The Erytherma Nodosum was still causing spots on my hands. I wasn't taking the medicine for it anymore. They were small, non-painful spots. I'm disappointed that I have to start taking Lipitor for cholesterol. It's not that high, but my triglycerides are. I've been so concerned about my chances of having a stroke, a blood clot, or a heart attack that I'm surprised at my reaction to having to take the Lipitor. This will help control those three scary health concerns! Still waiting to hear Dr. Densmore's decision about my taking Jakafi.
Jakafi is used for people who can't tolerate Hydroxyurea. I'm hoping I can tolerate Jakafi.
I had a long conversation with a nurse at IncyteCares about my new medication, Jakafi. It's been approved for me to receive it at no cost. The original cost for a one-month supply of 60 pills is a whopping $16,000+ ! Who can pay that much?
My nurse, Becky, will contact me at the beginning of each month to see if I'm still tolerating it, and she will put in the order with the speciality pharmacy, Theracom, who will then call me the week before to arrange a day for delivery by FedEx. A signature is required. This is not a medication I can get at the local pharmacy.
April 20
An appointment with Dr. Houck. The blood work showed that not much has changed since I started taking Jakafi. Platelets are down a little, but not enough. I made sure that I told him how I felt about having to travel all the way to Charlottesville to see Dr. Densmore. I asked him why couldn't we have had a phone conversation, or why couldn't HE and Dr. Densmore have had a conference by phone. He gave me lots of reasons that made no sense. After about 15 minutes of this, I said, again, that I thought the trip was a huge waste of my time. Finally, Dr. Houck said that Dr. Densmore spent time going over my records (an hour? There are very few records!) and, in order for him to be able to bill the insurance company for his time, he had to have me physically in his office! I laughed and said, "You've finally answered my question!"
May 19, 2018
September 24, 2012
September 23, 2012
In the afternoon, we traveled to Luray to get on Skyline Drive, heading south to Big Meadows. That's where we spent the first night of our honeymoon, 45 years ago. After a 20-mile drive, we arrived at the Lodge. Everything looked different. I wish I had brought the receipt from 1967 with me! It had the room number on it but I couldn't remember what it was.
We had a delicious meal at the Lodge. I ordered the turkey dinner and Jimmy got the Delmonico steak. It was served hot and delicious! We had told our server, Rita, that this was our 45th anniversary and that we had stayed our first night there. She congratulated us and thought that was wonderful.
When it came time for dessert, we ordered one Blackberry Ice Cream Pie to share. When she brought it to the table, she called out : "We have two love-birds here! It's their 45th anniversary and they spent their honeymoon here!" Everyone in the dining room clapped and shouted "Happy Anniversary" to us. She told us the dessert was on the house. Nice!
On our way home, we stopped several times to see the sun setting over the mountains. The sky was streaked with golds, reds, lavenders and pinks. It was a nice ending to a nice day.
We had a delicious meal at the Lodge. I ordered the turkey dinner and Jimmy got the Delmonico steak. It was served hot and delicious! We had told our server, Rita, that this was our 45th anniversary and that we had stayed our first night there. She congratulated us and thought that was wonderful.
When it came time for dessert, we ordered one Blackberry Ice Cream Pie to share. When she brought it to the table, she called out : "We have two love-birds here! It's their 45th anniversary and they spent their honeymoon here!" Everyone in the dining room clapped and shouted "Happy Anniversary" to us. She told us the dessert was on the house. Nice!
On our way home, we stopped several times to see the sun setting over the mountains. The sky was streaked with golds, reds, lavenders and pinks. It was a nice ending to a nice day.
September 11, 2012
Forty-five Years
Our 45th wedding anniversary will be on the 23rd of this month. I sat here thinking about it and was lost in "remembering" land for awhile.
There were so many things we were planning on doing and so many places we were planning on visiting. We were planning on building a beautiful house on top of the hill and we still have the building plans for it, rolled up and in a tube in the closet. Never happened. We were going to trade our car in every three years and get a new one. That certainly never happened. We were going to have three or four children. Almost never happened - we had two, not three or four.
At one time, we were planning on moving out west. Not all the way to California, but west of here. Then we started thinking of our parents and it never happened. It wasn't "apron strings" keeping us here, it was "heart strings".
Our parents are gone. We could go now, if we wanted to, but that hasn't crossed our minds in years. Our children left home about 20 years ago, but there are three wonderful grandchildren to keep us busy. I gladly tied the "heart strings" tightly to myself.
I don't regret anything we've done or haven't done. What didn't happen was replaced with what happened. Life happened. We raised our daughter and son, saw them through school, through college and into their jobs. We saw them have their own families and we feel blessed to have seen it.
Sometimes I can't remember what exactly we were dreaming about. House? Cars? Vacations? Babies? Now that we're "grown", I'm just glad that we are healthy and can pay our bills. Our children are able to earn their living, they're healthy and happy and their children are healthy and happy.
