Category Archives: medicare

Friday things…

Posted in cooking, decluttering, meal planning, medicare, Uncategorized, Walking by

I ended up sending a bouquet of flowers from Farmgirl Flowers to Heidi’s family. Honestly, I’m not good at what is appropriate in these matters. But I figured they would at least send a nice message of our thoughts are with them all and we miss Heidi. We haven’t really heard anything but her oldest daughter did write a nice obituary. We found some photos of the fun times we had when she came out. I might try and put them together in an album.

We went to Costco on Sunday and that was a good grocery haul. I didn’t buy any meat but did get the Impossible burgers on sale. We had them one night with all the condiments. They’re good but I’m not really into eating too many highly processed foods like that. Last night I made my excellent spinach mushroom crepes with gruyere cheese sauce. Quite yummy. Tonight is pizza night but none of us feel like pizza so I’ll do something else.

This morning I put together 3 cheese lasagnas for the freezer. I had bought a large container of ricotta at Winco a few weeks back so that’s why I wanted to make the cheese lasagnas.

I plan on swimming tomorrow and then do some decluttering out in the barn. My son is away for the weekend as it’s MLK day on Monday so he has that off. We have a bunch of old posters from our bookstore that need to go the thrift store. Yes, that’s a long time ago but some of them were on the wall in the barn and now they are rolled up. As I’ve said many times decluttering really never ends , it just keeps evolving.

We’ve had some super nice walks this week. Beautiful predawn and sunrise walks.

Here’s a nice picture Barclay took of the table set for dinner.

This is another he took of the sofa.

I haven’t seen any tax stuff come thru so I’m not doing any IRS stuff till it does. It should be easy enough since SS is our only income and we did take some savings for the RV partial payment. I’m guessing whatever we need will be here by the end of the month or early February.

Budget wise, medicare is way up to $170. Even with the 5.9 increase, that pretty much uses that up. On top of that both are Part D prescription plans almost tripled. I probably should have researched other plans but I was too lazy to do the necessary work. This fall I will though to see if we can get it cheaper although the little bit I did check, these plans we stayed with went to no deductible as opposed to the $400 deductible before so maybe that was the difference.

Frugal Friday, again NOT!

Posted in medicare, Uncategorized by

Oh well, It’s not like I’m spending money for Christmas because we are not doing gifts this year. But it’s annual bills and life stuff that keep the money flowing out. I got a dentist bill this week so that’ll need to be paid. We have Delta Dental but it only pays a portion. It’s too bad Congress couldn’t pass the spending bill with the addition of vision and dental for us older folk. I’m not sure it’s worth paying the Delta Dental but I guess it does pay for cleanings. Same with the VSP(vision plan). I’m sure we are getting any big benefit. I guess next year I’ll check it out as to cost-effectiveness.

I went into Winco yesterday after swimming and spent $180. Not bad considering I bought holiday wine and beer for B. We’ll need to do Costco before Christmas mostly for coffee. Of course, all manner of things will jump into the cart no doubt.

Today, I’m going to get my Tdap shot because I haven’t had a tetanus booster in like, forever. From there I might do a few errands. I want to get into Target for a large bin for our down sleeping bags.

Update: I just got back from the worst experience at Walgreens about the TDap shot. My appt was for 9am. By 10:30 am I was still not called and there were about 20 people in line or waiting. So finally she calls and says there’s a co-pay. And I’m like what?? why didn’t you tell me that a 9am. So I said, forget it, I’ll check with my provider. Well, as it turns out medicare doesn’t cover the Dtap so Uhc won’t either. I’m fine with that except don’t make me wait an hour and a half to tell me. ARGGGG…..

Anyway, I’m home and ready to do a few chores and potter around.

The state of affairs.

Posted in cancer, cooking, husband, medicare, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

Things are good this week with 2 doctor appointments down.

B had clinic on Tuesday and I drove him to UCD med center as it was an early appointment so there was traffic.  He’s back on prednisone for a rash but it is minor and seems gone now.  I sat in the car dealing with the financial fallout from the Cobra.  What has happened is this: His group insurance ended as of 7/31 and that’s when we initiated the Cobra thinking at $700 a month that would take care of all the bills.

