Just one, is insanity! When you decide to "string" them all together, it almost feels like I am writing some fiction novel. Some of the things that have happened, it just seems impossible that any one human could withstand the pressure, stress, and the trauma I've endured. What I am about to include below is just a week or so worth of "happening. Honestly due to the "brain fog" I am just in a place that I can't even type. I find myself misspelling everything, or it is like I can never have my fingers on the right keys. Now this morning, I've lost my "coupons". Yesterday, I went grocery shopping and I had them with me. I remember having them and in fact I thought I had laid them down in one of my reusable bags. I was going to look through them this morning and they are just gone! Alone with the "sales papers" from WalGreens and and CVS, etc! I swear I had left one in the basket and someone really snapped those up. Those coupons, if you really think about it are almost like "money". when you are saving 50 cents, a dollar, 2 or 3 dollars, 25 cent 5, 4, 6 of them. Believe me I've walked out and save 40% on grocery bills. And at WalGreens and CVS, there are times I actual "save" over 50%! I have came in and the total I saved is more than I spent! Anyway, of course, there but it is true and a great tip. With all of our market products going UP, UP, UP and no DOWN in sight, every dime is going to help in one way or the other saved.
Before I copy and paste my latest rant on my own life's mysteries... I have a question for you...
WHY when you go into a DOCTOR'S OFFICE do they ALWAYS ASK YOU, "How are you feeling or doing today? NOW if I were doing "okay" I would probably NOT standing in this office!!!
I know there are times we go in for a "wellness" check, etc.. so we might not be extremely ill. Yet, when they look down on the computer or think back that you have called in that day for a "sick visit" then asking how you are is just is about stupid, as spitting out of the back of a truck going 30 miles an hour down the road!
I've come to have this statement "embedded" in my mind! And it stands so True for Me!
"It's Damned if I DO!!!! "And it 's DAMNED if I don't"
"And Now for the rest of the mess"
I wanted to let all of you know I've received THREE letters back from Senator Cornyn on 3 emails I'e sent him. He has definitely read what I wrote or someone in his "team" answered them, and just make it appear as if the Senator is "listening". He has sent emails in regard to "health care", "the payment doctors are "not getting paid" in regard to especially Medicare issues, and also is addressing more money going for research & the allocation of funds to National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to try and help with all illnesses especially those of the chronic nature such as Lupus, RA, Diabetes and so forth. I was a bit hesitant to be "thrilled" because he is usually not one of the Senators that I really agree with. But pieces of what he said in each email gave me a bit of hope that there possibly maybe changes of a good nature coming along the pipeline. I think the government in general is seeing that they HAVE to step UP to the plate, pay our "good physicians" properly, and give them incentives to continue to keep their practices open. Without any type of government aid of any kind, whether it be a larger pay from Medicare and Medicare Advantage Plans, or incentives due to being "doctors that are superior" in helping their patients, while paying staff properly, keeping the good nurses on, and yet keeping costs down as much as they can without "harming" patients or those who work for them and need a decent salary, we are doomed! We already have a drastic shortage of MD's, when it comes to Family Doctors, and those who are regular MD's, who are not in the "specialized" business. Without our PCP, (Primary Care Physicians) we would certainly be in huge trouble. And without incentives for those types of physicians to be able to know when they graduate, they can pay off all of their student loans in a reasonable amount of time, be able to pay a staff and have a decent practice without feeling like they must take an over abundance of patients just to survive paying loans off, paying for their practice, a family, the insurance that is so high that goes along with being a physician, and also be able to take people's insurance, including Medicare, Medicare Advantage Plans, and Medicaid... then Doctors will NOT go into a General Practice. Our doctors are "specializing" us right out of the good old days when our physicians did it all. They saw you for a cold and the flu, they delivered babies, they took out gall bladders, they saw you in the ER in the middle of a weekend to sew you up, or to see you in the middle of the night when you were ill. Those days of doctors are gone. Well, not entirely. Now we are seeing these new types of practices where you "pay" a certain fee a year and you get those types of services. But, usually it is a fee you pay up front each year, and you do not file insurance and so forth. They are more known as a "concierge" type of physician. Yet, these types of physicians and their