Daily conundrums of yours truly

Daily conundrums of yours truly

[saralooky-blog]

Wealth 101.1

Ahhh...the benefits of the Rituxan.  The Woo-ster said that I would have died without it. That’s scary. What else is scary is the $300K bill the medical sharing group received and called me in a panic.  I was equally as panicked.  I knew the medical sharing group was not insurance but the doctors’ office and the hospital and even myself - called to make sure this treatment was covered if I stayed in-network. We were reassured it was.  Wooster told me the Rituxan was $3500 per dose.  What I didn’t realize at the time, a dose is 100mg, I had 650mg per session, times four.  I’ll let you stew on that for a min. Then of course there’s the misc. fees.

So after receiving the sizeable bill; they decided against their original answer. Too high, it was flagged, I didn’t warn them, etc etc etc. Panic mode....I was alive, my kidneys were normalizing but my anxiety over the fear of a $308K medical bill coming my way freaked me out.  The Medical Sharing group insisted I apply for medicaid, the hospital financial assistance program, and a contact the drug company.  I was obviously denied for Medicaid; if I would have been approved; I wouldn’t have the medical sharing thing to begin with.  Then I applied to the Baptist Health Financial Assistance -- that application went in Dec 2017; it is now the start of March 2018 with no follow up, no word, nothing from them.  But wait...you should know that I call them almost weekly, leave messages, talk to people who say to call “next week,” so I do with no answers still. 

Then the drug company; Genentek. Seriously, some of the  nicest people I’ve come in contact with since this BS started.  I was approved for a drug replacement/reimbursement program starting Dec 1, 2017 - Dec 1, 2018. This was very exciting news except for the fact that I received the treatment Sept-Oct 2017.  They did say they would retro-actively replace the meds but I had to get a confirmation of treatment form in.  Truly, I did not think this would be an issue. Genentek sent over 10 faxes to different people - the infusion centers (plural because there are 3 of them, they didn’t know nor did I), various departments at the hospital--- ones that I wasn’t even a patient in (Oncology, hematology, etc.) as the hospital folks continued to pass the buck. Finally, I asked if Wooster could fill it out - he did within the 24-hours it was sent to him. The stress was lifted off of my shoulders.  However, now Genentek is unable to reach the hospital to replace the medications to eliminate a good chunk of that hospital bill. Shady.

After some extensive research, I learned that other hospitals in Louisville charge a fraction of what Baptist East charged for the Rituxan infusion.  University of Louisville hospital charges approx $1500 per dose.  Interesting how that works out?!

[saralooky-blog]

Health 101.1

Relocation is tough but finding new MDs that you feel are effective is a toughy. After four failed attempts at a new primary care doc in Southern Indiana --I decided to commute back/forth to Wisconsin (7 hr drive) to see my previous doc. Then he had the audacity to retire, leaving me crossing my fingers I didn’t get sick.  This worked for three years.  Three years....and then my luck expired. Ahhh yes...that dreaded day in mid Feb of 2017 when I was swimming four days a week, following the Weight Watcher program to a T and I woke up with a 10 lbs weight gain & inflammation like nobody’s business.  And that weight gain just continued and my weight soared up 30 lbs than my typical.   I didn’t have that new doc yet....so self diagnosis began.  You know...webMD and google searches make you a medical professional, correct?  Duh.

Wasted $450 on an allergist (all tests were negative). Next...referred by a friend to her primary care - she was a win, Dr. Roberts.  Due to the symptoms, she first referred me to a rheumatologist. Not to be rude here, but the rheumatologist, a nurse practitioner who went by Dr. Rachel (interesting that a master’s nurse became an MD overnight...) she was a nut.  All my blood testing & ultra sounds came back negative. She insisted I take Plaquinel for that “in case an auto-immune disorder forms.” Huh....? Prednisone and Plaquinel cocktail. She also insisted I was having a heart attack and sent me to a near by hospital but told me I could drive there.  (credibility down the crapper....you’re really going to send someone having a heart attack to the hospital in their own car, driving themselves? I think this falls back into the “master’s level MD” whatever that means.) I did not have a heart attack, just some inflammation in chest walls. But I did get a $1400 bill because that hospital was not in-network with my fake insurance.

Fake insurance - it’s actually a medical sharing program.  When I became self-employed, I lost my benefits and had to self-insure.  This was around the time of the “Affordable Care Act” situation. I want to know who this was affordable for? Not me. Not anyone who earned about a poverty level income.  Which resulted in the “medical sharing program.”  After 30 days of that with no improvement of my symptoms, I went back to Dr. Roberts who referred me to a Nephrologist (kidney doc). The office she referred me to thankfully, was in-network of fake insurance.  But as I’m scanning the list of doctors, I recognize a name of someone I went out on a few dates with when I first relocated.  Thankfully, that’s not who I saw, but trust and believe I would have requested someone else. Not to be rude here....but I don’t really want to share my personal health problems with someone I dated briefly.  I was matched with a great nephro that we’re going to refer to as “Woo-ster.”  He is great.  He tried different medications, told me to get off the Plaquinel immediately (well taper down & discontinue).  After testing and a biospy, I was diagnosed with Acute Membraneous Proliferative Nephritis Type 3.  This disease is a rare one that impacts Asian and/or Black males over the age of 65. As a 36 year old, white female - I clearly fall into this category. SMH. Nonetheless, after failed oral medications, he prescribed four rounds of Rituxan; a form of chemotherapy that kills off the B-cells in hopes of the body regenerating new, healthy B-cells. After the four sessions, paired with the dreaded Prednisone; I would be good to go again. 