Ha!!! NOw UHC Cobra is still saying because he was Medicare ELIGIBLE they won’t cover the full costs. WTF????? Well, long story short, after numerous calls we are on the hook for the August appointments.  I made payment arrangements while I was waiting for him to finish up at clinic.  All his appointments from then on were covered by Medicare. But we still were paying the Cobra till actually just the end of last month( January). Not sure this was necessary but open enrollment hadn’t quite started so even though we could have signed him up with special circumstances, we just left the cobra in place.

All I can say is if you’re ever faced with losing group coverage and have to go on Cobra …DON”T.  Overall, the cost factor doesn’t cut it or you need to absolutely clear what the cover. In our case, I just assumed everything was covered.

So then yesterday, I had to drive back down to Mercy cancer center for my appointment.  It’s kinda what I thought he would say is yes, it’s going up but too soon to start treatment and to keep thinking of this as smoldering myeloma.  So it’s watch and wait. That’s okay and when the time comes and my numbers are going up faster, I’m sure we will move ahead.

Today, I’m going to do some cooking. I’ve made hardboiled eggs and I’m going to make the olive and feta topping again. Plus I ‘going to grill some chicken for lunches and dinner. I think I’ll grill some onions while I’m at it.

I have some house chores to catch up on and then I’m going to hit the gym.

 

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, husband, medicare, Uncategorized, Walking by

It’s still cloudy and chilly here in Northern California. There was a big storm that came thru Wednesday and Thursday with I 80 getting closed due to spin-outs. The temperatures are supposed to go into the mid50’s and low 60’s next week so that’s better.

When it’s this chilly which is all relative, I don’t wander around outside much but I’ve decided to start doing at least 15 min outside even if it’s just raking.

Of course, I walk most mornings very early and it’s quite freezing. Literally 32 degrees, but somehow that’s just my MO.

I’ve had jury duty this week and I go one day next week. It’s all quite interesting but for me, with my IBS, I get quite nervous about bathroom access. I did fine because I didn’t eat in the morning.  I’m keeping track of what I’m eating to see what, if any, pattern there is. Plus I am somewhat claustrophobic so being confined to the jury room is a little stressful.  But I made it along with 12 others.

I’m definitely not used to being out all day and that was very stressful. My daughter made dinner both nights so that was nice.

I canceled the medical part of the Cobra so hopefully, that went thru as you do it by email. It takes up to 7 business days to reflect so I’ll be checking the online site. We did request to keep the dental and vision at least until I get that covered by something else. What do other people do? Is it AARP that has a separate dental plan and what about vision?

B was also able to get the very last of his 2019 SDI because we had the doctor say he was still disabled. It wasn’t a lot but it will certainly help.

We went to Costco and did some grocery shopping and filled the car up with Costco gas.

I read that there has been a norovirus at Yosemite from mainly people eating at the Ahwahnee so now we are decided to probably not go since we cannot even risk B getting something like that as it could activater his GvsH.  we have some time to think about it but there are other places we can go. We’ll see…..

I didn’t get to the gym today so I will go tomorrow.

 

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, camping, cooking, Flylady, home improvement, home stuff, husband, kitchen remodel, MDS, medicare, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

It’s been a nice week although weird again with the holiday in the middle of the week. I kept thinking Thursday was Monday. Oh well, it seems that we’re back on course and today is Sunday.

We did a shop a Costco on Friday and didn’t overdo it. I bought extra coffee and TP so we won’t need to ‘run’ down there for those things. We are eyeing a new TV though. Ours is about 8 years old and still works but the sound quality isn’t the best. There are some sales for the super bowl so if I think we can swing it, I will.

B’s last SDI was this last week too. He did get a notice to have his doctor fill out a form about not returning to work, so I’m not sure if they would extend his benefits to use up the little he has left or if it’s just paperwork. What I read is the maximum award is 12months, so we’ll see. We’ll try and do that next week although he sees his doctor on Tuesday and I’m sure it won’t be in the mail by then.

