Blustery Friday

[Colliemom]

Good Morning. Cloudy, windy, 40°. High of 45 predicted. Storm has moved on, so now just chance of some lake effect rain showers. We didn’t get any snow here the other night. Gaylord got a bit over 2 inches but it stopped just short of us here.

Been watching news on storm out west. Devastating in a lot of places. East coast getting their share too. Nothing exciting predicted here for foreseeable future. Beth, kind of chilly down your way I see. Weather is wacky all over. Wonder how much rain Anne has had and hoping Judy is high and dry.

Nothing much going on here. Only excitement is my getting a new phone. Wanted to do that before my old one gives up the ghost and also with the holidays coming, phones will be hot item. Had been looking at the IPhone 15 and scored on it through Verizon’s new deal. Get a new line, trade in your old phone and a new phone is on them. In other words free. Being I needed a new line because my current one is no longer available, I qualified for the deal. We transferred everything over at the store, I bought old phone home to make sure everything was transferred and cleaned it out. Will drop it off later this morning when I go to town.

Bought a picture frame at Hobby Lobby earlier this week and had some issues getting the foam back off. Pretty tight. Glass popped up in on corner when I finally did and wouldn’t go back in for nothing. Careful as I was trying to get it in place, it broke. Took frame back to HL, explained problem, got a new replacement glass, but when I tried to put it in, it too refuses to fit. So taking everything up to HL this Morning and see if they can figure it out. So those are my chores for today.

Martha, I order my walking/hiking shoes and boots from http://www.orthofeet.com. Tried them a couple years ago and have ordered more since. They are the most comfortable shoes for walking. I have one pair I could wear all day. With the extra arch support and insoles they send, there’s no reason not to get a good fit. Might want to check into them. A good fitting shoe makes all the difference in the world. P,us Thry have a 60 money back guarantee.

So, off to the shower and get ready to head to town. Have a nice day and stay safe where storms are.

[OregonLuvr]

Morning Sue, have been awake way too early again, not sure why but finally got up at 5. Took the dog out and dang it was warm out 52 already and our high is supposed to be 53 LOL Of course we are having RAIN. Expecting more rain today and for the week. We got .55" in the last 6 hours so that is alot for us. Another half inch coming today. The news is saying it is windy out but not a breath of wind here....yet. Might be coming but nothing like the other day. Predicting 20-30mph gusts for today. Looks like it might be dry for Thanksgiving so hope no travel issues for holiday travelers. Oh well I will just be hanging out at home today. Nowhere I have to go.

Since I bought a couple of packs of meat yesterday I need to divide and package it up and Food Saver it. Bought chicken breasts, thighs, hamburger and some link sausages. I cooked the sausages in my air fryer last night and froze some of them. Need to take the meat off my rotisserie chicken and package it up for freezing too. Then the garbage comes this morning so need to get the carcass in the trash. A few other housekeeping chores on the agenda for the morning but nothing major.

time for a second cup of coffee

[BirdbyBird]

Martha....I have also purchased shoes and sandals (yes, orthopedic sandals) from Ortho Feet. They offer free shipping and their return policy is easy. In trying to find shoes online that fit...I have had to return many a shoe. Ortho's process is as close to painless that I have found. I have size 12 plus feet. Many size 12s don't even fit me anymore. Each brand/make/design seems to measure USA size 12 differently. I have the best luck if I compare the international sizing. There I am 44-45. As most of us know, men's sizes are usually wider. I find them too wide for my more narrow feet. Good luck. shoe shopping, in person or online, always wears me out and drains my spirit of energy. My shoe size has grown over the years as most women's do, but mine seem to always stay just a fraction above that largest size that stores normally carry in house. In the sixties, stores carried sized up to 9 and I wore a ten. Now most stores/styles carry or go up to 11 and I am a 12+. I have spent my life walking into shore stores and being disappointed..... It is easier not to have to find a "pretty" dress or formal business shoe anymore. I used flat Mary Janes to show the dogs in.....

[Redetotry]

I agree about Ortho Feet shoes! I currently have 3 pair here I'm trying out, I think one pair is going to work. They also have them on Amazon. My foot has changed and no longer can I just order the size I always wore in Birkenstock I have a closet full of shoes I can no longer wear I've been giving away.

[Cudedog]

Good Morning. Cloudy, windy, 40°. High of 45 predicted. Storm has moved on, so now just chance of some lake effect rain showers. We didn’t get any snow here the other night. Gaylord got a bit over 2 inches but it stopped just short of us here.

Been watching news on storm out west. Devastating in a lot of places. East coast getting their share too. Nothing exciting predicted here for foreseeable future. Beth, kind of chilly down your way I see. Weather is wacky all over. Wonder how much rain Anne has had and hoping Judy is high and dry.

Morning, Sue, and all who follow.

Last couple of days have been raining pretty steadily, when I got up this morning at 6:00 a.m. it was pelting with rain. When I looked out a little later, the rain had stopped.

