Friday, November 13, 2020

aggravation and (no) motivation


It was raining this morning, a nice steady rain that we need though it's stopped now. The cat was not convinced that it was raining enough to be inside but I wouldn't let her lay out in the rain so she settled for laying on top of some of my paperwork.


So a nice laid back morning catching up on y'all's posts.

Yesterday morning though was anything but laid back. I had a 9:30 appointment with the dermatologist in El Campo 15 minutes down the road. About 3 months ago I contacted my primary care doc's office for a referral to the dermatologist. I had been to her years ago before Medicare and I was happy enough with her care but she's gone in the direction of skin care products and non-surgical procedures to reverse the effects of aging. I went to the other dermatologist in El Campo (none in Wharton) but he has since retired. So back to making an appointment. I checked my insurance to make sure she was in my network (yes), called my PCP for a referral and when they notified me it had been sent, I called for an appointment and the soonest I could get in was 2 1/2 months. So fast forward to yesterday when I showed up for my appointment and handed over my insurance card...oh, the office lady said, we don't take insurance from HMOs (despite my insurance company's web site telling me she was in the network) and you need a referral she says. Told her I had a referral and she had it when I made the appointment. Oh, she says, that referral expired. WTF?! An immediate frustrated and angry call to the insurance customer service line revealed that the doc is in my network but they can't make her take my particular HMO policy (they have others that are not HMO) and yes I would need a new referral and do you have the number of your PCP because this number is no good. Aaaargh! I finally told both parties never mind, I'd deal with it when I got home. Fine. I didn't want to go see that dermatologist in the first place.

So long story short, I called the old number (they recently closed the offices in Wharton and moved to Sugar Land 35 minutes down the road), got transferred to the new number, made an appointment for my annual physical and requested a referral to a dermatologist in Rosenberg 30 minutes down the road who does take my insurance (I called and checked) and whose lead time is only a couple of weeks and he's a good looking youngish man (anybody younger than 70 is youngish to me) instead of a woman whose main concern is fending off the visible effects of aging.

The rest of my day was just as unsatisfying. I went over to the shop determined to start on some new work and did spend a couple of hours repairing the toes on a wax lizard and thinking about how to proceed with this piece which the plan is to use both the glass casting and the modeling glass and I just didn't get very far. It's been so long since I've done any new work that I'm sluggish and uninspired. Not really excited or motivated. Still, I need to put in a couple of hours a day every day until it clicks. Having said that I may not get over there today. I want to finish my book and go to the library and I have to go to the store and get cat food and I'm sitting here writing this post and it's already noon. And now it's raining again.

As unproductive as yesterday was, my mood is still buoyant. Trump is done and has no possible chance of overturning the election no matter how much he and the Republicans try. Rumors trickling out of the White House describe him as financially broke and demoralized and depressed and afraid of being arrested spending his days watching TV or talking on the phone trying to get people to go to bat for him. Another of his law firms has quit. At this point it's not Trump so much as the Republicans refusing to concede that Biden is president elect and stonewalling the transition which is putting the country at risk as we no longer have a functioning president, as much as he ever functioned, all to keep their base ginned up for the two run-off elections in Georgia which they are desperate to win because if they lose then they won't have the ability to obstruct the Democrat agenda. And best of all, this past week has been mostly devoid of Trump...no rallies, no press conferences, no dominating the news with his lies and butthole pucker of a mouth and it has been wonderful. As a result, my afib hasn't been completely dormant but the few times it has tried have been mild and short and I really think even that will go away, that the medication will be able to do a better job.

And thanks for all the kind words about my work. I still have two pages to update on the website...the news page and the archive gallery. Both those pages still have the links to the carved glass commission work with which I made my living for over 40 years but I've removed them on all the others.



21 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh - I don't know why going to the dermatologist has to be such a fricking ordeal. I remember years ago not going to the recommended derm because the wait was so long. I went to some ancient man who could get me in that week (even though it was about 45 minutes from my home). He said I had acne from using the telephone & prescribed a tincture that had to be special made & cost a fortune & did NOT work. Finally went to the recommended derm & I had rosacea - a pretty classic case which cleared right up with the right meds. It was all very stressful & annoying. Oof - sorry to vent!

    I really do hope that your afib just goes right away in the new year. Or is mostly calm (because there will still be idiots to get stressed about).

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  2. I've got an appointment with mine in mid-december - and I'm afraid to check to see if she takes Humana. Since it took a YEAR to get an appointment, I am willing to pay the full amount, just to get it over with. I know what you mean about the absence of the orange presence being calming. I am sleeping better - not tortured with what-if dreams. They'll probably have to storm the white house and tase him to get him out.

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  3. Wouldn't it be an incredibly wonderful thing to not have to deal with insurance stuff and just be able to see a doctor when we need to. No questions about coverage or in-network agreements. Our whole system is built not for the patient or even the doctor, but for corporations. It's insane.
    I cannot wait for January 20th to get here.

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    1. for being the biggest and best country in the world we sure are backwards in some ways, almost 3rd world.

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  4. Saw trump come on MSNBC to give an "I'm still here and doing nothing speech" and I noticed he was gray and tired looking. He droned on and on and MSNBC cut away after three minutes because they know he just BSs after a while. I noticed that news channels are cutting away from his "talks" because it's all BS and he just repeats himself. But the gray hair. WOW!