We've been with each other longer than we were with our parents. I remember how it was both exciting and scary to be on our own. Little by little we gained confidence and now it's all old hat. Life is still happening, though, and I'm all for it.
There were so many things we were planning on doing and so many places we were planning on visiting. We were planning on building a beautiful house on top of the hill and we still have the building plans for it, rolled up and in a tube in the closet. Never happened. We were going to trade our car in every three years and get a new one. That certainly never happened. We were going to have three or four children. Almost never happened - we had two, not three or four.
At one time, we were planning on moving out west. Not all the way to California, but west of here. Then we started thinking of our parents and it never happened. It wasn't "apron strings" keeping us here, it was "heart strings".
Our parents are gone. We could go now, if we wanted to, but that hasn't crossed our minds in years. Our children left home about 20 years ago, but there are three wonderful grandchildren to keep us busy. I gladly tied the "heart strings" tightly to myself.
I don't regret anything we've done or haven't done. What didn't happen was replaced with what happened. Life happened. We raised our daughter and son, saw them through school, through college and into their jobs. We saw them have their own families and we feel blessed to have seen it.
Sometimes I can't remember what exactly we were dreaming about. House? Cars? Vacations? Babies? Now that we're "grown", I'm just glad that we are healthy and can pay our bills. Our children are able to earn their living, they're healthy and happy and their children are healthy and happy.
We've been with each other longer than we were with our parents. I remember how it was both exciting and scary to be on our own. Little by little we gained confidence and now it's all old hat. Life is still happening, though, and I'm all for it.
August 28, 2012
Are You There?
I wonder if anyone reads these posts. If you do, please scroll down, click on the "Post a Comment" button and leave me a message.
August 27, 2012
My Scanner Is Dying
Justin and Nicole gave us a new computer and we were so thankful that he set everything up instead of having us try to do it. I'm sure we would never have gotten it done correctly.
The other day I tried to scan something in and "oops!" - the scanner doesn't work. I got a message saying there was no scanner. Well, excuuuuuse me! It's sitting right here on the desk! I realized that the computer doesn't have eyes, so I fumbled around with the different lists of things that are installed in the computer. I saw my printer/scanner listed so I clicked on it and there it was! Stupid computer!
HA! I grabbed a sheet of paper that had printing on it and put it in the scanner and turned it on. Well, looky there! It's scannin......oops! I got another message: "Device driver software was not successfully installed". What?!? Ok, I know what to do. I'll just reinstalled the danged thing! I opened my little cd case, pulled out the Dell Driver cd and popped it into the drawer. This will fix it!
After several hours of it NOT fixing it, I finally emailed Justin.
I talked to him on the phone today and he suggested that I uninstall the printer/scanner and try it again. Yeah! That'll fix it!
You know where this is going, don't you? Not only did it not fix it, now the printer/scanner will only turn on. The scanner button doesn't do anything.
The other day I tried to scan something in and "oops!" - the scanner doesn't work. I got a message saying there was no scanner. Well, excuuuuuse me! It's sitting right here on the desk! I realized that the computer doesn't have eyes, so I fumbled around with the different lists of things that are installed in the computer. I saw my printer/scanner listed so I clicked on it and there it was! Stupid computer!
HA! I grabbed a sheet of paper that had printing on it and put it in the scanner and turned it on. Well, looky there! It's scannin......oops! I got another message: "Device driver software was not successfully installed". What?!? Ok, I know what to do. I'll just reinstalled the danged thing! I opened my little cd case, pulled out the Dell Driver cd and popped it into the drawer. This will fix it!
After several hours of it NOT fixing it, I finally emailed Justin.
I talked to him on the phone today and he suggested that I uninstall the printer/scanner and try it again. Yeah! That'll fix it!
You know where this is going, don't you? Not only did it not fix it, now the printer/scanner will only turn on. The scanner button doesn't do anything.
May 7, 2012
A Weekend With Alex, Part 1
This past weekend, I had another wonderful opportunity to spend lots of one-on-one time with grandson, Alex. His parents were taking him to 6 Flags in Maryland on Saturday and then to Baltimore to see Thomas the Tank Engine at the railroad museum.
Saturday was warm and balmy and we arrived at 6 Flags just before it opened. The first place we hit was, of course, the little kids' area. There was a carousel, a car track, a little roller coaster, some other "little" rides and (for want of a better word) a ball house. He wasn't all that enthused with the carousel. I think the reason was that his horse didn't go up and down. It just sat there and went around and around. Ho hum! The little roller coaster scared him to death and he said he never wanted to do that again! Oops.
