Apple Pie to Soothe the Soul

In my feeble attempt to trick my mind into believing that I am not worthless (because I hurt and I don’t work), I try to accomplish at least something every day. Yesterday I made an apple pie.

In the morning I went to the Farmer’s Market in Raleigh and bought a bunch of fresh, delicious apples. I loved that each vendor had samples of the numerous varieties. Side-by-side sampling makes a difference in deciding which tastes better for baking pies or plain eating. Who knew there were so many choices – Black Arkansas, Mutsu, Honey Crisp, Sun Crisp, Golden Crisp, Winesap, etc. YUM! In the afternoon, I baked my pie including a home made crust.

It took me all day. Some of you may laugh – how hard can making a pie be? But for me, the peeling and slicing of 6 cups of apples (maybe 15 minutes max) was torture. With rest and pain medicine, I did it! So that was my accomplishment for Thursday … and breakfast today! YUM!

Barometric Pressure Falls; Sleep Decreases

Wow! The weather changed big time overnight. Yesterday, the Midwest experienced major storms and overnight that front moved into North Carolina. I know because I did not sleep. Changes in barometric pressure affect my body (in the past I kept an excel spreadsheet documenting these changes and my pain level).

My body ached. Lying on my t5 area felt like lying on crushed stones. OUCH! I tried sleeping in the master bed but that wasn’t happening and all I kept doing was waking my husband, so I moved to the guest bed (which is another air bed and fairly comfortable). Still, sleep was not happening. Finally, I got up and put a Flector patch (topical NSAID that surprisingly works for me) on my back and moved to the living room reclining chair. I also took my pain medicine. Finally, around 3:30 am, I got to sleep for about an hour. At around 5 am, I moved back to the guest room bed and slept for another hour or so.

The front moving in made for a very long, short night. I’ll definitely need a nap this afternoon. The barometric pressure is holding steady and I am finally feeling a little less pain. These are the days I think about my mom’s advice to move to the dry, steady climate of Arizona.

Election Day is November 2

I am studying the ballot for the upcoming election. I tend to NOT pay attention to the commercials … especially if they are bad mouthing an opponent. I don’t want to focus on what someone else does badly; I want to know what you ARE going to do – what is your position? It’s easy to whine and complain about others; it’s harder to stand up and give your word and your positions.

As many of you know, I am interested in what the North Carolina legislature is going to do regarding the war on prescription pain medication abuse/addiction/diversion (while not impacting the rights and privacy of people with pain). So, I emailed the four people who are running to represent me in the state house and senate.

I asked them: The State of North Carolina is considering what actions to take to fight the war on prescription medicines and to reduce unintentional poisonings/deaths. NC sheriffs are asking for enhanced access to the NC Controlled Substances Reporting System so they can have access to those people who fill prescriptions for opioid medicines. The FDA says that opioids are an integral tool in fighting pain. There are privacy issues. There are health issues. They are abuse/addiction/diversion issues. Law enforcement, people with pain, doctors, pharmacists, etc., all have valid opinions. Where do you stand on this issue?

• Nelson Dollar, incumbent representative: did not respond.
• Robin Anderson, running for representative: did not respond.
• Richard Stevens, incumbent senator: responded one week later saying, “You are right, this is not a simple issue. In general I am supportive of legislation that gives law enforcement the ability to vigorously fight crime. I also support an individual's right to privacy. If you want an either or answer, I would tell you that in this case I favor law enforcement. However, as I do on any legislation on which I vote in the General assembly, I look at the details of the bill to make sure it does what it is intended to do. If the legislation goes too far in invading an individual's right to privacy, I would seek to amend it in Committee or in the full Senate. Failing that, I would most likely vote against the bill.”
• David Donovan, running for senate: responded within 24 hours saying, “Thank you for your e-mail and thank you for visiting the web site and taking the time to get informed. You ask a good question. This is a very important issue, and when the proposal first came up in committee last month, I approached several pharmacists for their opinions on this question, including a number of pharmacists who've supported my campaign. While abuse of painkillers is a serious public health concern, I can't support opening up people's private medical information to law enforcement officers in the absence of a valid warrant. Right now, doctors and pharmacists have access to the database, and law enforcement can access it with a search warrant, and I would like to improve the current policy to require better compliance from pharmacies. Still, most people who require painkiller medications need them for legitimate medical purposes and use them responsibly. I think it would be violation of people's medical privacy to grant a general right of access to such private information, and so I do not support the current proposal, preferring to pursue other means of reducing painkiller abuse without infringing on the privacy rights of patients generally. I hope you find this answer helpful and thorough, and I would be grateful to have your support when early voting begins. Thank you, and have a wonderful day.”

I bet you can guess which response hit a home run with me. I realize that is just ONE issue, but it’s an important one to me. If it’s important to you, take heed! VOTE!

Sleepy and Suffering in Insurance Purgatory

In early October, I saw a dentist specializing in sleep apnea for a consultation on a mouthpiece to replace my severely under-utilized CPAP machine. I believe that most of my gasping for air and part of my inability to sleep is related to mouth problems; not nose problems. The dentist reaffirmed my diagnosis of a weak chin and jaw line which probably recedes when relaxed closing the airway. The CPAP machine doesn’t work for me and I believe the mouthpiece that moves the lower jaw forward could help. Problem is – insurance doesn’t get it.

The dentist is considered out of network although there are ZERO other dentists in the area (or in the entire state) that do this work. A pre-certification form was submitted to Aetna to consider making them in-network (It’s a savings of $500+ for me). Now I’m in insurance purgatory waiting and waiting because I called and asked the insurance company how the process worked.

