Blizzard 2.0!!

We're getting hammered again.

This time we're only getting 10-15 inches of the white stuff. However, this time it comes with 20-40 mile per hour wind!

White out!! (insert Wipe Out music here)

In the midst of all of this, I caught the stomach flu. It was pretty bad. Not quite as bad as the dreaded New Year's flu, but bad nonetheless. I didn't make it home from work before I started puking. Thankfully, my dearest Ellen and I carpooled, so she could drive while I vomited into a Target bag (Thank you...would you like to apply for a Target VISA card today?)

I think I may have lost a few inches of intestine as a result of the amount of puking I did. I shivered and shook and ached. Nastiness!

Clark

More on my heart problem...

The condition is called a Right Bundle Branch Block. You can go to the Mayo Clinic and read on it here.

In a nutshell, the right side of my heart has an electrical irregularity that causes the heart to pump inefficiently. The doctor says that since I was not being treated for hypertension or other heart related illness, the RBBB was probably brought on by the accident. The outside of my body was belted into the car, but as my body was being held in relative position, my gizzards and heart were banging around inside.

I now have had three "episodes" where I don't feel well and there is a heaviness in my chest (not pain, not insufferable). One in the car the moments after collision. One a few days later. One in the cardiologists office.

The cardiologist is taking a wait and see attitude towards my condition because I feel he thinks that it will resolve or not require invasive procedures or be managed. That's good because I take it personally when people want to poke around my insides to see if there is anything wrong. I'm not restricted on movement or anything, so that is good.

Sadly, I have no idea what the future holds. Fortunately, I don't have a Left Bundle Branch Block. That is worse than the Right one (see the Mayo Clinic article to know why). The fear of the unknown is unnerving.

I consulted a personal injury attorney and am considering hiring her to see if I have a case against the insured.

A man knows...

...when he's up against it.

I was in a car accident right before Christmas. Not severe, but the impact caused me some discomfort of the chest, so I was taken to the hospital.

Now I have a problem with my heart. I have no idea what the future holds. It's more electrical than functional, so I'm probably going to be having to watch it vs. getting a procedure for it.

I have a pretty good doctor, so I think I am in good hands.

I have to try and keeps things in perspective. So far it hasn't caused me to discontinue what I like to do. However, I have to lose more weight (I'm down 40, but I need to lose at least another 20).

Clark

This little piggie...

Caught the flu! Coincidentally, while a huge media splash about a hundred or so cases of "swine flu" virus H1N1 has been at the forefront. We've been hit by the bug.

It wasn't me actually, it's my dearest Ellen. She's down with the flu today. I was working from home since the Speck is in the shop and she came down with some nastiness overnight. So much for my quiet day away from the office.

Clark

Prescription Trouble

I’ve had a recent experience that I just had to share with all of you. You see, my new employer, as part of our medical benefits, has employed a mail order prescription drug company to fill all of our “maintenance drugs”. You know them. They are the ones we have to take every day (sometimes twice or more). The rule is that we are “allowed” to have three retail pharmacy refills of a medication before we are “required” to use the mail order pharmacy. The Insurance company makes it pretty easy to remember when you have to do that. They just stop paying for the meds.

My dearest Ellen has been trying to get in to see her endocrinologist in order to get the necessary prescriptions for the mail order pharmacy (they won’t take a transfer or photocopy). The doctor has been OK authorizing her refills, but we were up against “the wall” and had only one more refill before being cut off. The doctor could not see her for four months since it wasn’t an emergency. As a result, we hit the wall and weren’t getting her meds paid for. We were able to get an “override” for a retail pharmacy refill from our insurance company, but we were “cautioned” (more like scolded) that this would be the ONLY override we’d get. In the meantime, my wife decided to change doctors, finding one that would take her almost immediately. We thought she was in the clear.

However, the new doctor would not write her a refill prescription because 1) there were still active refills on her bottle and 2) the doctor wanted to take a gallon of her blood to check her “levels”. Back to square one. We contacted the insurance company to explain our plight. Needless to say we weren’t received well because we had ALREADY used our ONE “override” the prior month. ARGH! No amount of explaining could provide the necessary refill. We were weeks away from another doctor visit. I decided to go to my HR group and see what they could do. They were very nice about it, sympathetic you could say and they were able to get me in touch (via email) with a “member advocate”. I thought this was a step in the right direction and we’d have more meds than we could handle in a few days. I articulated our situation (not being able to see a doctor in a timely fashion and quickly running out of medication in the process and having no more overrides) in a brief email and waited for the response. This was our golden opportunity.

SLAM! That was sound of opportunity slamming the door. The “member advocate” should have been more aptly titled “Policy quoter”. She advocated following the insurance company policy and nothing more. One of the more impolite quotes from the “advocate” was “… if your wife is in need of her medication, her Dr. is the only one who can write a prescription for it. Without a prescription, her medication is not able to be filled at any pharmacy (retail or mail order)…” DUH! How about taking a step outside of your protective policy bubble and see if you can help me keep my wife from running out of her medication!!

We ended up paying out of pocket for a supply of the medication (50 dollars for the initial 20 dose amount with an option to get another 50 dollars worth more) on which to get by. We are still waiting for the doctor to get the blood test results back. That should take about a week. I’m hoping we get something before we have to exercise that other 50 dollar option.

