Friday November 10th 2023

Tweety, BSN, RN · Nov 10, 2023

Good morning!

Joe, I hope you have a good time at the potluck and good luck with the car!

I'm off today. Bummed that apparently I took out a SOMA and didn't scan it. It's a controlled substance and I'm written up. Hard to believe a 30 year career is going down the tubes like this if I do it again. My own fault and I'm trying to find some peace today but can't.

Anyway, hope you have a good day.

nursej22, MSN, RN · Nov 10, 2023

Good morning. It's overcast and cool here, rain coming in tonight. I'm about to go out on my bike. Dh has gone for his PT appointment, so I'll have to shut the dogs in the bathroom. They are still relieving themselves inside, grrr. Usually, only once a day, but still too much to trust them.

Annie, I would recommend going to an insurance broker to look at Medicare supplement options. There is a wide range and they can help contrast and compare. Medicare C may look cheaper, but I've heard it can restrict who you can see and you need referrals for everything. We have a Medigap policy (Part G) and a Part D for drugs. Yes, insurance was cheaper when we were working, but mine was going to go up substantially if I had continued working. We don't have a high deductible like we had through employer insurance. Having insulin capped at $35 has been a big help.

Ooh, Joe, that is exciting. I do like the look of the newer Priuses. I've driven dd's prius and I used to drive one at work, and I didn't like the rear and side visibility when driving in traffic. And they were pretty bad in the snow. But the gas mileage is amazing.

Stars, I would hope Momo could gradually learn to trust that you will return. Does she have a little kennel or crate that would help her feel secure?

Tweety, that seems like a harsh policy about scanning, especially a schedule IV drug. Oh well, it would be the hospital's loss to lose a seasoned nurse who is willing to pick up shifts.

TMB, that lack of sunlight would really drag me down. I get blue just with our overcast gloom for 6 months.

Maybe, I'll get some cookies made today.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Nov 10, 2023

That is just crazy Tweety. I am really sorry.

No Stars In My Eyes, LPN · Nov 10, 2023

SOMA is a controlled substance? For some reason I thought it was an OTC sleep aid; had to look it up to see it was a muscle relaxant. I take Robaxin, but I guess it isn't the same thing. Tweety, I feel for ya; hope it doesn't get you into too much trouble. I lost a mere 1/2 cc (very low dosage) of water-based Ativan (to apply to the skin) somehow, and that's when all my trouble started and they turned me in to the Board! What a bunch of hooey. Heck, I remember when Valium and Percodan were on the open shelves of the med cart! Of course that was 1971, before so many meds were "re-scheduled". I really didn't think the loss of that small amt of Ativan was a big deal, but when I said that I had no idea where or how it disappeared, the powers that be made gasps with "0" shaped mouths, as if I'd robbed a bank of a million bucks. For pete's sake! I concluded that they wanted to get rid of me anyway and the Ativan was their excuse to kick up a hullaballoo. Truthfully, I could have gotten my license back, but a perfect sh** storm of reasons kept me from travelling across the state to appear before the Board, so I let the license lapse. After I got over the humiliation of it all, I was glad not to be a nurse any more, as things were changing in the field to such a degree I just didn't want to deal with ANY of it! Had no plans to work in ANY facility ever again, so I just worked private duty cases as a CNA. Fortunately I had worked so long for my agency previous to this 'event', they knew me well after so many years, they had no trouble believing me or trusting me, so I could do PDN (well, except for the 'nurse' part.) and remain working for them. Less $$, but still a job in times when (for some reason) jobs were hard to come by.

Ado, what j22 said about Medicare, I second the motion....ie *I* didn't think that Medicare Advantage was such an advantage because I wouldn't have been able to pick my own docs, specialists or facilities. I felt like those were MY decisions to make, not some folks who didn't know me or care about that kind of thing. A friend of hubby's used to say, "Don't put yourself in a place where you don't want to be." I didn't want myself to be at the 'mercy' of that program, so I opted out. Thank goodness that fore-sight was 20/20 for me, not hindsight! And we also had a GOOD insurance guy who did all the comparisons FOR us and let us decide which we wanted once we had the pertinent information. Made it a LOT easier!

Joe, Hmm, stress/anxiety are symptoms, not feelings? That's a good point....even though they sure FEEL like feelings! (ugh)

Rainy, breezy, and 62 degrees, but it feels good! I went out to put something in the mailbox and bring one of the bins in from the curb (although, come to think of it, this neighborhood has no 'curbs', per se.). The wind was causing the yellow and orange leaves to RACE off the trees; it really was quite beautiful so I stopped for a few minutes to watch.

Then I came in and knew I had to get Nannie up....but was delighted to find she was coming out of her bedroom as I was bringing her breakfast tray down to the den, dressed and ready to eat. Now she is doing her after-breakfast nap, as is Momo.

Have no itinerary set. Probably wash the dishes (this is the first time in my life I wished I had a dishwasher!) and prolly a dab of laundry. Sometimes the small loads are easier to deal with rather than letting it build up. And I have not done the "white-gloved finger test" of Nannie's bed to see if it is wet or not. No biggie, but still a PIA.

Found another top I could not wear when I had the weight on me, but couldn't bear to get rid of, so I set it aside. Now it is PERFECT! I was dubious about saving some of the things I couldn't wear due to my size having gone UP, but I'm glad I did save some of them! It's hard to believe that, all told, I have lost 40 pounds, over two years or so.

Looks to be a blah day (Happy Blah-Day to Me! ?) but I am alright with that.

No Stars In My Eyes, LPN · Nov 10, 2023

Just found out this interesting fact: The IRS can send you a transcript of your tax info, but only up to 6 years before the current year. After 6 years, they are 'destroyed'. I want a transcript from 7 years ago. Since I can't reach (by phone or on line) the people who prepared our taxes back then, the only thing I can think of to do is write to their office to see if, by some miracle, they can recall the transcript info.

And now that I think of it, we gave H&R Block two or three years of our tax returns to see if they could save us any money from those years.....and I didn't get back to pick them up by the day they closed the office until next tax season. So those returns were shipped back to a main storage file ...in Memphis, I think?... and though I tried my best at the time to get them to search for them.....NO LUCK. Most likely they have also been destroyed, so the tax prep people (not H&R Block) who did our taxes for that year........THEY are our only hope.

At least that gets me off the hook for tearing the shed apart looking for them, because they aren't there! But. meanwhile.....

Sheesh!?PHOOEY! And as my mother used to say:

?Rats ?Cats ?‍♀️Hags and?Bags!