Feeling Contrary

I have stuff I want to do.  It does not include, follow-up visits to the cardiologist and primary care doctors.  I am alive.  My heart rate is nice and steady.  I feel fine.  I do not need my time taken up with people that will tell me that I am fine!!
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Dar came over earlier today.  The first words out of her mouth when she walked in---

"Did you see?  I got rid of all that furniture.  They came and took it all.  He is going to paint my bedroom in payment for the furniture."

"Yeah--I saw them."

"I have so much to do in that house.  I just don't know I'm going to get it all done.  I don't like to paint so I am glad he is going to do it.  Plus...I need to have someone come in and clean all the carpeting.  I need to have someone come in and clean all the windows and I need to get new curtains."

"You have a lot to do."

"Yes--oh...how are you feeling?"

"Great."

"You and I have the same thing...AFib.  Did they have to stop your heart?"

"No.  They did a cardioversion to get it back into normal rhythm."

"Yeah--I know.  They stop your heart to do that."

"What?  They do not!  They put a tiny little electrode patch over the upper part of the heart and send a tiny little shock into it and that gets is back into normal rhythm."

"Oh.  Well...they stopped my heart."

"Well, I guess we don't have the same kind of AFib then, do we."

"Well--you know me.  I am a rare case with every medical situation.  So mine is probably worse than yours."

"Probably."

"Are you on Coumadin?"

"Nope."

"Well, I have to take a blood thinner, so...I guess that means mine is worse."

"Oh...I take a blood thinner.  One of the new ones, call Xarelto."

"What?  They wanted me to go on that, but how can you afford that.  It's like several hundred dollars a month!"

"Yes...I know, four hundred a month.  The new Medicare Advantage insurance I signed up for in December covers it.  I pay six dollars and fifty cents a month for Xarelto."

"Well, I've got the best Blue Care insurance there is.  Why doesn't my insurance pay for it?"

"I don't know.  What is your premium cost per month?"

"Two hundred and fifty dollars.  What do you pay?"

"Nineteen dollars and ninety cents."

"What?"

"Yes and it covers my dental, glasses and hearing aids, plus all medical, hospitalization and prescriptions AND, I have a membership to a gym if I want."

"Oh...well there must be hidden costs somewhere in there that you just aren't aware of."

"I don't think so.  A lady from the insurance company called me to see how I was doing, asked if I had any questions and told me everything was taken care of.  So.............."

"Hm-mm.  I'm going to have to check into that."

"Maybe because you are such a rare patient...have such a large medical file...maybe you can't get the kind of insurance I have."

That shut her up and she left in about five minutes!  I am feeling contrary today!!
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Look what I got Saturday, from Jennifer.  She had it delivered to me as they left for their vacation early Saturday morning.  She had tucked in No Bake cookies and home made Chex Mix, which she knows I love.

Tulips she brought to the hospital for me

When she came to the hospital, she acted like we had just seen each other the day before.  We talked normally about stuff, about her upcoming move, about the kids and their vacation.  It's like the last two years never happened.  Maybe things are back to normal?  I hope so.
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Karen and Mark, older grand daughter Susanna and her hubs Derek are in Guatemala with Madeleine.  They already started building the house for a family there.  Plus Karen found out that a child they have sponsored through Christian Child Fund, for the last 10 years, lives only twenty miles away, so they are going to get to meet him and his family in person.

I gave Karen 50 bucks for their mission.  She didn't want to take it--I insisted.  Now I can, vicariously,  feel that I am helping too.  Of course, as I've written about before, this is no big deal for this family.  They are continuously either serving food at the homeless shelters in the area, cleaning up junk out of vacant lots in Detroit and building community gardens, or flitting down to Guatemala to build a house and a medical clinic.  They are an amazing family!!

I love how Susanna is holding that cement block like it weighs a mere 2#.  HAH!  They have their "we are tough" faces on.
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I got to Michigan Heart for my 4:00 appointment.  I was to see the cardiologist that was attending in the hospital.  I wanted to see my regular cardiologist (the one who saved Fred's life after his massive heart attack) but he was booked.  So--I asked if I could make an appointment with him in late June.

"You will follow-up with Dr. Bernstein today and if he wants to see you again...we can make another appointment with him."

"That's fine, but I still would like to make an appointment with Dr. Leonen...in late June."

"For what reason?"

"Because I want to talk to him."
<contrary bitch I am, but pleasant and with a smile>

"All right...hmm..how about June twenty-fifth at two-thirty?"

"That is perfect.  Thank you so much."

I go back to an exam room and answer questions from the nurse and get an EKG.  After a few minutes, Dr. Bernstein walks in.  This guy is about 5'6", if that and has the personality of a gnat.  I had noticed that while I was in hospital.

"You're EKG shows you are still in sinus rhythm.  You did very well with the cardioversion.  We don't expect any more problems, but if it happens again...we can put you on a prescription to keep your heart rate stable.  Do you have any questions?"

"Yes.  I can't use Advil or Aleve for my arthritis because I am on a blood thinner.  What would you suggest I use for occasional pain?"

"Tylenol."

"It doesn't work very well."

"Yes.  I know."

So he listens to my heart and lungs and carotid arteries and ankles and says, "Come back in three months."

"When I come back, may I see Dr. Leonen?  He's kind of my "go too guy."

"Certainly.  Make an appointment with him for around...oh...end of June."

"Thank you.  I will."
<hah!>

So after he left, I asked the nurse.

"I forgot to ask Doctor.  Do I have any restrictions on what I can do?"

"You can do anything you want," she said, "except play tackle football.  Being on a blood thinner, you don't want to take any hard hits or falls."  and she grinned.

So--onward and upward--ever forward!!