I can hear some of you saying “Feh” at my chafing at 50 bucks of medication. Sorry, I don’t have very deep pockets.

Clark

Happy Birthday!

I woke up this morning to my birthday feeling sick to my stomach and a little dizzy. I’m 45 today. Laying down didn’t help…in fact it got worse. I went on with my morning (I was better when I was up and moving around) and gathered up my things and was walking with my 4 year old to the indomitable Speck when…there it was…in all it’s rubbery glory. A flat tire!

Undaunted by the cold I sent the 4 year old back inside (that was the intent, she kept coming out to “check on you, daddy”) and set to work. I pulled open the trunk and lifted the cover and pulled out the temporary tire. It looked a little worse for wear, but I assumed it would be OK. I went back for the lug wrench. Where was the lug wrench? That was when I saw it: the Styrofoam insert holding a screwdriver and an empty indentation where a lug wrench would go. Crestfallen, I went back to the garage and sought some tools. I saw one of my neighbors and asked to borrow his lug wrench from his Acura. Sadly, it was too small. I then saw another neighbor who owned a Honda. Bingo! His wrench fit. I managed to get the tire off and the spare on using my floor jack. I inspected the tire. Yup, a wood screw head was clearly visible. I must have run over it the day before and parked on it that night.

No matter, I thought to myself. I can take it over to the tire shop and get it patched. I tightened the lugs and lowered the car. Ugh. The temporary was almost as flat as the tire with the screw in it. I didn’t have much choice. Towing would have cost me hundreds. I put the tire in the trunk and strapped in the 4 year old. Slowly I made my way to the nearest station which had an air compressor. Natch! It was broken. I hobbled to the next station. Topeka! I filled up the temporary and took the 4 year old to breakfast. I was feeling a little better, so we shared some pancakes and sausage. I dropped off the tire at the local tire shop for repair and decided it was in my best interest to stay local since the temporary tire made a pretty bad rumbling noise. After an hour, I drove the Speck back to the shop, had the tire put back on, and was on my way to work.

Happy 45^th Clark!

Sad Event

I recently attended a funeral for a former colleague of mine who's daughter and my oldest daughter happen to be good friends and on the Color Guard together.

He passed way too early (he was 50) and will be missed terribly.

God Bless Tim and his family. They are now honorary Grizzwold's.

Clark

Biological Warfare

Having a passel (three) kids is hard work, especially for my dearest Ellen. We've been especially challenged over the past couple weeks since the kids have been passing the strep throat around. The Typhoid Mary was the two year old. She started it a couple weeks ago. A few days into that episode, the 15 year old started with symptoms. My dearest took them both to the pediatrician for treatment. The Nurse Practitioner and a Student Nurse saw them. Big mistake. The two year old was diagnosed with strep because of a positive 5 minute test. However, the 15 year old's sample did not test positive. We've since figured that the Student Nurse who took the 15 year old's sample didn't do it right. Even so, the fact that the two year old had it and was most likely passing her germs on to the whole family should have been enough to prescribe anti-botics for the whole fam-damily, right? WRONG! "Oh, your older daughter isn't showing that she has strep. It's probably just a cold" claimed the NP, even though my oldest was showing outward symptoms of strep.
Fast forward a couple days to where the oldest was on a softball tournament outing with my dearest Ellen and the 10 year old. Well, the 10 year old comes down with it bad, including some vomiting. The missus manages to keep it together that weekend and bring it all back home. Meanwhile, the oldest is getting sicker. She has a bad cough and has broken out into a rash. Another visit to the doctor. This time, both kids have positive strep tests (yay!). We actually saw a real doctor this time. Since I'm with the kids this time, I point out the cough and the rash. The doctor downplays the cough and the rash as unrelated. I asked if she could get a shot to combat the hives and Z-pack, a powerful antibiotic I've taken in the past. She prescribes some ointment and antibiotics, but not Z-pack.
A day later, the oldest comes home from school saying that she is having trouble catching a full breath and her coughing is disrupting her day. We keep pumping her full of meds, thinking that it's just a matter of time. Overnight things get worse and we decide the next day to call the doctor. In the morning, the oldest faints twice. Immediately, the missus takes the oldest over to the hospital and has her seen. Lo and behold, she has strep induced pneumonia! Lovely. The ER doctors ask all sorts of questions related to the two weeks of symptoms and the related treatment by the pediatricians office. My Ellen was given the impression that the pediatrician's office (two medical practitioners mind you) pretty much botched her case. The ER docs pump her full of fluids (she was somewhat dehydtrated) and recommend she see her pediatrician again. We were already on antibiotics, so it was not necessary to get more. The next day the missus tots typhoid Mary (the two year old who started all of this mess) and the oldest down to the doctor for a follow up. All the ER records were transferred over. New antibiotics and a breathing treatment program (including a machine to do it all) were prescribed INCLUDING a steroid for the rash. Guess what antibiotic this doctor prescribed? You guessed it, Z-pack!!

At this point, everyone is doing much better. The two year old is on the last few doses of her meds. The 10 year old is a close second. The oldest is missing the first day of a big three day softball tournament, but the doctor said she might be able to play on the second day, depending upon how she felt. Given the breathing apparatus, the inhaler, the steroids, and the anti-biotics, she should be able to fight off just about anything.

Sadly, my dearest Ellen and I are exhibiting cold and sore throat sympoms. It might not be over yet!!

Clark