Wednesday, August 05, 2009

One week.

That's a new record for breaks in blogging, I think. I don't remember going this long between posts since I started this thing (though some of my blog posts were filler and sucked; this I do not deny). Then again, I've never done a major move since I started this blog, so there we go.

The past week has been spent organizing, hauling boxes, unpacking, repacking, you name it. We've still got a ways to go, but things are looking a lot better. Mostly I know where stuff is, now. I finally managed to get some spinning done (I've been knitting in the car, so that's looking good), and I may be setting up a makeshift dye studio this week. I owe someone a custom order and it's been so long I think I'm going to give it to her for free.

Otherwise, I'm trying to get life back to almost where it was. Mostly quiet, with a little more 'out'. Trips to the Y to exercise, and more social stuff now that the husbeast is not a snarling ursine. But mostly, I wanna nap, and do fiber stuff. It makes my nervous system happy.

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(This one's for Alwen, fellow perogi maker.)

While our house was being packed, we chatted a good bit with some of the movers, especially the guy in charge of the crew. He said something about the south not agreeing with us and how we were moving back north, and while the husbeast and I consider ourselves more Hawaiian than Yankee these days, we didn't argue.

So the guy is packing my kitchen, and he's going through the utensils, and he pulls out a big circular cutter about three inches across, and he grins at me and says "see, you been making biscuits, the south has gotten to you." I sort of shuffled my feet and finally said "actually, I use that to make perogis." He stared for a minute, started laughing, and told me I needed to get north.

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I include the following two bits for those interested. If you're not, don't worry about it. I will not be giving a test later.

For those of you who were keeping up with the raving (mostly on Twitter) about my insurance company and my medication, they officially, absolutely, without argument, will NOT be paying for the anti-inflammatory I was trying to get. (It's a buck a pill and I'd need five or six a day, or I'd just buy the damn things myself.) It took a bleeding week and a clerk from my doctor's office to harass the answer out of them, but they finally said the policy is, Toradol is for acute injuries only and doesn't work on chronic conditions, therefore I did not need to take it every day. Therefore they would not pay for it every day. (Funny, I've got a chronic condition and it was working...)

I would follow up on this, but Humana, the company who does military insurance for the southern states, sucks so badly that they've been fired. Or rather, the government has not renewed their contract. (Article here.) Their stock price is shaky, they're talking about laying off employees, and I figured any complaint I filed at this point would be totally redundant and a waste of my time. So, fuck 'em. I'm out of their zone of hell now, anyway. Fuckers.

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The steroid shots in my neck seem to have worked, yet not. Apparently they aren't going to be a miracle cure. (Isn't that always the way?) I don't think they're doing much for actual pain control, but they're fixing a whole lot of weird nerve damage stuff. My hands are the same temperature for the first time in years (usually there's a three or four degree difference because my nervous system is trying to shut down blood to my 'injured' hand); this probably means less osteoporosis, lower blood pressure, and fewer skin and nail problems. I can stand having air blow on my hand; it still bothers me, but it's not a shrieking situation like it was. Best of all, it has made my nerves go away. For a long time I've actually felt the nerves under my skin, like wires (I could trace them with a pen and totally freak the specialists), and even with all the heavy lifting and overdoing, that's gone away.

Bottom line? If I ever find another doctor as good as Doctor N, I'll have it done again as needed. But I'm still not gonna let just anyone stick needles in my spine (probably a good rule of thumb for all of us).

While on my way out of town in Charleston, I stopped at Doctor N's office to pick up my treatment notes, so any new guy would be able to start from where we left off. Well, the clerks were having trouble finding the notes, and I told them to look up exactly what nerve the doc had dosed the day before, and I'd just get it tattooed on my shoulder blade, maybe with an arrow and some flowers. The clerks (one of whom had a tongue stud) both laughed, and I heard Doctor N burst out laughing; he was around the corner out of sight, but heard the tattoo comment.

I got the notes, so I guess no tattoo. At least not on my shoulder blade, about spinal nerves.

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Today's excitement? Perhaps another blog post, about taxonomy, or books, or art vs. craft, or Ohio history. Play some Civ, pet my cat, read, knit, spin. Make my kid clean the living room. Unpack another box.

Hope y'all have a good Wednesday.

15 comments:

Louiz said...

Ohio history sounds good, if we get a vote.

Glad you're getting stuff sorted, and that your steroid shot made it better ish.

I keep meaning to look up perogi because they're not that common here and I always forget what they are (other than food).

Louiz said...

oh, like cornish pasties, but with bready stuff instead of pastry?

Jeanne said...