The next ride on our list was the car track. Justin and Alex sat in front and Justin drove (little legs don't quite reach the "gas" pedal). He enjoyed it very much but really, really, really wanted to drive. Over across the way, there were several "little" rides. I say that because when Justin tried to get on the ride with Alex, the operator wouldn't let him. In broken English, she managed to tell him that he, Justin, was too tall. What? She pointed out the signs. We walked over to look, and sure enough Justin was too tall. The sign said that the ride was for little kids and adults who were under 54" tall. By my recollections, 54" is 4 feet, 6 inches. Hmmmm...I don't know any adults who are that short! I'm short, but I'm a foot taller! Blah!
The ball house was just that. A building with thousands and thousands of spongy balls inside. The kids can throw them, step on them, stuff them into big cannons and shoot them out at other kids (and adults). Pressure builds up in the cannons and other devises and when you push a button they all come out at warp speed. The noise level is way up there and so is the humidity and heat. I was glad to get out. Alex, tho, was so happy!
Soon, Brian and Deb met up with us and we were off to the adult sections of the park. Alex wasn't so happy with that, but what's a kid to do? Our first ride was the "train" that took people around the outside edges of the park. That seemed to be a good idea.....until we reached the back side of the park and the train died. We had to get out and walk back to the park. Not fun.
After that, we found ourselves at a water ride where six or so of your best buds sit in a circular blow-up tube and are pulled up extremely high and then let loose to go twirling back down in rapid gushes of water. In our case, we went twirling back down with a screaming, crying toddler. I felt so sorry for him, but we had to stick it out until we reached the bottom. He didn't want to do that again, either.
After lunch, the other four adults wanted to ride some roller coasters. I, on the other hand, (wanting to live a little longer) decided I'd stay with Alex in the old Thomas the Tank Engine area. It's not Thomas anymore, but it's still train themed. I think that was the best part of 6 Flags for Alex and me. There were several trains to choose from, a helicopter ride, a bus ride, a climbing gym with slides and even a "wet" area with spurts of water coming up from little holes in the floor. Most of the children were soaking wet from that. I asked Alex to please not stand over one. He was very cooperative. He did bend over one to see why the water wasn't coming up and...well, he got a face full of water for his efforts.
He and I rode the trains many, many times. After he discovered the helicopters, we rode them many, many times. Deb came back and Alex talked her into being one of his trains and they went chugging around the track that was printed on the play floor. When Justin, Nicole, Brian returned, we all got to take turns riding in the helicopter. I think Alex could have stayed there forever.
Alex was crushed when he found out that his dad and grandpa were going to get to drive the go-carts in a race! Oh, that child was beside himself with grief that he was too short! I will say, tho, that he gave his all when it came to cheering on his dad to beat his grandpa! "Yea, Daddy. You're going to be the winner. Hey, Pepa! You're going to be the loser!" He was very proud of his dad.
Saturday was warm and balmy and we arrived at 6 Flags just before it opened. The first place we hit was, of course, the little kids' area. There was a carousel, a car track, a little roller coaster, some other "little" rides and (for want of a better word) a ball house. He wasn't all that enthused with the carousel. I think the reason was that his horse didn't go up and down. It just sat there and went around and around. Ho hum! The little roller coaster scared him to death and he said he never wanted to do that again! Oops.
The next ride on our list was the car track. Justin and Alex sat in front and Justin drove (little legs don't quite reach the "gas" pedal). He enjoyed it very much but really, really, really wanted to drive. Over across the way, there were several "little" rides. I say that because when Justin tried to get on the ride with Alex, the operator wouldn't let him. In broken English, she managed to tell him that he, Justin, was too tall. What? She pointed out the signs. We walked over to look, and sure enough Justin was too tall. The sign said that the ride was for little kids and adults who were under 54" tall. By my recollections, 54" is 4 feet, 6 inches. Hmmmm...I don't know any adults who are that short! I'm short, but I'm a foot taller! Blah!
The ball house was just that. A building with thousands and thousands of spongy balls inside. The kids can throw them, step on them, stuff them into big cannons and shoot them out at other kids (and adults). Pressure builds up in the cannons and other devises and when you push a button they all come out at warp speed. The noise level is way up there and so is the humidity and heat. I was glad to get out. Alex, tho, was so happy!
Soon, Brian and Deb met up with us and we were off to the adult sections of the park. Alex wasn't so happy with that, but what's a kid to do? Our first ride was the "train" that took people around the outside edges of the park. That seemed to be a good idea.....until we reached the back side of the park and the train died. We had to get out and walk back to the park. Not fun.
After that, we found ourselves at a water ride where six or so of your best buds sit in a circular blow-up tube and are pulled up extremely high and then let loose to go twirling back down in rapid gushes of water. In our case, we went twirling back down with a screaming, crying toddler. I felt so sorry for him, but we had to stick it out until we reached the bottom. He didn't want to do that again, either.
