Busy weekend

 Our friends arrived, safely, on Thursday, and we took them a dinner of rotisserie chicken, and deli salads.

They had me laughing within minutes.  

Friday, we met at the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and literally spent the entire day there.  The menfolk really enjoyed it.

Yesterday, we met at the First Americans Museum and spent the entire day there.  

It was quite an education.  

You think you have an idea of what the European "settlers" did to the Native peoples who were already here?  Think again.

There was lots of positive stuff, too, though, and they are going to be expanding.  

We decided then and there to become members, in order to support this wonderful, educational, eye opening facility.

Then, last night was a big steak dinner.

We will be staying home today, while our friends go on further adventures.  

We have chores to do, and errands to run, and then they will come here for our last evening together.  I am making a big pot of potato leek soup.

I am feeling a bit tired, but I am sure it will hit me harder when it's time to get up for work tomorrow.

On that note, have a great week!

INCOMING!

 Had my chest CT on Tuesday morning, and scanned through the results on the patient portal.  I didn't see anything alarming, and didn't receive any phone calls telling me not to go to treatment.

The CT appointment took all of about 8 minutes, start to finish, and then we went up to the lab to get my blood draw taken care of...and sat there for a freaking HOUR.... just waiting and waiting and waiting....even though we got there the moment they opened.

Ridiculous.

Treatment on Thursday went just fine, but the steroid reaction lasted through Saturday this time.  I didn't sleep much for two nights....it was bad.

But, at last, I slept last night for almost 11 hours.

Several friends followed through on sending Dave cards for his birthday... he got 15, and someone sent a gift as well!

Now, it's time for him to apply for medicare, and get the ball rolling for his retirement.

This coming week, my dance sisters from back home, and their husbands, are coming to visit!

I had said something, back at Christmas time, about missing my chosen family back home.  

My best friend here had said she didn't want to come to Christmas dinner with us anymore, and the other friend who had said she would come was talking about backing out at the last minute.... so I was feeling unsupported by friends here around the holidays.

The second friend even went so far as to say "FUCK the holidays" to me, knowing how special the holidays are to me. 

SO, my girls from back home started plotting to make a trip, and it's finally just a few days away! 

They arrive Thursday afternoon, and are renting a car, and a house.  

They will get settled into their rental, and pick up some groceries, while we finish our work day on Thursday.

Then we'll get together for the first time that evening.  (One of them has a zoom meeting at 5, so it will be after that.) 

Then, we are taking Friday off to spend a 3 day weekend with them!

We're hoping to go to the new First Americans Museum and Cultural Center, the newest Lebanese restaurant in town, and maybe some other attractions.  

I also want to make dinner for everyone at least once.  I'd love to have people around my table who WANT to be here!!

They leave on Monday, so we will have plenty of opportunity to do stuff with them, both running around, and just hanging out!  

I'm really looking forward to it!

This weekend, so far, has been about cleaning the house, and preparing for a possible winter storm that's due to arrive today.

I made my first deep dish pizza yesterday.... Made the sauce, and the crust, from scratch, and filled it with provolone, mozzarella, pepperoni, sweet Italian sausage, and black olives. It turned out REALLY well!  

The crust was a little bit too thick around the edge of the pan, though.... not sure how to avoid that, though. 

I will be making Jambalaya for Super ball game day today.  We don't watch the game, but I always make Jambalaya on the day.

That being said, I am off to start my day.  Have a great week!

Good progress

 I met my new doctor last week.

She apparently used to work with my former doctor, back after the first time he moved practices.  I never met her, though.

That put my heart at ease a great deal.

She is kind, and she looked me in the eye, and listened to me.  

Then, I met her nurse. 

Her nurse investigated that whole billing thing, where the patient portal had a message that said YOU MUST PAY THIS AMOUNT BEFORE YOUR APPOINTMENT.

Well, apparently, they can't legally require patients to pay up front for services that have not yet been rendered.  

I COULD have gone for all of those scans, and said "please bill my insurance first."

Neither the nurse nor the doctor knew that OU Health has the policy of sending an email ahead of time that takes the patient to a demand for payment.

Now, we ALL know, and we all know that it's just a "scare tactic," as the nurse put it.

We talked about all of the scans that the interim doctor had ordered, and my new doctor did indeed see it my way... every 6 months is sufficient for the routine CT scans, and the new routine of doing a bone scan, so those will happen in April.

In the meantime, though, she ordered a chest CT without contrast for next week.  

She said that Enhertu (the chemo I am on) can cause lung damage, so I will have to start going for a chest CT every TWO months.

