We stopped to get coffee then went to the venue. We thought we were getting there early (1/2 hour). Lol. When you have retirees, you have people with time on their hands. It.was.crowded. Brian dropped me off. I'm inside following the crowd. A lady stops me and introduces herself as Susan Tompor of the Free Press. She asks if she could interview me after the meeting, I said sure. I hadn't seen the point of view of the retirees regarding the bankruptcy in the media. I could at least let her know our confusion and how we were finding out more from the media than we were from the City. I gave her my cell number and headed to the room. I got in line to register, paid my dues...I'd already gave $$ to the legal fund. Saw an old friend. "With Open Arms", Rachelle Ferrell". Her range rivals Mariah Carey. Her voice and the arrangement...pure perfection.
The friend tells me they expected around 500 people the previous day. 1500 retirees showed up. And they were on target for 1500 more for the 2nd meeting. Yeah, so many people...standing room only. The officers passed on info, but things were changing so rapidly that what was true the previous week, was no longer relevant. It got to the point that the answer to most questions was, "we won't know until the judge's ruling". But here's the thing. We were being rushed to make decisions that affected our health care and finances, but City was giving us incomplete information or none at all. We left the meeting none the wiser. Let me make it clear that it was not the fault of the retiree association. The meeting was planned when some information came out. Within a week that information was null and void. Everything had changed.
So anyway, the reporter called a few days later. She and a photographer came over and interviewed me and Brian for about an hour. A whole lot was left out of the article, but I think she got the gist of what we think about the situation and the possible impacts. The article was published Sunday. She called me Tuesday after the ruling to get my opinion so I was quoted on Wednesday and Brian's photo was on the front page. Rofl. Finally Brian was part of a montage of photos on Thursday. Lol. Oh yeah, Brian got a call from Guy Gordon of WDIV for an interview request. He declined. I laughed.
I'm off the rage cliff. I guess I needed to vent. And my blood pressure is down. Wednesday is the day the nephrologist visits us at the center. He checked my machine and saw the my blood pressure was elevated all morning. How high? I was averaging around 185/110! That was way off and out of the norm since I'd been trending ridiculously low. Anyway doc changes my blood pressure meds. I took them yesterday and now I'm back to normal. Kidney failure is doing a number on me. "Another Star", Stevie Wonder. He is so talented.
I got my Medicare card and some info. The mailing instructed me to go and apply for Medicare Part D, drug coverage. I went to the web site. I was confused. The Medicare site gave me 31 Part D plans and about 30 Medicare Advantage Plans and the associated premiums. WTH? Lol. I called Blue Cross instead. Lol. I'm good for now because the City is covering us until at least February 28, 2014. I'll revisit this in late January / early February. Just for clarification. ESRD, End Stage Renal Disease, is considered a disability because not to many of us can afford to pay for dialysis out of picket. Also, apparently my meds come in at $17K a year! The cost of one of the meds I take is exorbitant.
I need to shop for my 2 kids this weekend for the Adopt a Child event. I'm looking forward to shopping and the event! Have a great weekend. Signing off with, "Just Gets Better With Time", The Whispers. Slow dance time!!!
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