I received the Rituxan at Baptist East in Louisville, KY.  The hospital - specifically Park Tower was very nice.  Cadillac infusion center for sure. The nurses were very nice there.  I’m not good with needles, I’m not good with pricks who try to hook up IV’s for infusions. The IV nurses were awful.  Except for one, there was one lady, Kris who was wonderful. She saw my fear and listen to my previous issues and pulled out the ultra sound machine to find my veins. The third session, I had a guy named Craig --he was AWFUL.  I requested he use the ultra sound machine again and he said, “we don’t do that here....” Excuse? I’m paying you for this....do what I asked for, give me the accommodations here, for F*** sake. No, wouldn’t do it. And he was awful to the point that I requested someone else for my fourth session, though she was just as bad as Craig. She was a black lady with a very thick, foreign accent; who also did not respond to my requests.  The sessions were terrible.  The first time, was scary. I wept through the entire 8 hour infusion. As the sessions continued, it got a little easier, but not much.  I had all the side effects I wasn’t supposed to get; hair growth stopped, lack of energy, lethargic, weight gain, headaches, weird cravings, etc. I’m up 45 pounds since this all began.  But the best part of this story is that the treatment is allowing my kidneys to “normalize.”  I am grateful for this.

[saralooky-blog]

Half bathroom & Kitch

So my dusty old house has one bathroom - upstairs. I do a lot of entertaining...sometimes my upstairs bedrooms are not in tip top shape....so I close the doors. Guests go up to use the bathroom and come down saying, “Oh my gosh, the bedrooms are so big....” Isn’t that interesting how they have x-ray vision, looking through doors. I’d rather they went through the medicine cabinet than to see the clutter. “Less is more” is a thing I strive for....but I have yet to achieve it. 

When I moved into the house, the previous owners told me they were going to put a half bathroom in on the first floor but decided to sell instead. They thought it would cost between $5K-$6K.  I lived here for 3 3/4 years before signing on for real with a company. I say for real  because I had about a dozen quotes from various companies and contractors I had met at the “Louisville Home Show.” Let me tell you, I have never been so disrespected in my life by some of those contractors.  One guy told me there was no way, as I single woman, I could own a house. WHAT? Was this a joke? That actually seemed to be a bit of a running theme there. Some contractors said they didn’t do small projects and would only agree to come look/quote if I agreed to do a kitchen remodel too. My house was $130K - a kitchen remodel at $40k-$60k seems nuts here. I made a few appointments with companies who said they’d just do a half-bath.  It was BS - they all quoted me on bathroom and kitchen....and the price tags were between $45K-$70k. Hard pass.

I called my realtor for a recommendation - she referred me to a guy named Dustin...he came, he quoted, I hired...he never showed up. How does that work? How do you run a business like this? Thankfully, he never collected any dough---so when he never returned my call (I’m talking 3 months)....I moved on.

Through a Facebook group, I found my current contractor - Murphy Construction.  Super nice guy, quote seemed reasonable.  I told him I had 2 projects - 1. Add a half bathroom, 2. Replace white textured tile (gross, why in a kitch!?!?) with wood floor.  He quoted both and told me he could get a better deal on materials and such if I did both right away. I signed on. Plumbing is in, electric is in, framing has started.  As the workers start to remove the flooring they see that the owners through the years continued to cover up one flooring after another --- so from top down....gross white/textured tile, cream linoleum, more linoleum, and then some places have laminate, some places have the original wood flooring that is through my home elsewhere, and then then the sub floor.  What i wasn’t prepared for was the dust. I don’t know why, but I thought it would stay in my kitch more or less--there are lots of walls between the kitch and the rest of the house.  Boy was I wrong.....so if my house isn’t a cluster F already within everything from the kitch moved into the dining room - now everything (I mean EVERYTHING) is covered in a layer of dust. Aiming to cover everything in plastic tonight - wish me luck.

[saralooky-blog]

Dusty old houses

My house is a work in progress. Always. From newer condo (built in early 2000′s) to old as hell house (built in the 1920′s).....I thought this was a good idea.  You know what.....the charm, the character, the nostalgia is all trumped by the repairs, renovations, and the “I promise this is my last project....” claims.  For the amount of money I’ve put into my house, I could be driving a pretty decent luxury car at this point rather than my four year old Ford Fusion. 