Ugh... but if lung damage hasn't happened in a year, it's not likely to.

Also, my heart ultrasound that I had last week came back completely normal again!  Great news!

So, we will continue with the treatment protocol as it is until April.  At that point, we will see what the scans show, and go from there.

I do not need to see the doctor every time I go for treatment, and will only have to make the two appointments (doctor one day, treatment another) every 6 weeks.  

I can go for my blood draw before the treatment any time I want, on a walk in basis.

I feel like now, at last, this stressful transition of my entire care team, and the place that I go, is over.  

We can now settle into a routine, and I can shift my focus back to "center."

In other news, Dave has been released from therapy, after working through the program for PTSD.  His therapist is moving to a different practice, and wanted to finish this cycle of treatment with him before she leaves.

He will probably go back to his previous therapist now.

His 65th birthday is this coming week, and he will be starting to put the wheels in motion, over the coming months, for his retirement.

Today, it's rainy and chilly in OKC, and it's one of my Pagan holidays, so, once again, the weather is making me have to change my plans.  I had hoped to have a fire in my fire pit, but may still do one in the chiminea.

First, though, we are going to Costco, and out for brunch.  Have a good week!

Well, then!

 Remember that full day of CT scans, MRIs, and a bone scan that was supposed to be tomorrow?

Yeah, it isn't. 

OU Health sent me an email -on Friday AFTERNOON- showing a dollar amount, and a button to "click."

The link took me to a page on the My Chart website, stating that I was required to pay an 'estimate' of what my insurance would leave to my responsibility BEFORE arriving for the tests on Monday at 7 am.

Um.  What?

The estimate was for $1768.00

The words were "You Must Pay This Amount before your appointment on Jan. 29th."

They don't do the tests, and submit the claims to insurance, and bill the patient AFTER insurance processes the claims.  They bill the patient FIRST, or they don't do the tests. 

If the insurance processes differently, and the patient needs to be refunded, they do it that way.  It's ridiculous, and creates extra work for the billing department.

Believe me, the billing department has enough work to do.  That's what I do for a living!

Anyway, my health savings account through work only has $1000 in it, and I use it to pay co pays, and any bills I might incur, until it's gone.  

I can't afford to have more than that taken out of my pay.

Because I was unable to pay the money they demanded, (because I had NO idea that was going to be the case, LESS THAN ONE BUSINESS DAY AHEAD OF TIME), I had to cancel the day of scans.

These scans were scheduled OVER SIX WEEKS AGO.  You would think they could have notified me a LITTLE earlier about the cost I would have to bear!

Then, after all of that was sorted out, I got another 'estimate' for the cardiac ultrasound on Tuesday for $800.00

There goes most of my HSA money, but at least I can get that test done, and will see the doctor that afternoon, as planned.

When I meet the new doctor, I will tell her what happened, and ask her to prioritize which tests need to be done first, and to please schedule them one at a time, so that I can figure out how to pay for them.

I will mention to her that there is an assistance program for my chemo, as well, that she has to approve and have the billing department implement.

One of the benefits of being treated in a smaller kind of clinic was that at least I didn't have to pay for services that had not even been done yet.

Yes, the billing at the last clinic was as clusterf&ck, messed up MESS, but at least they would work with me to get things paid. 

Not so with OU!

Anyway. 

I am SOOO relieved that I don't have to go through that day tomorrow. 

I've been dreading it, and filled with anxiety over it, and now it's not happening!!  I can breathe easy until I see the doctor, and find out which test she will order first.

Also, I never got to ask my questions of the interim doctor....so I will ask her.  

Why do we need to do the CT and bone scans SO SOON?  We just did them 3 months ago, and in nine years of treatment, I have no recollection of having to be scanned any more often than every 6 months.

AND, why do we need to do CT AND MRI of the same area?

It should be interesting to see what she says.

Dave and I are off on a day trip today.  I need to get out of the house, and the sun is shining for the first time in a long time.

It's nothing special, just a drive up north to see some different sights.

Have a great week! 

Survived another deep freeze

 It wasn't QUITE as cold last Tuesday morning as they'd said it would be, but I worked from home all week anyway, without any issues.

Tonight, on the other hand, we're supposed to have an ice storm, so that will now keep me from going to the office tomorrow.  

However, it's to be warmer by tomorrow afternoon, and overnight tomorrow, so I will go to the office on Tuesday.

It's going to be almost 60 degrees by the end of the week.  Such a roller coaster.

Had my treatment on Thursday, and got to see Justin again.  You may recall he's the nurse who went to OU when everyone left the first clinic I was sent to, back in 2015.

