The "When The Visit to the Doctors Office is Fun", edition.

Good morning.  Yesterday I went to my monthly doctor visit. Actually, we can call it the monthly care team meeting. A most exciting 45 minutes.  I'll start out with my insurance issues. They never seem to end, do they?  Last week I received a letter from Humana indicating that my Humana SNP (Special Needs Plan) had been canceled because they never received the confirmation form...the form signed by my doctor that I was special needs...ESRD (End Stage Renal Diseass). Wait!  What?! The social worker told me she sent the signed form back to Humana in February.   Not only that I'd received the form in the  mail from Humana in March.  I gave it to the social worker and she called the Humana rep and she was assured that the original signed form was on record. So imagine my panic when I received the termination letter last week?  I called Humana that same day and they said yep, terminated at the end of April, but if I get the signed verification form in before the end of April, service will continue. I contacted the social worker who contacted Humana and was told, there has been no interruption in my coverage. 

Ok. What's going on?  I called back a few days later and now I'm told, my coverage was fine. WTH?  I asked for documentation to be mailed to me to indicate that I was covered. Soooo. On Monday I receive ... A verification form. Lol lol. That's fine. I had my care team appointment on Tuesday.  Since I'm meeting my doctor, I'll have him sign it and mail it back myself. 

As we arrive, I was met by the social worker. I told her about the form. She said she'd been told that there had been a glitch at Humana. All of the SNP enrollees got the termination letter. The social worker took the letter and she said she'd get the signatures and would send it in a third time. Before I left the appointment, she had been in contact with Humana regarding my form and it looks like that issues is over. The plan is a Medicare Advantage plan and it covers most of my dialysis costs, some  dental and vision coverage and non dialysis medical visits. It's not as good as my Blue Cross of Mochigan Medicare Advanatge, but it's OK. I get a $50.00 for over the counter stuff. So my Tylenol and and toothpaste, etc are free.  Lol?  And some of my ridiculously priced meds are costing a lot less.  Let me tell you. Having decent health care is a great thing. ...So I won't go on a rant about politicians wanting to get rid of the Acfordable Care Act. Or cutting funds to Medicare.  Freaking idiots. 

So the rest of my care team appointment was ok. We got our supplies replenished. The nurses gave me the dreaded injection of iron. When I get the injection, I can "taste" it. Yuck. And it's a slow injection. I also signed for the meds I have to self administer during treatment. We review the past month of dialysis. My numbers are good. They're satisfied with my blood pressure. Been off BP meds since January!!!!  I met with the doctor who wants me to ease up on the physical activity until I see the cardiologist. 

And finally I meet with the dietician. Actually I met with her first and that set the tone for the rest of the appointment. I received a copy of my lab report. I'd already seen it online. I knew my numbers were good. Great!  So the 2 of the numbers I need to keep down are phosphorous and potassium.  Well, both are on the low range. The low phosphorus allows me to have bit of nuts, chocolate or ice cream. The dietician tells me I need to increase my potassium!!!!  ????   :-D  Whoo hoo!  What's does that mean?  Well back track. She wants me to eat high potassium foods everyday.  Ok I need to stop hyperventilating.  It means I haven't had a banana in 3 years and now I can have one. I can eat some guacamole. Or have avocado on a sandwich. I can have a glass of orange juice. Or a baked potato with skin.  Or as Shawn told me, I can have Bananas Foster!!!!  Best desert ever!!!!   I'm just so giddy!  Anyway, that being said, I was having potatoes (fries, hash browns) and/tomatoes up to 3 times a week anyway...  But by dialyzing every day, the potassium is being flushed out daily, so I need to replenish it!!!  Happy dance. A serving of a high potassium food every.single.day. 

Finally, we received the documentation and equipment we need to travel. I have a letter signed by the doctor letting the airline know that we are transporting life saving equipment. And the case for the machine. Geeez. It's huge. And it's going to be heavier with the dialysis machine.  Good thing I've rented an SUV in Illinois!  And we're going to need a portable, collapsible cart/dolly to take with us. My dialysis care team is pretty excited about us traveling. They like having their dialysis patients doing more than just having treatment. I warned them that Brian and I like to travel. They were all, "Go for it!"  

So that was my day. I'm not having bananas fosters today or even upping the potassium today. We need to shop. Lol and I don't have time today!  We have deep water fitness, we need to return to the dialysis center. They forgot..we forgot. We don't have out sharps container for used needles. Also since I received the iron treatment yesterday in my arterial access, I didn't want to stick a needle in the access again later on that evening, so we'll be doing the treatment today that we skipped tonight. And. We have our drawing class tonight. So yeah. We have a full day. But tomorrow. Tomorrow!!!  A banana. Or avocado. Or something!!!  Lol. 

Have a wonderful day.  ....maybe banana pudding.............

Banana Foster

The cooking, carmelization of Bananas Foster.  

Happy Face!!!!