Monthly Archives: August 2019

Five or(five hundred) on Friday

Posted in California, husband, MDS, Uncategorized by

It has been a LONG week.

We made it down to UCD fine even with traffic and the endoscopy went fine too. No problems with the prostate. He just has an enlarged bladder and does need to catheterize at least once a day. I guess if that’s the worse, it’s not so bad.

Yesterday though was a nightmare day.

  • first we got a letter stating AAA was canceling our house insurance because of fire dangers in California. Great. Now we will have to find a new insurer and it’s bound to be A LOT more expensive.
  • Then we get a letter actually 2 letters from the Cobra people for B’s insurance. We owe $710 per month. I thought we’d already had paid the first two months. I called and NOPE that was not to them. Great, more money out the window.
  • I called the dedicated hotline for employees and said we’d paid the $1200. So just this afternoon she called back and said NOPE, that was for June and July when the company transitioned to the new insurance. I looked at the paystub and she was right. Nothing was taken out.   Great:(
  • Then on a positive note and money. B got his LLS grant approved for MDS and they will reimburse him the first amount of the cobra just covering him. so we should get that and it’ll help. We will submit the amount for the second month next week.
  • Then I’m at the Sutter Medical site getting ready to pay the installment and I see another whole set of charges. WTF!!!!! So I call Sutter and she says oh they said (UHC) he wasn’t covered for those dates. By this time I was seeing fire and smoke was coming out of my ears. I then called UHC and the VERY nice rep says let me check. She checks and says clearly there was some wrong coding as he was covered. Give me a F#@king Break.
  • Let see, I think that’s everything. But there could be more I’m blocking out.

Well, I’m exhausted from it all. Too much paperwork, money stuff, and confusion. I think I see the wine bottle waiting for me.

Midweek musings

Posted in Blood test, cancer, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, simple foods, Uncategorized by

I had a good doctor visit. As I mentioned, my numbers are going up (kappa light chains) but as he said it is slowly going up and I’m a long way to where I started out 3 1/2 years ago at 1010 mg/L kappa light chains. So I’m ok and not panicking. It went up 6 points to 31.7 so an increase. Lambda is in the normal range and looking back at my numbers, Lambda was always in the normal range. The ratio also increased to 2.66 from 2.33 so increase there too. When I went back to when I started Velcade my ratio at it’s highest was 68.25 mg/L so that says something about where I started.

All in all, I’m ok with it for now. It’s always weird to think cancer cells are in your body but one must be positive and philosophical at the same time.

We’re in for cooler temperatures which will be most welcome.

My daughter is drying some cherry tomatoes since we have so many and I really don’t want them to waste. Sundried tomatoes in the winter are nice additions to pasta.

Our last appt is Friday till next week. Driving to Sacramento has been awful with the traffic. Driving home has been a lot easier. I’m guessing with school starting and work there are more people on the freeway.

After next week, we are on a 2-week clinic schedule and that will be very nice.

 

What’s next?

Posted in Blood test, cancer, Flylady, Uncategorized by

This is a busy week with appt’s almost every day.

Today I have an appt at DMV, yes, the dreaded DMV, to get my license renewed and try and get the real ID. The real ID requires a certified birth certificate and lots of other proof pf residency things. One reason I persisted in the NYC birth certificate debacle is I knew that this was coming. So we’ll see how it goes and I’ll report back.

Tomorrow is clinic and labs and my daughter has volunteered to drive.

Wednesday I see my oncologist so I didn’t want to have to drive 2 days in a row. I’m going to go over my old lab results when my light chains were over 1,000 mg/L. I just want to hear his assessment of when to be more concerned. I’m guessing he’ll say the same thing, that when my numbers are much higher.

Then Thursday is open.

Friday is back down to the urologist for an endoscopy to see if there is any blockage or how does the prostate look? It is an office procedure so no sedation.

We also need to get the oil changed in the car and will do that Thursday. B said he’d go. So that would be his first time out driving the Santa Fe in a while. He’s definitely able to do that now and isn’t shakey. So progress!

The zone this week is the living room and I finished that yesterday. Since our front room is small and there’s not a lot of clutter I was able to finish it in about 15 minutes. I washed windows, dusted, checked my plants and washed the mirrors. That’s about it. I do look regularly what to declutter but right now I’m content with what’s in the bookcase and also the Heywood hutch. In the Heywood is my pinecone ware so that stays. I do love looking at it and using it too!

