this will put a smile on you face!!

Insurance companies wouldn’t inflate prices

Ha, that is funny isn’t it?

To summarize last nights Dr. appt.

1. My nurse took my pulse THREE times…and reminded me that I have gained 25 lbs in 7 months…she agrees with me that is a lot! **plus**

2. The first thing my Doc did was take my pulse and then asked “do you feel like your heart is beating kinda fast?” My response? “uhm. I do now.” (it was at 86)

3. After talking to me for 15 minutes, which in Dr. time is FOREVER…she decided to up my current prescription of “happy beans” for the next 30 days and see how I feel…

4. She called to the lab which was closing in like 2 minutes to wait for my arrival for blood work…She I don’t think that made them happy because it felt like the end of the needle was going to go through my elbow she jabbed it in so damn hard…5 vials and a soaked bandaid later I was told to wait till monday for the results. What did they test for you ask? Well the only words I recall are “Liver and kidney functions” and “diabetes”…I think my heartrate was around 100 at that point!

5. The pharmacy notifies me that it will be $50 for prescription…Ok, “no thanks” and I left…less drugs.

6. This morning I called a crabby nurse (wonder if she had blood drawn yesterday too?) telling her that I would like a generic equivelant…well they finally switched meds to one that had a generic…which would only be $10/month…MUCH BETTER…But if I go through walgreens prescription plan, it would only be $60/year….so let me ask you this…Walgreens can sell 3 months for $10 and STILL MAKE MONEY…why does the insurance charge so much more, ONTOP of the premiums we pay?

Yes I know the answers, but I really don’t agree.

it is bad enough that we have to worry about keeping a job, food on our table, roof over our heads, providing for our children…let alone having to worry about not being able to afford a (perhaps) life altering medication…god help us.

I won’t hear the Doc say “try harder”

cause damn it I am trying!

In two hours I will be sitting in the dr’s office rattling off all of the things that I am concerned about.

fatigue – check

depression- check

moodiness- check

inappropriate weight gain/difficulty losing ; check-check

itching – check

drinking 128 oz of water and only having to take a potty break once! – CHECK

More than likely they will tell me…”try harder. increase your exercise. come back in 6 weeks and yeah, bring us another copay!”

I am already feeling frustrated thinking about the outcome and I haven’t even left yet! I don’t want them to find something wrong, but at the same time…serisouly…I am looking at a list of 19  yes, 19 different symptoms that I HAVE…that I HAVE HAD for about the last year….all pointing to a thryoid issue.

NO, I am not blaming my “huskiness” on a disease…but if the shoe fits…do I have ALL the symptoms nope…thank god…but I am going to ask her about them…she may look at me, shake her head and think “another self-diagnosing-freak” but isn’t that why god gave us computers?

I think of “Y” from joyunexpected.com she had felt for a long time that there had to be something more to her weight gain than what they were telling her at the dr’s…she was right…after research and insisting on tests, they found her illness…she battles with it daily, and it seems she has come to terms with her weight, because it is out of her control…she is now trying to lose weight and is making it more of a personal challenge, rather than a necesiity to live a happy life.

You go Y!

it would read 145.

175 people…that is what the scale tells me.

I am not one to say “you never tell your age or weight” because you know what, you are what you are. I could lie and tell people that I am only 145, but would they believe me? no. Just like if I told them I was 15 they would laugh.

Am I happy at 175…no…but I am doing what I can to fix it…Even my friend who I “gym it out with” tells me that until she saw the scale, she thought that there was no way in hell that I weighed 175…Mike bless his heart doesn’t believe me either….I carry the weight in my face and belly…my legs and arms are decent…but the damn belly!

So perhaps one day it will read 145…perhaps.

We would remember to be thankful everyday.

“What are  you thankful for?” 

I am thankful for the “unanswered prayers” if you will…every thing that has happened in my life good and bad has brought me down the path that I am today. A path that I walk hand in hand with an amazing husband, watching our children grow, learn and love the life around them.

I am thankful for the ability to have a roof over our heads while we sleep, food on our table when we are hungry and the love we have as a familiy to make memories that we will cherish forever.

I am also thankful for the not-so-good-days…the ones where I feel helpless, saddened, uncertainty of everyday obstacles, because it is these days that bring me back to reality and help me realize that there are people out there who have it much much worse than I, and at that given moment I am able to put things in perspective…embrace my life and be thankful that it is mine.

What are you thankful for?

We would know how to handle his boredom

Last week we received Joeys report card. Straight A’s! He has received highest marks in all of his subjects..even his excellerated Math and Reading classes! We are so very proud of him…onlything is that he received “checks” in three areas of needing improvement:

1. Use Time wisely

2. Follow directions

3. Pays attention

Neither of us were very suprised at these marks since they are issues that we have been working on since Kindergarten!

It has begun to concern me the past month or so when we would ask Joey if he likes so school..without hesitation his reply is always “No.” and when he is asked why he states “It’s boring.” Ofcourse we ask why it is such a bore and he says that they “only get one recess”. And that is about all he has to say.

Homework used to be a battle. Two simple pages in the math book turned into an hour of “I don’t get this” and “I am just not that smart of a kid mom”. Basically he didn’t want to put forth effort and wanted us to give him answers. One day I came home, turned on the kitchen timer and said “I betchya can’t get all 30 problems done in 5 minutes.” and it was on! Within 2 minutes he had them all complete and correct and Yeah! Homework was done!! After praise and recognition he was very proud of himself and I no longer need that timer!!

At the conference last night I explained to his (fantastic!) teacher what we notice at home..how he will get in the car and repeat her lessons to us, from that day…everything from what a predicate of a sentence is (I needed a refresher!) to information on the leather back turtle… and she reported her findings in the classroom..He is the only second grader she knows that is able to describe the presidential canditates different polices on health care! He is able to log onto the computer and access Google and actually use it correctly! He is at the top of his class, a very compassionate child when it comes to helping others and engrossing himself in a topic of interest… We came to the conclusion that he is VERY smart…His weeks start off well in class but by Wednesday he is not paying attention etc…because he is BORED! He has grasped concepts earlier in week and by wednesday he simply hears “blah blah blah”… She is going to start providing him with more “indepth” concepts in each class and see if that helps…He is in second grade, he should LOVE school!

For me it is a tricky situation…I feel that he is only 7 and I don’t want to overload him with work that is maybe too much for him, but at the same time if he isn’t happy with his current cirriculum and he can excell with something more challenging, then I want that for him as well.

 I Know we aren’t the first parents to experience this situation…any suggestions?