidural about once every three months. But now my spine is so scared, it is no longer possible to complete the procedure. The clinic I go to is a teaching clinic, so I often have a resident in training do the injection. The resident assigned to me tried three times to place injection in the target area but could not complete it, so the attending physician took over and completed it through another path. At the end of the procedure, the attending physician recommended I look at different procedure for further treatment. But he did not know any surgeon in the area who is trained for it. Sounds like I may have to go to Seattle or other metropolitian area for follow on work.
Needless to say, I could hardly walk after the procedure. It is a type of procedure where many people ask for sedation. I have usually do it with a local. I wish I had done the sedation yesterday, though. I am glad Mrs Gramps came with me. I know I could not have driven the 76 miles home.
Oh, the horrors of modern medicine.
On the good side, medicine M is for type two diabetes. My blood sugar is now 99, down from the usual 150, and I have dropped 25 lbs. Target is at least another 45 lbs.
As they say, there is a cloud for every silver lining,
And well done on the blood sugar and weight, @Gramps49!
I guess it is March being March. If it comes in like a Lion, hopefully it will go out like a lamb. Of course. if it is 70 in Michigan now, March will go out like a lion.
Meanwhile I just registered and paid for my 40th college reunion weekend, which is shortly after I retire. Very expensive (the weekend is two formal dinners, two brunches, rental of academic garb for the procession, and two nights in a dorm room) but I guess it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing.