My Chronic Life

As I wrote in my recent post about gaining weight, I’m starting to do my best to change my eating habits. It hasn’t been easy since we were recently at Disney for 3 days and visiting my Aunt at the Rehab Center means not eating at home too often.

What I’ve tried to do is eat meals at the Rehab Center if they are healthy. Believe it or not, they are not very often. I looked for some restaurants today that are not fast food places and that offer salads and other foods that will help me with losing weight. I found a Cuban restaurant where I know I can find rice and beans and a place that has pitas and salads. I’ll probably go to those to see if the food is better when there’s things like sandwiches and chips for lunch at the Rehab Center.

Now that we’re home, I’m eating more fruits and vegetables. I bought my vegetables that I like to put in salads. Tomorrow I’ll cut them up so all I’ll need to do is mix them together and possibly add tuna, chicken or sardines. I also have whole grain rice mixes. They do have a lot of salt so if I eat them I’ll be sure to add beans but no dressing.

I do treat myself to a piece of chocolate every day or some other small piece of candy. That’s my treat after I’ve eaten a good healthy meal.

Slowly, but surely I’m making the changes in my eating habits so I can stick to them. I’m not expecting dramatic weight loss either.

My Aunt is in a rehab center for physical and occupational therapy after falling and breaking her shoulder and cheekbone. She was having trouble with her balance and walking prior to the fall and is even worse now. She of course only has the use of one arm and hand and it is not her dominant one. She’s a lefty and broke her left shoulder.

I guess with everything that has happened to her, the fall, the surgery, the anesthesia, her prior poor medical condition and her chronic illnesses, it is quite difficult for her to take to learning how to use her right hand. She is also very weak and it takes two people to get her to stand up from a seated position. I hope and pray that she is well enough to go home when her days are up in the rehab center. If that isn’t so, then I hope that we are able to get her more time there.

We visited her this evening and although we are very pleased with this place, she was sitting in her room with a roommate that sleeps all the time. The room was so dark. She is not by the window and it seemed a bit dreary there. I wish they had better lighting, maybe something like Quoizel lighting.

But it was a cloudy day and many of the residents were napping as it was later in the day. I promised myself to focus on the positives of the place. Of course I won’t ignore it if there are any problems, but I’m not going to get upset over small things, especially after what she went through in the hospital.

She did have both therapies today. They are still monitoring her while she eats to check on her swallowing. That pleases us a great deal. We also talked to the nurse about her arm sling as it keeps slipping and her arm is no where close to where it should be. She came into her room right away and rigged up something with a pillow while she’s seated to keep her arm up.

Now that’s good care, even in a rehab center!

After learning that our prescription co-pay is going to increase dramatically and that our youngest daughter is most likely going to need oral surgery again and some orthondontic work, we decided to sign up for my husband’s employer’s Flexible Spending Account for health expenses. We expect our medical costs to go up at least 30% with just my prescription costs alone.

What they are doing is increasing the cost for brand name prescriptions from $35 for a 90 day supply to $65 for the first 90 days and then $50 for each 90 days thereafter. Almost all of my medications are brand name drugs. And I am on a lot of medications, none of which Medicare covers since it is my secondary insurance.

We are very fortunate to have good health coverage, but this big change is difficult for us to cover ourselves. I doubt that anyone in the middle class could with the way the economy is. The way things are now, even doctors, especially those paying off their medical school loans and definitely people with Wall St jobs are in the middle class. I’m sure they are scrambling to meet their bills too.

Do you have any changes coming up for your medical costs?

As much as my husband hates to talk about end of life issues, especially concerning me, I finally got him to listen to my wishes that I have written down on my Living Will. He knew that I had completed one way back when I had major surgery called a thymectomy. But I felt the need to go over my wishes again since it was so long ago.

Another issue that I want to talk to him about is my lack of life insurance. I’m going to wait a bit to discuss this though. Too much too soon can be overwhelming. Plus it will give me some time to get a life insurance quote first.

I am not the type of person who just ignores things, even difficult topics. Our personalities about this clash a lot. But knowing what we want at the end of our lives is so important.

There are TV Commercials that really make me angry. They are the ones concerning health issues. There’s all those prescription ads that make it seem like a pill or injection will cure you for everything. Then you hear at the end of them that voice telling you about the side effects.

What about the ads for any product that supposedly helps you lose weight? Ever check out those before and after photos? And the people they show look perfect, no cellulite, bumps, nothing.

I don’t like commercials for OTC pain medicine, like aspirin, acetaminophen and ibufronen. Many of the brand names make it seem like they can cure any type pain and to take anything else is being a sissy. The ones that talk about arthritis pain and migraines are the worst in my opinion.

What about the ones that use doctors to hawk their goods? If they don’t have an MD or DO after their names, they are not medical doctors. Always check that out.

Have you heard commercials for law firms that are suing over medical conditions like mesothelioma and cerebal palsy? I think they make people look at having an illness in terms of a financial win fall.

What are some television ads about health that annoy you?

Maureen from Being Chronically Ill Is A Pill awarded me the Superior Scribbler Award. She also said such kind things about me for which I am so grateful.

Maureen is a somewhat new blogger, but you wouldn’t know it by reading her posts. She really puts her heart into all of writing and takes some fantastic photos too. You don’t need to have a chronic illness to enjoy her blog as she covers a lot of subjects. Whenever I read a post, I come away learning something about her. She makes me think and everyone can use that! Go check her out.

Here are the rules for the blog:

* Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.

* Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

* Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.

* Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!

* Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

I am passing it on ~ but I am also telling those I send it to to refuse the award if they don’t have time or energy to keep it going! Just know I was thinking of you and letting you know how much I enjoy your blogs.

1. Chronic Chick at Chronic Chick Talk
2. Sophia at Healthy Perspectives
3. Julia at Reasonably Well
4. Shilrley at Sweet Resistance
5. Mandy at Texas Medical Freak

Take some time to visit these bloggers too. Enjoy!