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  5. Did you see that the Koch brother said maybe they had screwed up by backing so much division in the country? Then he sent Kelly Loeffler and Purdue a giant wad of money. The Dems need to start sending money there, stat. Winning those two seats will save the universe and get rid of the demon turtle. I am slowly starting to calm down, I just wish he would go to Mar a Lago and not come back.

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  6. Needing to be "in the groove" to have that unbidden will that sends you to the table every day to work on "the work". I manage to have it every day, but invariably it's afternoon before it impels me.
    That whole doctor business stinks, especially one you know you need. Fortunately we're tough enough to pick up the phone and shake up the system until something decent falls out of the tree. What about all those who don't know how to fight the system.

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  7. I tried to make an appointment with the dermatologist I've seen in the past. There weren't any insurance issues, but it's going to be nine months to get in. I suppose there might be a backlog because of the Covid business, but it's always been a three-month wait, so who knows.

    You got rain! Lucky you. I'm hoping we get some with the frontal passage this weekend.

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    1. 9 months! I think I'd be calling around for someone else.

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  8. I need so badly to make a derm appointment and just...haven't. I'm terrible. How incredibly frustrating that doctor visit must have been. Our health care system is completely ridiculous.
    No rain here but it has cooled off. Lovely.

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  9. I think the cat was saying, "Fine. You won't let me out? I'll just lie HERE."

    What a nightmare re. the dermatologist. Why are such seemingly simple tasks so complicated? Even though we have a single-payer system here in the UK it's not much better -- still a headache getting referral to a specialist, and still potentially a long wait. But at least we don't have the insurance to worry about.

    I'm so glad your afib is better. I bet Trump DID contribute to that condition!

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  10. That cat picture is hilarious! Sorry about the doctor visit screw up - we do not need any more frustration in our lives. Am I right?

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  11. I just resented the fact that the news people made a big deal out of the------first it was "hundreds" then it was "thousands" of jerks who showed up in D.C. today! And Orange was kind enough to drive by and say hello on his way to golf! I mean, I saw the same junk on several channels, and read about it, too. Enough already!

    I just read a prediction that he will rest a few months, then start campaigning again. Meanwhile hanging over Biden the whole time. I sure hope that doesn't happen. But all those millions in that cult, anything is possible. Not to rain on your parade, Ellen. At least we have a little hope now!

    For sure tRump has set all of us back health wise. Tough living in this alternate universe. Even if we didn't have Covid.

    About the dermatologist appt. --- sorry for all the crap. I think the road from medical to "beauty" is a short one for many doctors in that field. The office I frequent just built a grandiose new building. Incredible all the ads on the walls re what they can do for you! Fix your belly. Get rid of your body hair permanently, etc., etc. Not to mention wrinkles and dark spots, More money in those areas than just the ordinary----"is this cancer?----stuff!

    Meanwhile, re the motivation issue. No answers here. I don't have any of that to share!!

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    1. I think Trump is going to fade away. he may hold rallies but he's broke and any fundraising money he gets is going to pay his bills and shore up his businesses and then legal bills and there won't be any money for rallies. plus he's going to having to fend off SDNY because they will be going after him. and once he's out of the White House and gone back to his real life with no responsibilities I don't see him pressing for another term as president. he hates the job. maybe he'll start his own cult TV station for his MAGAts. can you think of anything more boring than Trump 24/7 ranting and crying about how mean everyone is to him?

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  12. I think you are on a good path there with the evil mnonster about to admit defeat!!!

    Dermatologists and hairdressers, hate both. The last time I went to the dermatologist, she cut away "samples" without warning (all clear) and I walked around with a bleeding, aptched up face for 2 weeks. I almost spat in her face I was so mad.

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  13. Peggy's primary care doc referred her to a dermatologist for a skin cancer on her nose. If I were you, I would be livid that no one called to tell me that my referral had expired! In fact, I would have trashed the practice all over the Internet by now. I don't have an Advantage Plan but a Medigap plan precisely so that my insurance won't require that I get a referral, and I've found that it's rare that the specialists I go to require them. Peggy also has a Medigap plan, so she went ahead and made her appt before the dermatologist received her referral.

    We have college friends who live in Sugar Land.

    That's an awfully pretty-and little--cat.

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    1. my previous plan didn't require a referral but there were advantages to this one which I forget now what they were and I checked to make sure all the doctors I go to were included so I don't mind getting a referral. the problem this time was I couldn't get an appointment for 2 ½ months and apparently, which I did not know, the referrals are good for different lengths of time. that nobody in the office bothered to let me know my referral expired before my appointment is just one more reason not to go back to that particular dermatologist. it shouldn't have been a problem at all as she has other associates in her office now and I'd have been just as happy to go to one of them but because it had been 3 or 4 years since I had been there they insisted I see the primary doc, hence the long wait time.

      Yes, Emma is small, somewhere around 9 pounds but she's 13 and getting a little frail.

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  14. I hope your muse wakes up and has you doing a jig in your workshop real soon! I hate it when I lose the urge to create. It's like I'm 'dulled down' or missing something physically.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.