So far the major projects have been windows, sewer pipe, lighting, patio, driveway replacement, making garage operable, adding outlets in the only bathroom, indoor/outdoor carpet in screened porch,  putting in a privacy fence, rubber mulch, removing bats - errr being conned into thinking I had bats when it was really mice ($62 for the mouse removal fee vs. the $1700 I was charged......take that and swish it around for a while.) There are probably more things but I cannot remember right now.

Windows: Replacing 27 windows....and yet the living room windows are staying original for that ‘charm’ and ‘nostalgia.’ So that’s 7 not replaced in living room, plus the 6 basement windows, and I only replaced four on the screened in porch.  I love the windows, don’t get me wrong and the company I worked with, WindowWise was wonderful.   That was a hefty renovation. 

Let’s not forget the “welcome to the neighborhood” repair when 3 weeks after I  moved in (mid April 2014), the air conditioner stopped working.  In the original ad for my home; the heating/cooling was listed as “gas.” As a Wisconsin native; I grew up with the idea that electric heat was a No No. So when I relocated to Kentuckiana (New Albany, Indiana - just 5 miles north of Louisville, KY), I still believed that electric heat was bad. But my new to me house had gas....or so they claimed.  When the air conditioner guy came, he asked if I knew how to use my HVAC system....it was already a little different to me as this house has two thermostats and one system....so, there was that. My air conditioner guy, who has become a visitor in my home for this system, explained that this is a dual heat pump. Thankfully - that very day, I learned how this worked.  I have never been so thankful of an air conditioning system breaking that I was that day. So is it gas? It’s gas heat if it is 39 degrees or lower (outside) and electric heat if it is 40 degrees or higher (outside).  Now, I force it to be gas....you can take a girl out of Wisconsin but....electric heat is still not a thing for me.

Four lovely weeks after the HVAC tanked, my mother was in town for a visit. I went to work and received a panicked call - “There is shit in your basement.” I explained that I had been busy with work and hadn’t had much time to unpack the boxes yet.  No, much to my chagrin, the f-ing clay sewer pipes collapsed.  The sewer pipe collapsed. Say that aloud and think about it. I’ve never even heard of this.....not for a residential home at least. Sewer pipe collapsed. So now what....well, my lovely home warranty would only cover what was done within the walls of the home - nothing in the yard. Sewer pipe collapsed. Okay..Quote time....$15K was my favorite. This plumber had done work for the previous plumber too. Sewer pipe collapsed.  I found a licensed plumber to do it on the side for $5K cash. Sound sketchy? Oh it was. But I had lost money on my condo, relocated 400 miles south for a new job, and to be honest, didn’t have a pot to piss in. Sketchy it was.  What’s really sweet is one of the neighbors made mention that the previous owner had the sewer pipes snaked the week before I moved in....thanks for that. 

When they did the sewer pipe fiasco; the yard got ripped up. So now, when it rained; the water would go towards my house rather than away from it. I also decided I needed to get rid of a tree that was in the backyard.  That tree rocked so bad in the wind; I was afraid it would fall.  A different neighbor made a comment about waiting for the tree to fall so she could sue whatever person lived in my house. Great. The yard needed to be graded and the tree needed to go. Quotes, quotes, quotes. The tree came down but the grading didn’t happen.  The day the tree came down, it was cold and rainy.  The houses in this little town are close together - they are all old. The same neighbor who spoke of lawsuits sent her kid out to jump on the trampoline that was beneath the tree. When the landscaper/tree-cutter-downer asked him to go leave the area....’I can replace your trampoline, but I can’t replace you.” The neighbor yelled, “I am an American citizen, I have rights.” I should have taken my right and called the police. The tree came down, no one was hurt. No lawsuit filed.

The grading came as an added bonus when I had the patio poured.  The guy who owned the company (Infinity) that poured the driveway repair and the patio seemed like a good guy. His concrete guy (the guy who brought in the concrete) seemed like a good guy.  the concrete guy was wonderful; actually graded my yard for me as an added bonus.  The owner of the company not so good. The area he paved on my patio was so thin in some spots that it bubbled, creating holes.  I had to threaten a call to BBB before he would come fix it. The bubbles appeared within 6 months of pour. He came and epoxied them. Is it perfect? Not by any means, but it was exhausting to bring him back out.

The other things are small, costly potatoes. Get into the bat fiasco another day.  But this brings me to my current project.

[saralooky-blog]

Xanga or Bust

Remember once upon a time, when everyone blogged on Xanga? Or maybe it was just the cronies and I blogging about the latest ‘tips and tricks’ of how to eat as little as possible and still function as college students. Who knows - but that was actually rewarding ---- not the extremity of the unhealthy living choices, but the blogging.  My life is full of those “I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried moments” that I thought I might need a release, somewhere with unbiased folks to read, comment, tell me to throw it away and move on. Just a thought.