The first night was rough this time.  I woke up at least 8 times in a cold sweat.  Ugh.

No appointments this week, and then, on the 29th and 30th, I will have all of the scans, and am hoping that we can STOP treatment for a while!!

The weather this past week was really cold, but we didn't have any issues, thankfully.

The only thing that happened was merely a coincidence, and that was that our kitchen garbage disposal sprung a leak, and had to be replaced.  The water on the kitchen floor was NOT from a broken pipe!

We went to the hardware store and bought a new unit, and our handy man came and installed it the next day.

Easy-peasy!

Our outdoor kitty tribe all made it through the deep cold, and have been accounted for.   Scamper is still very sweet with us, and tries to come into the house.

The presence of so many kittens and cats, right at our doorways and windows, has reduced substantially, though, and Annabel seems to be doing a little bit better.

The combination of her increased Prozac dosage, and the removal of two of the kittens, has to be helping.

I am off to get my day going.  There will be a pot of butter bean soup cooking this afternoon!

Dave is going to make sure that the generator is in place, and ready to go, in case the ice gets serious, and we lose power.

Have a good week. 

Winter has come

 Dave contacted another cat rescue on Monday to ask if they'd consider taking Scamper.  

A woman came to the house, while I was at the office, to meet Scamp, but, of course, Scamp ran away.

Dave explained everything to her, and showed her the spay and vaccination paperwork, and she said she'd try to get Scamp into their program.

She agreed that Scamp bit the tech out of one moment of fear, because she couldn't see or smell Dave.

But.... then, the woman texted on Wednesday that they would not be taking the kitten.  She said Scamp was too feral, had been on the street for 6 months, and that the socialization process would require more than their fosters could give.

We call "bullshit," because she never actually met Scamp, or saw her with us...but that was that.

So, it was 1 degree last night, with brutal winds, and Scamp still lives in our back yard.

Sammie goes somewhere else at night.  We have seen her go back through the back yard, and over the fence after eating dinner. This means that Scamp is now alone at night, in the shelter we have for her.

Both of them showed up for breakfast today, though, so they survived the coldest night in 3 years.  Sammie stays here with Scamp during the day. I just wish she stayed with her at night, too.

In OTHER kitten news, STRIPE HAS BEEN ADOPTED! 

Neither she, nor Joe, lasted more than a few days at the adoption center, because they were so perfectly socialized.

We DONE GOOD!!!

I know my last post was titled "Last Kitten Update," but... well... it wasn't.  HAHA!

So, once again, the dangerous cold has come back to Oklahoma, where homes are not insulated, and people don't necessarily own parkas and mukluks.

We went around the living room, and Dave cleaned off the cob webs before I caulked the windows shut.  This is helping a LOT with keeping the brutal wind outside.  

The windows on the front of the house are 1927 original equipment, single pane, and very loose/drafty.

So, they're now sealed shut, but that's okay.... There was only one we could open, in the first place.  

We have a storm door with a screen, so when we can get fresh air into the house, that's usually what we use anyway.

There is a prediction of snow today, but the amount has changed over and over, so we will just wait and see.  It's too cold for me to shovel, though, which kind of bums me out.

I LOVE shoveling snow, and going for walks in that lovely, insulated silence.  Since the high today will be 7F, with windchills in the -25-30F range, there won't be any walking, either.

This is supposed to last until Wednesday, so I told my supervisor that I would be working from home next week.  

Tomorrow is a holiday, which is great... and Tuesday morning, it's supposed to be -7F at the time I would be leaving for work, so.... just... NO!  

Wednesday, Dave needs the car, and Thursday is my next treatment.

SO, I didn't ASK her, I told her, and she was fine with that.

The big news for OKC, other than the killing cold, is that there was a swarm of earthquakes between about 9:30 Friday night through yesterday.

20 in total.  

One of them woke me up at 5:35 on Saturday morning, and I never went back to sleep... This was after we stayed up late on Friday, watching movies.  

Some homes in the area closest to the multiple epicenters (all clustered in one spot) have new foundation and wall cracks, and some of the home security system videos are pretty scary.

There were two quakes that measured 4.4  The rest were between 2 and 3, which is more normal for the fracking quakes that have become pretty common in Oklahoma. 

Anyway, I had planned to make New Mexican pork for a friend, and have her over for dinner last night, so I did my chores, and cooked the wonderful dinner, and she stayed until almost 9.  We had a lovely visit!

I had planned to nap in the afternoon, but when I finally did lie down, I couldn't actually nap, so I gave up.

