I'm back!!

Ever want to say, "Whoa, Willy!!"?

Me, too.

Life hasn't been kind to me lately, and it's not the MS I'm talking about. It's my new chair, and it's Medicare, and it's sales people who don't really give a damn, and it's Drs. who let orders sit on their desks because they are too busy to catch up on their paperwork which I imagine is tremendous.

Well, MS did play its part in the story, I guess, because without it I wouldn't need the chair in he first place, now would I? But it now plays just a bit part in this drama. I have needed this chair for quite some time, at least according to my E-mail records, going back well over a year now, in 2012 when I was trying to get ahead of the game and getting a mobility assessment from a PT and being taken too literally from my doctor  (my PCP) who took me off that year-long list after I expressed my upset wait for one. [talk about a run-on sentence!] Really? And now she treats me just like any other patient who she hasn't screwed over. I know, I know. Since I never complained loudly to her she likely never knew what she's done to me. it's all lost in the past.

So, I finally got my chair on, let me look, here it is - June 20. Between planning our Family Summer BBQ July 13 at Spanaway Lake Park, and because my Urologist said that I needed to have a Renal Ultrasound since I've had my SP catheter for ten years (really, that long?), and that bladder cancers can develop with them over time (you might think that would have been a part of initial disclosure,  but it wasn't mentioned), and because I had a small relapse on July 16th after which I could no longer stand - because of all these things I didn't notice the pain in my feet. I may have attributed it to the edema I was experiencing due to the warm Summer weather, and which finally got me to go to Saturday clinic, where the doctor looked at my feet (but not the bottoms of them, and prescribed Lasix (you know, the water pills that old people take).

Now, on September 26 I went to Family Medicine for my feet again which were still all puffy (and this I don't even remember) and she referred me to the Wound Clinic and Dr. Sadeeq.

It was she who got the ball rolling on my behalf. I now have in home PT and OT twice a week and wound care at least once or twice a week. So I have been a busy girl. I even have a woman coming in once a week to give me a sponge bath and wash my hair because I can't take a shower. Oh, I can't wait until these wounds heal and the bandages come off because I am dying to take a shower. Such a simple thing to long for.

Oh, and the OT has recommended that I get a fully electric hospital bed[yay!], and a Roho seat for this chair [Yay again] (that is why the sales person steered me away from one; Medicare doesn't pay for them unless it's a "medical necessity"), and a Hoyer lift which I am not sure how it is going to work in my tiny house.

Well now it is a necessity in spades, and look at what they have to pay for. Medicare is so short sighted sometimes. I know that some people screw the system, but it's has to be a really small percentage of folks; why make it so hard on all of us who really need it? Especially me, who has been on medical Medicare since I was 27.

In the meanwhile I have been  total night owl, so all these caregivers know to schedule afternoon appts. with me. I have started to read J.A. Jance mysteries which DH has downloaded onto my computer -- everything she has ever written up to now. It's quite a tome from a woman whose first husband didn't believe in her. I prefer the Beaumont mysteries and I recommend, as she did to me, that you start at the beginning with Until Proven Guilty. I had never read a mystery book and I was hooked with the very first paragraph, but then I have a pretty quirky sense of humor. They aren't gruesome, really, but you do have to describe the scene of the crime, don't you?

He has also downloaded some library thing that has well over a thousand books in it, many of them classics. Lots of series, and many bestsellers; trouble is, I can't use my hands when I am reading. I prefer talking books,  and I have to relearn how to download them. This time I will write down the directions when he shows me how. That way I can read and do Zentangle at the same time.

I need to recline again, so until next time,

Good Night, TTYL and Be well,

I guess I should elborate  - The wound clinic is to treat the pressure sores that popped up on the soles of my feet, caused partially by my edema and partially  to lack of movement being unable to stand. I also have two or three small ones on my bottom, which is why I will be ecstatic when my hospital bed arrives. Hope that clarifies things some.

Oh, this chair is a Quantum Edge 6 (in Cherry Red). Frankly, as it is, it is made very cheaply, they used these little 4" pieces of off label velcro to hold the seat back cushion on. When the guy came out to fix it he arrived with a 15" strip of real Velcro, cut it into three pieces and  stuck the back on and voila, it is working like a charm.Using real Velcro in the beginning would have saved him a service call, one which he had no time to address any other issue I had. And to think that I chose to go to Numotion on the recommendation of the PT at St. Joe's.  Home health OT checked and my warranty will still be valid if I go to another  provider for my new cushion and footrests.