A perfect day to celebrate 49 years of love and mischief

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Yes, that is correct.

August 23, 1970.

We were SO young but determined as we headed out to our new life in Tucson, Arizona. We were heading to U of A. B was already a sophomore and I was starting as a freshman. We really had a  lot of fun. We really weren’t all that crazy about what we did but we still had loads of adventures. And we still are.

Today, we went to Walmart to pick up the groceries, and then up to Home Depot to get our anniversary gift to ourselves which was a Honda generator. A small compact one.

We came home, put stuff away and then headed into Auburn to go to the record shop. We’ve been listening to jazz every night at 7pm so we thought it’d be cool to get some jazz Lp’s. Funny because Barclay’s dad had a huge, and I mean huge jazz collection along with big band and others. All that was lost when he lost the lawsuits against him. ( Long story). He eventually lost the house and most everything. It was sad. Anyway, we found 4 LPs and that was a good start.

From there we went for lunch at our favorite Mexican place. He cant have salads out due to germs but if the food is zapped, well-cooked he can have that.

All in all a lovely day.

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Almost bought a trailer

Posted in travel, Uncategorized by

So, from my blogs you know we’ve wanted to upgrade from our tent trailer(that we love, but alas has no bathroom) to a hardbody.

So yesterday we decided to go take a look at the 2020 R Pods. They are small and lightweight. The original one we thought we’d be interested the 190, was a little cramped for our style. Then we like the 179 ( it may be a different #)with the rear kitchen, was quite a bit roomier.

But then he showed us the 195 and we were sold. It was perfect. But out the door almost $ 26,000 that includes all the setup, brakes for the Santa Fe, etc. So it was a good price but we weren’t sure or I should say hesitant to commit.  We would need to finance some and I think we’re unsure about that.

So although perfect, now isn’t the right time. Or maybe it is.

IMG_0644.jpegThe other thing is after we got home I looked up towing it with the Santa Fe. And although it has a towing capacity of 5000 lbs, most people advised against it as it will wear the motor and brakes out by stressing it. This R pod came in 3400 lbs, so under but still probably hard on the car.

So that also then got me thinking we’d need to go back to the drawing board about getting used truck. That then increases the cost now considerably. So it is a dilemma.

oh well, we’ll just have to think about it all more.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, camping, cancer, husband, Uncategorized by

A nice Sunday morning with cooler temperatures.

Getting ready to do the bedroom zone.

Plus its sheet day.

Yesterday I did a Walmart grocery pick up. I don’t shop Walmart but was interested in the pickup and I had a $10 off code. I bought quite a few organic items and them some pantry stuff I wanted. I was surprised at how easy it was and I didn’t have to go into the store. I’m not sure I would do it a lot but I have to say the prices were quite a bit less than Safeway.  Organic Valley milk was almost $2.00 less than Safeway. So were the Morningstar items. So those are big savings.  I also went to our little organic farm down the road and got $20 worth of veggies. The corn was excellent.

I’ll have to see how I feel about it over the next week.

I was able to book a night at Nevada Beach for B’s birthday. We may or may not take the tent trailer. Our old van can be used to sleep in so that’s an easier option. We found a nice 2017 Hummingbird RV by Jayco for a terrific price but it’s about 2 hours away. We were pretty gung ho about it but then backed off. I think since we really don’t have other camping plans this year we should save our money till next spring. It was a great price though. If we could see one locally it might make a difference.

It’s a gym day too and that’s it. Don’t need any groceries for a change.

The coming week is busy with 3 days of appts for B. We’ll get thru. After this week we should be on schedule for every 2 weeks. But there’s also my doctor appt and his BMB  early September so that will add some extra driving days. My daughter isn’t working yet so she’ll help with some appts which will be appreciated.

My labs should be in tomorrow. I’m guessing they went up and really there isn’t any more downward trends. So the question will when do we start Velcade again. Since my doctor is very conservative I may have to say I want to start when my Kappa light chains go to 100. It’s hard to know if I’m asymptomatic. But if it’s going the way it is it still may be a while. I went from 19.7 to 22.? to 25.? to ??? So 3 points a time. That’s every 6 weeks. The ratio at 2.33 so that’s above the high normal of 1.65

If I could hold off till next year, B will be in good shape and hopefully not need any interventions.

Who knows? Right?

Keeping on…

Posted in Blood test, Uncategorized by

Things are sailing along. Almost.

B had clinic and labs and all looks good although there has been a steady decline in his numbers. But that is not unusual. He will need an infusion next week of IVIg which is to boost his immune system. That does mean another trip to Sacramento but that’s okay. It might take up to 4 hours so I’ll find something to do or bring a book.

We went to a terrific coffee shop that my son recommended called Philz. Oh my, it was delicious. Like the best coffee ever.  I guess it’s a San Francisco thing but there’s this one in Midtown.

Today is a gym day and then I need a few groceries like Almond milk and cream.

I’m new to Medicare and it’s already a PITA. I got a notice that my doctor visit was not covered, but it was.(????) I called and got 2 different stories from AARP and Medicare. Frustrating, to say the least, and I’m too irritated to do anything else today.

Tomorrow is a new day.

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Simple Sunday

Posted in books, bread, cooking, Flylady, reading, Uncategorized, Walking by

It’s a lovely morning with cool temperatures. The next week does heat up but not till Wednesday.

We had a nice walk in the park although it is noticeably darker at 5:45. We may need to start going just a bit later.

Today is a gym day and then I need a few groceries for some recipes. I’ve really used most all the meat in my freezers and lots of misc. A few quarter bags of veggies got tossed. So it’s looking good in there. I made a slow cooker pineapple jalapeno pork roast and it was quite tasty. I also pulled out my bread maker and made the dough for some bread. Then I baked that in the oven.

 It’s also the bathroom zone which I’m just about to do. Other than that it’s sheet day so I’ll get those in the washer soon too.

The coming week isn’t too busy. Clinic and B’s labs on Tuesday. So we may plan an excursion to Tahoe for the day. A nice picnic or something for a few hours. B can’t be in the sun so we’d need to find someplace that has shade. Meeks Bay on the East side has nice big trees so that may be an option.

I went to the pet bookstore this week and got a good selection of books. I’ve finished 3 of them. One of them called”Dirt” is a funny compilation of different authors takes on housekeeping. It was entertaining.

Dinner is grilled chicken and a salad with some noodles on the side.

Five on Friday

Posted in home improvement, home stuff, husband, Uncategorized by

Not sure I have 5 things as nothing much is going on.

Let’s see…. My daughter is taking B down to the UCD med center pharmacy since we forgot his pills on Tuesday. Kinda a bummer since that’s all we needed. Then they are going to Costco to pick up a few things. B is actually going in but staying away from people but that’s a first.  Then they are going over to Celestino’s to get a pizza for dinner. Yummm.

I going to the gym just to do weights.

Oh, I didn’t update the rib Xrays. So as I mentioned, I had really intense rib pain about 2 weeks ago. I was quite concerned as it felt like in the ‘old’ days of my Myeloma rib fractures. Fortunately, my doctor is very responsive and ordered x rays. So it showed no acute fractures but ‘chronic bilateral fractures’. In other words the ‘old ones’. SO my guess is I pulled muscle around the old fractures and that was the intense pain.  Also, good news is that it seems to be almost gone. But I’m still being careful at the gym and only doing very light weights.

We’ve been walking every morning and it’s definitely darker each day. Or the sun is coming up later:)

Barclay and Sachi finished repairing the dishwasher so that’s very exciting!!!! We now have a working dishwasher again and the part was just under $200. So better than buying a new one.

Both of them, together, finished the cement step outside the front door. As I mentioned, we had hoped to put a deck out there to match the front door level but that would have cost quite a bit, so B came up with the idea of expanding the cement step and leveling the unevenness of the pavers that were there. (  kinda hard to explain but it was not good for ‘older ‘(us) people to step out onto uneven pavers.)

Next, I ordered the 2 windows to replace the ones in the front entryway. They had whatever it’s called when the dual panes get cloudy in between and there is nothing you can do.  So it’s been on our list for a while. Now it’ll take a month to get done but they are at least ordered.

That’s it for now.