By the time she headed home, I was too tired to sleep.  It took me 3 or 4 hours to FINALLY fall asleep, and that was because I took a Sominex.

Once I slept, I slept really well, but did not get up until almost 9 this morning.  

Then, I wanted my yummy old fashioned oatmeal, so I made breakfast, and we ate.... and now I am finally here!

I am telling you all of this, because this post might be appearing for you a little bit later than usual, HAHA!

Since it's so cold, we planned ahead, and have nowhere that we have to go today.  The groceries came yesterday, and we're stocked up on cat food.

We WILL be going out to warm up the car periodically, though.  Dave also got the oil changed, the tires rotated, and splash guard replaced (making it much harder for any future kittens to get into the engine of the car), and the BATTERY replaced, all in advance of this deep freeze.

The car started right up yesterday, no problems, but it was 17F yesterday.  Much less cold than today.

My cooking project for today is chili, which is MUCH easier than the somewhat labor intensive Pork Adovada. 

That being said, I might also bake some oatmeal breakfast bars.

I also hope to get out needles and thread and learn some embroidery stitches.  I have been wanting to do this for months, since a dear friend made me a really cool linen dress, and she also sent me a bunch of embroidery floss, needles, and fabric remnants to practice on!  

I went and got some various sizes of hoops, and a "chalk pencil" to draw designs.  

SO, we shall see!  I used to do embroidery as one of my living history demonstrations, but I was never very good at it, and didn't study "real" stitches.  

Thankfully, there are a LOT of You Tube instructional videos available for free!

Wherever you are, if you're in the U.S., you are likely also having unusually cold weather....  I wish you all peace, comfort, safety, and warmth.  

Until next time....

Last kitten update

 We had an appointment for Saturday at 11 to bring Stripe and Scamper to the adoption assessment person.

I mistakenly scheduled the groceries to be delivered at the same time.  When I realized it, and tried to change the time, I discovered that the time CAN'T be changed, once scheduled.  

I can modify anything else about my order, for several hours after I click "submit," just not the delivery time.

On the night before their appointment, I sat outside with them for quite a while. Stripe kept getting into my lap, and Scamper looked like she was thinking about it, but never quite accomplished the feat. 

In the morning, I helped capture the kittens. In fact, I picked Scamper up, for the first time, to put her into the carrier.  She was totally calm about that process.

We had to wrangle them a bit earlier than we wanted to, though (because they were wandering), so they had to sit in the carrier for about 45 minutes. 

Scamper was fine with it, but I was afraid Stripe would hurt herself in her panic to get out, so I sat outside with them.

That kept them calm, and they appeared to be listening to me.

I cried when Dave left with them.

All went well at the assessment, until it was time for Scamper to get her microchip implant.  

This was done outside of Dave's view, and Stripe did just fine, but Scamper, afraid of the tech she had never met before, attacked the tech when she tried to get Scamper out of the carrier.

There was blood on Scamper's chest.... 

SO.... she was rejected from the program at the last moment.  

After months of our diligent care and socializing, one moment of fear has ruined her chance of being adopted.

(you may recall, gentle readers, that this was the ONLY program we could find that was even able to consider taking any of the kittens)

Scamper is back in our yard, with Sammie.  

Annabel will just have to continue to deal with them being out there all the time.  We've requested an increase in her anti anxiety medication.

Our long worked-for hopes to help her anxiety, by removing the stimuli, have been thwarted. 

Our hearts are broken, as we spent a lot of energy on the hope that ALL of the surviving Kittenea Kittens would find forever homes --SOMEWHERE ELSE!  

It was also to be hoped that Sammie, on her own again, would start to spend some of her time elsewhere, as she did before.

Looks like they're both here to stay, and Annabel will continue to be mostly bald, unless the increased dosage starts to help her stop over grooming.

The great news is that Stripe was easily accepted, and we will go visit her today at the adoption center.

Oh, AND Joe was adopted a couple of days ago!!  Success!

There's not much else to report.  We might get some rain, or light snow, this coming week.  The rain we were supposed to get last week never really materialized.

It rained lightly for about an hour.... but the forecast was that it was to rain all day.  We got about a tenth of an inch, instead of the inch and a half that was predicted.

My supervisor is on vacation, so I can look forward to lots of phone calls and distractions to keep the work week interesting.  When people have questions, and she's not there, they turn to me.

Including the director!

I know NO job is secure, but this does help me to feel a bit more at ease.

Next weekend is a three day weekend, so that will be nice.  I'm hoping to make pork adovada for my friend who was raised in New Mexico, and see how she likes my version.

Have a good week!