Oh, homemade perogis - Yum! I have a friend from the Ukraine who calls them varenyky and they are so wonderful. Her niece goes to Chicago and brings back the unboiled ones from the Ukranian restaurants for those times when there's not the time to make them from scratch.

Glad to read a post from you, that things are starting to settle

Emily said...

Very relieved to hear from you! I had imagined you prostrate with migraines, pain, etc. Unpacking seems lovely by comparison.

You never blog sucky posts!

And I'm not starting on insurance companies. My position is: when I find a doctor I can work with, I'll move heaven & earth to stay with him.

Unknown said...

Perogi . . . fried . . . with onions.

Since you are now in Ohio and substantially closer, you might want to check on this wonderful place . . . Cleveland Clinic's Pain Management Center http://my.clevelandclinic.org/anesthesia/pain_management/default.aspx

My younger brother has chronic pain everywhere and has been diagnosed by a variety of quacks who just don't understand pain. While the guys at the Clinic could not specifically say that this that or the other thing caused his chronic pain, they did say and fought with his insurance company over their diagnosis that his "disease" is "chronic pain." They also said that they will work with him to relieve him of as much pain as possible. For the first time in years, he was able to get on a plane and, in a quirky fun thing, he and his wife flew to Hawaii to visit their daughter. Until he went to the Clinic, he would not have been able to tolerate that kind of trip. He loves them. His wife loves them.

Amy Lane said...

You're BACK you're BACK! Yay! *snork* Pirogis... yup... way to prove you were moving on to greener pastures...

Melodye said...

Welcome back! Have you read the editorial in the new Vogue Knitting?

Donna Lee said...

Lots of my clients (with the serious mental illnesses) have Humana. In their infinite wisdom, they don't cover many of the psychotropics that people need (and actually work). They make me sick.

I've made pierogies. Pk wanted buckwheat ones and we couldn't find them in the store. you can't beat them for taste.

Deana said...

so I guess now isn't exactly the time to ask... when's a trip to Pittsburgh coming up? But erm... since its out there.... how far are you from here, anyways?!
Its good to see you back to blogging... I've been stalking the blog everyday for a week now. I'm not on AOL very much anymore, cause it sucks. :)

Anyhow, TTYS. Text me, yeah?

(todays word: Paryna. It's a combination of pardon and you. Pittsburghese, I assume. ITS A SIGN.)

Galad said...

You are back! You have no idea how much you were missed. I always look forward to pulling up your blog and seeing what tangent you've gone off on this time :-)

Sounds like you are beginning to get settled and getting a little relief from the steroid shot. I'm hoping you are enjoying the lack of huge ugly bugs in Ohio.

historicstitcher said...

Hey - you ought to see if you can get away for a weekend, and come to the Michigan Sheep and Wool with us...all the cool kids are going!

birdmommy said...

Glad you're back!
Ha! And here I thought I was the only one the world who was considering a "medical" tattoo. I want to get one on my wrist (by the cephalic vein) that says "22 French" and a little butterfly (get it?). I can't tell you how many times that poor sucker has been blown because some nurse refuses to believe that that is the largest gauge that vein will take.
But I can't see that sort of thing ddoing wonders for my career advancement... oh, well - I guess I'll just have to keep telling surly IV nurses "I told you so..."

Alwen said...

Mmmm, pierogis!

It's about cool enough to day to make them, although they say it's going to heat up this weekend.

ellen in indy said...

if the husbeast's future job offers a flexible spending account for health, i suggest try it. that way, you pay for copays and non-covered meds (and over-the-counter stuff like bandaids for the goober) with pre-tax dollars.

if you do this, and maybe even if you don't, i also suggest getting your doc to prescribe what works and ordering it from canada.

my dd is on medicaid, which won't pay for name-brand med even though the generic is flawed enough to cause panic attacks. so we buy from canada. it's MUCH cheaper (90 days for about $180 vs. 30 days for $165-220 in the states, and the price includes delivery. the downside is that it can't be taken off one's taxes . . . but that only helps if your out-of-pocket costs top 7% of your adjusted gross income anyway.

if you want contact info for the company, pm me on ravelry (same name but no spaces).

snicker of the day -- my i.d. word is bratab. hmmm. is that something on an undergarment or is it a belly muscle on a rotten kid?

Liz said...

Hi!

Bummer on the painkillers; so sorry. I'm in a country which doesn't rely on insurers to say what will be paid for, but it still won't pay for drugs which help some people but won't help everyone with a particular condition...

Perogi recipe would be good...

Oh, please do taxonomy next because I can join in; are you thinking Linnean-type or something more contemporary (any structured classification)?