After patiently waiting two weeks, I called the insurance company. I did the mandatory button pushing and asking for a representative for 12 minutes before finally getting connected to Byron. Byron said a non-participating request was under review. I asked him to explain to me the process of the review and a typical/average length for getting an answer. He said he couldn’t give a typical turnaround and that he had no further information for me. I asked him who would have further information. I got put on hold --- for 10 minutes.

How hard is it people to explain the process and help set the customer’s expectations? I guess it’s hard, but finally, after repeated requests to speak to a supervisor (no need, Mrs. Pitcher), Byron said the review is conducted by a nurse and/or medical director where they try to find in-network doctors. The review can take up to 14 days.

According to the dentist’s submission records, 14 days was last week, but according to the insurance company, 14 days ends today. So I am patient … until tomorrow. I’m guessing I’ll get a late answer of no, because I questioned the system. Purgatory is no fun.

I like Duke and my “new” shoulder

First, the funny feeling in my shoulder after yesterday’s cortisone injection has gone away. Hubby Mike says it might have been a temporary nerve block that caused a kind of/sort of paralysis feeling in my arm. It just didn’t feel right – like after having Novocain in the mouth and your face feels funny. But that’s gone now. And after ice and an ibuprofen last night, my shoulder is at about 85%. HOORAY! I could even sleep on my right side again. I like this!

This morning, I went to see a different Uro/Gyn. I told you a while back that I had that embarrassing personal problem – a uterine prolapse. The first doctor I went to (ok, I’ll tell you … she was in the UNC healthcare system) did not meet my expectations. I should have figured it out when she said, “I treat hundred of these every month, it’s no big deal.” That might be true to her, but to me, I was the ONLY ONE that mattered. After two appointments and two different pessaries – neither which fit or helped – I decided a different medical team was needed.

I went to the Duke Women’s Specialty Center. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them. Nurse was friendly, supportive and helpful. First doctor, a fellow, was wonderful. She went through my history thoroughly and with much insight. Doctor was great too! They measured, fit, suggested, recommended, laughed, gave me time to ask questions and walk around to see if this pessary was the one. Time will tell on the actual comfort of the pessary, but they even gave me options on returning as needed. YIPPEE!!!

So, today, my private parts are happier, my shoulder is working and I’m concentrating on getting the t5 back pain under control (I don’t mind because it’s more irritated because I got to hold and play with baby Brady so much last weekend). The bad news, I stepped on the scale. An ice cream binge and last weekend’s eating Chik-Fila, Arby’s, Cici’s Pizza and JAlexanders (as well as airport snacks) added up. I’ll tell you what I’m doing about that later.

So many stories to tell

Where to start? Nashville … baby Brady … computer problems … shoulder pain … or my inability to type correctly because of the shoulder injection (I don’t think that’s supposed to happen so I’m keeping an eye on it) … fun fall weather … being in purgatory waiting on the health insurance company … life in general. Guess I need to write every day for a while to catch up.

First, I spent last weekend in Nashville, Tennessee visiting my daughter, son-in-law and 10 month old grandson. I am so glad I went because Brady is at a wonderful age – crawling around, inquisitive, sweet, fun. By the next time I see him, he’ll probably be past crawling and into walking. I loved spending time with him this weekend. I was planning to post pictures, but my computer is acting up again and won’t allow me to photoshop pictures.

I guess we’ll start looking for a new computer soon. The current one has been acting up – off and on – for quite a while. So much for the Windows registry. It pretty much sucks.

I’m off to find the info sheet the orthopedist gave after my cortisone injection. What is going on?

Speaking to the NC Legislature

Today I had my five minutes of fame – I spoke at a meeting of the North Carolina Joint Legislative Health Care Oversight Committee in Raleigh, NC. They are discussing ways to reduce prescription pain medicine abuse and diversion. So far they had only heard about the huge problem and how TOO many people are getting TOO many pills and SO many people are becoming addicts. (Notice the use of too and so – not real numbers.)

I added a different side to the issue – the voice of a person with pain who is not addicted and has never gotten high, but does use an opioid to get some relief from pain.

Fighting nerves and dry mouth, and speaking at the very end of a long meeting, I’m still happy. After the meeting, one representative told me, “It took guts to get up there and speak that message. Thank you.” So, I guess it was worth it.

Now, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open and see if they took my message to heart. I said, “We must not decrease access to appropriate pain treatments or compromise people’s right to privacy without due cause. Please don’t allow people with pain to become the casualties in this war on drugs.”

Pain Awareness Month is Over; Pain Still Exists

My daughter reminded me this morning that I haven’t blogged in a while. I know and I promise I’ve been thinking about it. Once September – Pain Awareness Month – ended, I was exhausted and needed to rest. So, let me catch you up on life…

After our local ABC TV station did a story on pain, the rains came … so the story didn’t make it to air as scheduled. But, it did make it … on October 2. Please take a look – click here to see TV segment – ABC did a great job of getting out the message. THANKS TISHA!

I pretty much ignored my own body during September, so now I’ve started physical therapy for tendonitis in my shoulder and of course the underlying cause is T5 and the weak muscles in that area and the compensation I do to protect the back. Let the increased pain and irritated nerves begin (again). Hopefully, a couple of weeks PT will help and the hurt will lessen.

I also returned to counseling. It’s always good to have an impartial (and smart) person to talk to. Rebecca and I talked about how frustrated I get working with ‘stupid’ people. She helped me realize that these people were not ‘stupid;’ they just performed differently than I expected or desired. We also decided that the frustration is exaggerated because I am exhausted so my first priority is REST so I can function normally (for me) again.

And finally, pain still exists and I am still focused on the North Carolina legislators and their current discussions on what to do about Rx drug abuse/addiction/diversion. While I agree that problem should be addressed, changes should NOT negatively impact the rights and privacy of people with pain. I hope I get to tell them that message next week at their committee meeting.