This month will be the big test of how we do without the SDI. I know it’s going to be an adjustment. But at least we have no big bills in January just the car tags for the old van. Still, that’s $150. I have been saving quite a bit of the SDI so that I know I won’t be adding to the savings.

Also, we had to call on his Cobra as, just as expected, the Noxafil prescription came in at$1200.  This amount was the Medicare Part D prescrpiton plan that I’m not planning on using that’s why we’re paying the Cobra amount. I am not paying that much money when last month it was 0.00 co-pay.  So he called and the Cobra payment letter was just going out. So we did it online and then now we have to wait for it to get activated by the prescription plan. After that, we still don’t know what the co-pay will be since we haven’t reached any yearly deductible.  It’s all unsettled right now but next week we should know and hopefully, it’ll be resolved.

Plus we know that within a few months Noxafil will be reduced or eliminated so then we will cancel the Cobra and just use the Medicare Part D as all his other drugs are Tier 2. I think it’s only Noxafil that is Tier 5. What a Fucking scam is all I have to say.

Today is a gym day and we will go for our walk shortly.

Flylady zone is the kitchen and I’ll start that today but finish tomorrow.

I made a new recipe last night from another blogger( Teresa Kasner)

She lives along the Columbia River in an old beautiful farmhouse. Her pictures are outstanding. So the recipe was for Chicken with potatoes and spinach in a creamy parmesan sauce. It was good.

This week is Clinic for Barclay and our overnight trip. Plus whatever stress with the prescription stuff comes up.:(

I started a list of projects for the year and we’ll see how far we get.

  1. to drop the wood stove to floor level so that the footprint is lower and less of an eyesore. We built the platform specifically so we wouldn’t be bending to put wood in but it does take up a lot of floor space. This won’t cost a lot except added stove pipe( which is pricey) but we won’t need a lot. And some stone for the floor. Our woodstove is quite efficient and we will keep it for a few more years. Eventually, we will put in a gas/propane stove. But that’s maybe 5 years out still.
  2. We will be replacing windows in my daughter’s room. This will be maybe @ $1000 as it will be 2 windows replacing one large one. The Anderson windows we bought last summer are great and very energy efficient. So that ended up @ $800( I think).
  3. I’d like to also replace the bathroom window. Same size but just more energy efficient. All the windows in the house we’re replaced when we remodeled but they are now 25 years old so an upgrade will be nice.
  4. I don’t think we will get to any bathroom remodel this year.
  5. I think we are going to try and redo some of the kitchen. The biggest thing is the counters and sink( pipes underneath) really need to be redone. Getting a new pantry system from Ikea will be first on the list as that will be freestanding.

There’s always garden work and yard work. That’s kinda ongoing.

Barclay’s official retirement date is January 30. That’s 25 years. It’s hard to let go of, I think, because of the way it all happened with him getting sick. But how incredibly lucky we are for modern science that has given him a new chance without cancer. Even I can’t say that, although I have been extraordinarily lucky that my Myeloma has responded to treatment. Well, it is what it is.

AE52C58B-6FCA-47BF-BA64-620BDBE3330C.jpeg

61FBB322-7A10-4DAC-98FD-9E0EC2D84FEF.jpeg

8B49F1D0-3CCA-4332-BD04-A78B50242DC9

This was our dinner the other night. A small piece of filet mignon and a Beyond Meat sausage( which are delicious BTW).

 

 

Midweek Musings

Posted in cancer, cooking, MDS, medicare, simple foods, Uncategorized by

We had a nice drive to Sacramento yesterday for B’s clinic appt. Traffic moved fairly well thru the usual difficult areas( where I -80 merges to Business 80) and the downtown area.  His appt went well and the good news is they have reduced his Tacrolimus to every other day. This is the biggest drug that targets keeping at bay Graft vs Host. So we need to watch for any flare-ups but the NP was pretty confident that this is the time to start. So that means maybe by February he can go off Noxafil which is the Tier 5 that we are holding on to paying the Cobra for. Actually, with the plan set to restart in January, we’re not sure if the Cobra co-pay will reset( I’m assuming it will) and that means, well, I’m not sure how much the co-pay will so that’s a big question mark.

