The "It's Been Just Over Six Months Since We Left Detroit", edition.

Can you believe it?  Only six months. It seems much longer as we've settled in.  And I mean much longer in a good way!  Well first let me describe our winter experience. The last 2-3 weeks have been unseasonably warm out here. And make no mistake, we're loving it. However, it did get pretty cool by late November. Morning temps would be in the high 30s, low 40s and I was prepared.  I was heading to dialysis at 4:30 AM, before the sun came up and it was chilly. Yes, I know, chilly, not cold. But still. I realized in October that the wool coat I brought with me was going to be overkill. Hey!  I got rid of all of my boots and the rest of my winter coats before I moved. I thought I might need the winter coat. Well not this winter. 

I purchased a lightly lined jacket. I did need a hat so I purchased one and somehow I had left a pair of gloves in the car when it was shipped to Las Vegas. And I used them. I also got a pair of "fashion" boots that eventually got too warm to wear. ;-(  But once I didn't need to get up and out so early, all I needed was a warm cardigan. And now?  People are wearing shorts, tank tops and flip flops. I'm still in jeans, but the warm weather tops have made an appearance, along with my sandals. Now hear me out. A fair amount of buildings we go to still have the heat on and it gets rather warm inside.  So anyway, my wool coat and jacket and boots and hat and gloves are looking forlorn right.  I'm not giving up the wool coat yet, though. And I feel weird wearing summer wear in February, but not that weird. Lol. 

Valentine's Day was actually was a weekend. I don't remember much of what we did on Friday.   I did walk the treadmill mile. Saturday Dad and his friend went to see old friends and they had a great time. Brian and I had Valentine's lunch at Red Lobster. When it came to pay the bill, we were informed that a gentleman who had already left, paid our bill for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I've heard about things like that. We were taken aback. And quite grateful. The waitress got a generous tip and now we will be paying it forward very soon. We then headed to Henderson to a bakery because I wanted a brownie. 

Ok ok. I hear you saying, "Pat!!!! You know what chocolate does to your labs. That'll raise your phosphourus and then you'll be bitching about how the dietician starts talking to you like your in kindergarten. Well you might be correct but.....  Since I started home dialysis a few things have happened. My blood pressure has stabilized. I haven't taken any hypertension meds in about 3 weeks. My average BP is now around 120/80. That hasn't happened in decades!  And my phosphourus numbers?  The range for people on dialysis is 3.0.to 5.5.  And I want to state that my nephrologist suggested that I will probably stop taking the binders that help keep the levels low.  So anyway. My phosphourus level went from 5.6  to 3.0!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'd do backflips if I could. I clearly didn't expect such a dramatic drop so quickly !! And let me tell you. Because of the cost of the phosphourus binders, I hit the Medicare  doughnut hole in February. How much the cost you ask?  Over $1800 a month. It pisses me off the write about it, to think about it. 

And let me digress for a moment. Yes, I have to pay $1800 a month for the phosphourus binders and almost $500 for a drug to control my parathyroid....when I'm in the Medicare doughnut hole.  See, when I was covered under Brian's policy, the cost was split and covered between Blue Cross and Medicare. But I want to thank the City of Detroit, The State of Michgam and the emergency manger for ending the health insurance plans for retirees and making everyone go the the health care marketplace. Brian had to get a policy through the marketplace and I am totally ineligible because I'm on Medicare. And oh yeah, I'm now responsible for 20% copay on all medical costs. Yay me?  This shit costs a lot of money. So if you or anybody starts bitching about entitlements be prepared for me to slap the crap out of through your computer screen. Because I worked hard and made a decent salary, I'm not eligible foradditional  assistance to help cover the costs. And the f---nig city wants to take $60k from me for the clawback. 

Oooweeee.   Rant over.  Breathe Pat, breathe. It does me no good to get upset.  The doughnut hole will close soon because of the high cost of the drugs and I'll go into the catostrophic category and the copay becomes reasonable again. And Nevada is the experimental state for a Special Needs Medicare Advantage program. I'm signing up.  Lol. Apparently I was one of the first people to get involved. So there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And oh yeah. Because I don't have that secondary insurance, I'm suspended on the transplant list. I want to offer my hearty thanks to the City of Detroti. Fuck you. 

Lol. Hmmm I went off script. I made Bang Bang shrimp for dinner on Saturday. It was delicious!  I also fixed rice. I sautéed some onions, used chicken broth instead of water, flavored it with a little chicken bullion. When it was finished I added fresh parsley. Yum o yum!  Yesterday Dad treated us to brunch at Red Rock Resort. After we finished we gambled for about 20 minutes. I played a machine I'd never played before and the all the reels spin to WILD. That, my friends, is called hitting the jackpot!  lol. 

Still warm today. Going up to 78. The weather people are upset because the record won't be broken, but there have been 13 straight days of over 70 and the average temp for this time of year is 63. No complaints from us!  We haven't turned on the air conditioning, but the open window feels really good. 

Stay warm, have a wonderful day and consider visiting us out here.  The hotel rooms are cheap!