After lunch, the other four adults wanted to ride some roller coasters. I, on the other hand, (wanting to live a little longer) decided I'd stay with Alex in the old Thomas the Tank Engine area. It's not Thomas anymore, but it's still train themed. I think that was the best part of 6 Flags for Alex and me. There were several trains to choose from, a helicopter ride, a bus ride, a climbing gym with slides and even a "wet" area with spurts of water coming up from little holes in the floor. Most of the children were soaking wet from that. I asked Alex to please not stand over one. He was very cooperative. He did bend over one to see why the water wasn't coming up and...well, he got a face full of water for his efforts.
He and I rode the trains many, many times. After he discovered the helicopters, we rode them many, many times. Deb came back and Alex talked her into being one of his trains and they went chugging around the track that was printed on the play floor. When Justin, Nicole, Brian returned, we all got to take turns riding in the helicopter. I think Alex could have stayed there forever.
Alex was crushed when he found out that his dad and grandpa were going to get to drive the go-carts in a race! Oh, that child was beside himself with grief that he was too short! I will say, tho, that he gave his all when it came to cheering on his dad to beat his grandpa! "Yea, Daddy. You're going to be the winner. Hey, Pepa! You're going to be the loser!" He was very proud of his dad.
March 26, 2012
That Guy On Facebook
I was just on Facebook and saw where a guy (obviously a Republican) was blasting the President's health care plan. He made a statement: ...."to (sic) damn lazy to work and buy their own insurance"...
That just made my blood boil! Jimmy and I had insurance with Anthem for a long time. Every year (in the month of March, his birthday), we got a premium increase. After several years of this, I finally wrote to them and asked why. The reply I got stated that everyone got an increase every year, even if they had not put in a claim. Well, how fair is that? The letter also stated that we were in the "older" group and would probably be using our insurance more often. Oh, really? Why not wait until we DO use it more often.
I found out from this wonderful letter that the population is divided into four groups. The first is young singles with no children. They have the lowest premiums. The next group is the young marrieds with children. Their premiums are a little higher because of the sick/well children's visits to the doctor. The third group is our group. We're done with kids, but are still working and are now starting to see our bodies fall apart (my words, not theirs). We pay the highest premiums because we can - we're still working, you see. The last group are the seniors who are on medicare and are just using the insurance company for the other 20% of their medical costs. Their premiums are lower.
Well, we may be still working (I'm not, because I can't find a job!), but the economy is sick and needs an insurance policy. Our income is less than it was because he's now working 90 minutes away. He took a pay cut to get that job. So, less pay. With the long commute and gas prices rising to over $3.50 per, he's paying more for gas. The fuel oil bill went up along with the gas prices. The Electric company raised our rates. Our grocery bill is higher but I'm buying less (and we're getting less when we buy something but the price of that something went up). Car insurance. Basic cable and internet.
With less pay and our daily expenses costing more, we have less disposable income. We haven't had medical insurance for several years. We've had small medical issues and have paid out of pocket for them. We just hold our breath and pray we don't get hurt (like his broken arm).
I resent that guy's statement that we're too lazy to work and pay for our insurance. I'd like to smack....well, never mind.
That just made my blood boil! Jimmy and I had insurance with Anthem for a long time. Every year (in the month of March, his birthday), we got a premium increase. After several years of this, I finally wrote to them and asked why. The reply I got stated that everyone got an increase every year, even if they had not put in a claim. Well, how fair is that? The letter also stated that we were in the "older" group and would probably be using our insurance more often. Oh, really? Why not wait until we DO use it more often.
I found out from this wonderful letter that the population is divided into four groups. The first is young singles with no children. They have the lowest premiums. The next group is the young marrieds with children. Their premiums are a little higher because of the sick/well children's visits to the doctor. The third group is our group. We're done with kids, but are still working and are now starting to see our bodies fall apart (my words, not theirs). We pay the highest premiums because we can - we're still working, you see. The last group are the seniors who are on medicare and are just using the insurance company for the other 20% of their medical costs. Their premiums are lower.
Well, we may be still working (I'm not, because I can't find a job!), but the economy is sick and needs an insurance policy. Our income is less than it was because he's now working 90 minutes away. He took a pay cut to get that job. So, less pay. With the long commute and gas prices rising to over $3.50 per, he's paying more for gas. The fuel oil bill went up along with the gas prices. The Electric company raised our rates. Our grocery bill is higher but I'm buying less (and we're getting less when we buy something but the price of that something went up). Car insurance. Basic cable and internet.
With less pay and our daily expenses costing more, we have less disposable income. We haven't had medical insurance for several years. We've had small medical issues and have paid out of pocket for them. We just hold our breath and pray we don't get hurt (like his broken arm).
I resent that guy's statement that we're too lazy to work and pay for our insurance. I'd like to smack....well, never mind.
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