We are set up with Plan D medicare for him but that’s not what we’ll use as that immediately goes to Tier 5 and the 25% start. So way to much $. I guess we will just need to wait and see how it plays out. I’m hoping we can drop the Cobra by March.

After clinic we went to Trader Joes and OMG it was a madhouse. I almost walked right back out. But we managed thru and I got what we needed for Christmas( fondue, and ham) and lots of good food( french fries, they have the best frozen) and other things including TJ’s wine!

We stopped for a pizza slice and then headed home.

Today is a gym day. And then I need to hit Home depot for a bulb for my salt lamp.  Then home to bake some more cookies and maybe make the fudge.

Tonight is a new recipe for a spinach pie. One of the very few memories I have of my mother and this was not when I was young but @ 16, she made a spinach pie that was like a pizza. My sister doesn’t remember it so I’ve been trying to recreate it. This recipe calls for ricotta so maybe that’s what she used.

I’ll update after it’s done and give a review.

 

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, frugalism, medicare, Uncategorized by

I’m not too sure anything these days is all that frugal. We still have medical bills coming in that the Cobra insurance(UHC) says we owe due to the fact B was medicare ELIGIBLE but was in fact not on Medicare. WTF! At least it was for only the one month as far as I can determine. But we could appeal but I doubt that we would win it. So payments on that for a while.  So NOT frugal. Or maybe it will keep us more frugal as that money cant be spent elsewhere.  No, I think it would go straight to savings.

I’ve got most everything for Thanksgiving but realized I still need the nut loaf ingredients. I have the brown rice but the binder is cottage cheese and I need mushrooms too. But I can get those next week at our local Holiday Market.

The dental surgery co-pay was $196 so that was worth having the Cobra for as it would have been @ $1500 so that’s good. I seemed to have a reaction thought to something as I started sneezing and my sinuses went berserk. But the oral surgeon seemed to think it was a cold even though I told him I had no cold. Anyway, it’s better today.

Still, no tree guys so that money is ‘hanging’ out in our checking so that’s a savings ( sorta).

I’m not going to the gym as I’m going to Walmart for a pickup and then to the bank to get a notarization. B sold his motorcycle to someone in Nevada and it was signed wrong so I need to sign a paper that says I signed it wrong .P.I.T.A.  Plus I’m still not feeling 100%. He did lose quite a bit by selling the Honda as he bought it new. But that’s the way it goes.

Dinner is pizza and I’m going to try Whole Foods refrigerator dough to compare to T.J’s. I’ll report back.

 

I

 

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, cancer, Flylady, home stuff, medicare, Multiple myeloma, Uncategorized by

Well, it’s a new week starting and I’m glad. Last week really was never-ending with stuff to do and I felt stressed all week.

We did get B signed up for Medicare Part D. We actually won’t use it for his Noxafil( Tier 5 drug) because it will be $4900. So we will keep the Cobra for now so that his prescriptions are covered that way. Hopefully, that will work. He won’t be on Noxafil forever, just maybe 3-4 more months.  So he is on Medicare and all signed up for Plan F and Part D.

This week I see my eye doctor for my quarterly check on my macular pucker. I’ll need my eye dilated which I hate. But it has to be done. I can’t see a lot out of my right eye but my left eye makes up for it.  Although when I went to renew my license and get the Real ID, I had to take the eye test and didn’t realize they test your eyes individually.  I panicked a little as I know that eye is around 20/60. but I squeaked by. Next time I’m not so sure. I could have surgery but it’s not guaranteed. But I still may go that route yet.

Other than that it will be a slow week and I need it.

I plan on going to the gym 3 times and keep walking in the mornings.

The fall chores are getting done and B has been busy doing stuff that needs attention. Painting, fixing some concrete steps, tidying the yard, putting away BBQs and all the fall things that need doing.

This week I plan on doing some painting outside on the window trim. That was the 2 windows he put in last month.