type of care does not come "cheap". Those annual fees are extremely expensive, and usually only the more "lucrative type of patient" can afford that type of coverage. So, that still leaves us without our "old fashioned" family physician. It is a huge and looming situation that those of us that are in a "chronic illness" type of situation see the "downfall" of the medical world around us. We cannot get the care we need, We cannot get the proper diagnosis, the medications, the labs and tests, or the proper care of any type, due to the high cost of it all. And even those of us with insurance, Medicare, a Medicare Advantage Plan, Medicaid and so forth are "losing the battle" also, because again doctors are not getting paid by these entities without a fight! Thus, they cannot keep their doors open to their practice without getting paid by those companies. Then they drop the companies and who can afford to pay out of pocket cash for treatments and medications? Have you looked lately at one of your print outs from your prescriptions when you pick it up from your pharmacy's? Like Wal-Greens, WM, CVS and so forth. I look at what mine say as far as what I "paid" versus what it would have cost me without my "insurance" paying. Medications that are even generic with costs of $500.00. $750.00, $2,500.00 for a MONTH'S supply! There is absolutely NO WAY those of us chronically ill or just ill for a flu and so forth can afford to pay those kinds of charges out of pocket for medications! It is insanity to think we can. Even "richer" folks would go broke paying $3,500.00 a month for a medication. But, my Aunt's cancer medication is like that. In the first place it is difficult to get, and in the 2nd place it is something like $4,000.00 a month, for 30 pills! Why they at one time were what I would call "well off"... and even at that, there is no way that they could afford those kinds of costs on medications! They have found help that does pay for the medications, but not all are the fortunate, So, WE, and I mean ALL of us, are going to have to do OUR PART, and let our thoughts be known. We have got to stand up as a nation together, solidified, and let the insurance companies, the government, the pharmacies, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies know WE are NOT going to take this "mess" as an answer anymore. It is time to find a solution, to be finding treatments, finding answers and diagnosis more quickly, getting doctors trained and better equipped to find out what is wrong, and get us properly treated in the nick of time, not after it is too late. Like myself... due to the Sjogren's, which honestly, up until the last year when all of my teeth are literally rotting and falling out of my mouth in pieces has any doctor been concerned over the Sjogren's. If I do not mention it, they never say a word. I am the one that had to research it and ask to try the 2 medications for it. Which neither are very good, but I am on one of them. Now, I face Lord knows what, There is so "good" solution honestly. I just had another tooth pulled Monday, and I am sure I face at least 6 more, maybe even more than that that must be pulled. There is no hope for them. Then the few I have that are "patched" just to keep them there, are possibly not long for falling to pieces also. Because none of this was addressed 7, 10, 12 years ago, before the decay set in, now it is TOO LATE. And come to find out (first of all I NEVER wanted dentures and the thought of not having my own teeth still just almost makes me sick to my stomach) even those... even the latest, "implants" are really NOT a GOOD SOLUTION for anyone with Sjögren's!!! Due to the Lack of saliva, those are difficult to deal with in the mouth. I still must find ways to keep my mouth moist constantly, by chewing certain sugar free gums with Xyitol in them, or sipping certain things like green tea, water, things without sugar and without acid in them. But even at that, still it is difficult to do. Plus the entire thing with the dental implants, is not done "over night". It can take up to a YEAR to completely finish the process. Which usually involves 2 surgeries, to get the implants in place, maybe more if your bone is not stable in the jaw, thus bone implant must be done first, then the implants put in, then the special dentures that "snap" down on those implants made to fit properly. So, it is a huge ordeal, and expensive one and one that takes time to do and to heal. It is insanity! this is just one piece of the puzzle, and this puzzle is more than 1,000 pieces. It is more like 10,000 pieces and growing each day. The ONLY end we will ever see in sight is to stand up and tell them (our Senators, Our Representatives, Our Government ... all of them) we want better, and we want all of this insanity stopped! We deserve proper health care, at a proper price... and our health care workers deserve a proper salary, with decent working times and decent working conditions... it is a vicious cycle and it will NOT end unless we stand UP and MAKE IT! ONE VOICE can move mountains... think what 100,000, or a MILLION voices can do!
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