In not so good news, my Kappa light chains jumped 13points up. And my kappa/ lambda ratio really jumped to 3.68 mg/L. That’s because when my Kappa goes up my Lambda stays low so the ratio goes up.  Well, Fuck it, not much I can do and I do feel ok. I see Dr. L  at the very end of the month so once again, I’ll bring up when to start. I hope it can wait till 2020. I figure 2 more months and if it goes up 2 more times and hasn’t , hit 100 I can hold off on treatment. I don’t mind going back into treatment when necessary, it’s the dexamethasone that is so difficult. I pretty much lose 2 days a week. Oh well, F#*k it all. I’ve been doing this since 2005 so I guess I should be used to it. Although you kinda know you’ve been a cancer patient for so long, your family members forget to ask how your labs are.

This week is the kitchen zone so I will start that today.

Our fall weather is really spectacular. Leaves are turning and the mornings are chilly but by afternoon it’s just perfect. We had a fire outside last night because I wanted to.

It’s been a busy but productive week

Posted in Bone marrow transplant, camping, cancer, MDS, medicare, Uncategorized by

We had a nightmare drive to Sacramento on Tuesday. I have to say this really was the first time it was so awful. First off, we stopped to get gas and the car in front of us( so we couldn’t get to the pump) had what appeared to be someone living out of their car. We waited politely and waited and finally, I backed up and zoomed around to get to another pump.  The lady must have been in the bathroom washing, but then after she pumped her gas she proceeded to wash her car windows. I was getting frustrated at this point and this put us almost 15 minutes behind.

Then traffic was really heavy for some reason and I knew we would be late for B’s infusion appt( to flush his port and labs). We were 20 minutes late. That is a first.

Well, it all ended great with the NP telling us that the BMB results were excellent and chimera was 99%. Truly science is amazing.

We both got our Flu shots and both are arms a little sore. But not too bad. So that’s done.

B got his LLS reimbursement for the insurance so that’s a big deal and in the coming months will make a huge difference. Thank You LLS donors who make these grants possible.

Today I’m heading into AAA to sign up for the home insurance( that they canceled  and we now will be with them but they’re underwritten.) Plus it’s about $600. more annually. WTF!!!!

I might go to the gym afterward or I may just flake. I’ll see how it goes.

I was trying to plan another mini trip to Capitola but Airbnb’s are really expensive and so are hotels. We decided not to spend money on that. I checked New Brighton but it is all full, probably with retirees in huge RVs. 😦

Barclay is still processing going back to work but I don’t want to give up his SDI yet. That money is non-taxable so we will not owe next year. But it only goes thru December and that’s it. But it has been a huge blessing. If he goes back it won’t be his old job as that’s been given to a co-worker and he couldn’t really travel like he did.  His boss has indicated he could do something from home ( ideal ) but he’s still not sure. He’s only 4 1/2 months post-transplant and most people don’t go back to work for a year or not at all.

If anyone has any thoughts or input I’d appreciate the ideas as we definitely conflicted about it.

th

Friday things

Posted in home stuff, medicare, Uncategorized by

It has been a productive week and a really good one.

We got back from Tahoe on Tuesday and we were both a little tired. The sun is quite intense at that altitude and it can really dehydrate you. Even in the best of times it usually takes me a day to kinda get back to normal. But it was wonderful.

We have had some issues figuring out some of the Medicare stuff and we now have a clear path. B signed up for the AARP supplemental Plan F. That plan will not be offered after January 2020 ( I think that’s the date) so it’s the most comprehensive for him.

But we did run into some issues with Part D.  The issue is one of his medications is a Tier 5 , so out of pocket to start she said, $4900. Then $900 a month. Ahhh, no . This was AARP’s Walgreen program.  So here’s what we’re doing. We will continue to pay the Cobra at $700 a month while he needs the Noxafil. That should be for another 4-6 months. Once that’s done we can leave the Cobra behind. I am going to sign him up for Part D thru one recommended on the Medicare website( the Express scripts).  But we won’t use it for the NOxafil or any of his anti-rejection drugs till he’s off the Tier 5 ones. I may have him call today to verbally confirm they’re price levels. So all in all, good.

We are in for 3 days of rain so a change in the weather.