Pretty much still high and dry for me here. Which is a good thing! Don't know how many inches have fallen so far - LOL, forgot to set up my rain gauge. But I'm thinking maybe four inches or so thus far, with more coming today. Lake Oroville is up a foot or so, but that is no big deal.

I am getting so frustrated with my "corporate" medical provider. A person can't call their doctor on the phone anymore, you have to use their "portal" thing to send messages. Except now the portal thing is not responding to my messages. Supposed to respond within 48 hours - it's now been 7 days of no response from the portal.

So this morning I'm going to go out in the rain and hand-carry a typed letter to my doctor's office. Which is a major pain.

I don't know what is going on, but my mind goes to places where it probably shouldn't. Like, for example, since I am a "senior citizen" I am just flat being ignored. Very frustrating.

Anyone else running into this kind of thing?

Thanks.

Anne

[JudyJB]

Nope, not high and dry here in Napa. More like low and wet. Had 1.6" of rain yesterday and expecting 2.5" tomorrow. It is 11:30 am here, and I woke up around 10:00 am, but have been laying in bed reading under my comfy down comforter, avoiding getting up and turning my heat up. Had a few breaks in rain yesterday, so I was able to dump my tanks and add some water. I spent a couple of hours at a new dentist and got a bunch of x-rays, a cleaning, and a very good exam. I have been unhappy with my dentist in Ohio, so am going to see this one as much as I can. Got some minor cavities on the edges of crowns, now that my gums have receded a bit, but will do those in June.

Did you know that the city of Napa is only 25' above sea level? It has a river that runs through the valley and the town at the southern end of the valley, but it is really just an extension of San Francisco Bay. The river used to easily flood because it gets all the rainfall from the 20 mile long valley, but they added some flood control measures a few years ago, but this campground and the city are definitely LOW and certainly WET right now!! Got errands to run today, unfortunately, so have to go out.

Just checked--Napa has had 5.4" of rain in the last week. Just checked, and we are under a flood watch. Luckily, my son's current house is about 25' higher than downtown Napa, so they are safe. I am too, because I can easily drive out and up if I have to. Valley widens here at the town, also.

[JudyJB]

Anne, that is awful. Do you have your doctor's phone number? What happens if you try to call them? I would try any number I could find and tell them you needed to reach your doctor.

I don't have any problems with my own doctors, but I had a lot of trouble a couple of years ago with the doctor's group that handled medical care for my aunt's dementia facility. I could only leave messages, and would maybe eventually get a response from someone, but that person could never help me, so it would be another wait of hours or days until someone else called me back. It was taking much too long to get answers. The answering machine had several choices you could make, nurses line, doctor, scheduling, bills, etc. One day, I left a message on each of 6 different lines telling them I had to reach the doctor and complaining about the lack of response. Took only about 15 minutes to get a response!!! It was from the nurse's line, but i told them if I could not speak to anyone who could answer my questions about my aunt's medical condition, I was going to keep leaving messages until a human being responded who could help me.

Figured making a pain of myself was the only was to get action, and it worked.

[Redetotry]

I just read the comments about being unable to reach your doctor and it is the same here. You can't even talk to a nurse. There aren't enough doctors and most people only have a PA. I waited I think 6 weeks for a response from an ultra sound. The copy was sent to me along with medical language I didn't understand. I finally sent it to the homeopath who is also a medical doctor I worked with in Brazil and she let me know it looked ok. The ER is sometimes overwhelmed because of lack of help. My friends husband fell and was taken by ambulance to the ER they tested him for Covid, when they went in and he was positive. They sent him into the waiting room, no mask, where they waited for 9 hours to be seen. There was someone sitting next to them who was bleeding profusely from his arm and someone would walk by every now and then and hand them a new towel. I think it is only going to get worse.

[Cudedog]

Anne, that is awful. Do you have your doctor's phone number? What happens if you try to call them? I would try any number I could find and tell them you needed to reach your doctor.

This is a corporate medical organization that basically has a monopoly in most of Northern California. Can't phone - if you eventually get someone, you are told that you can't leave a message for your doctor, you need to use the portal.

I hand-carried my letter to the doctor's office at about 10:00 a.m. I have been trying for nine days to get a prescription (that my doctor agreed to do - but then didn't place the prescription) for some brand-name meds to replace the generics (made in India by a company that has several FDA complaints against them) that I have.

I was hoping to get new meds before they closed for the weekend. It's now 4:45 and I haven't heard a peep, so I'm not holding my breath.

This kind of thing never happened when I was younger.

Anne

[Bethers]

I guess I've had better luck finding doctors. I'm happy with my current one in Arizona and I found the opthamologist to use in Texas and got into a clinic in Texas to get the physical which gave the surgeon what was needed to get my surgeries. There's a new group now here specializing in senior healthcare and I'm considering making an appt to have a doctor here if needed. I like that everyplace has online access to test results, etc. My AZ doctor summarizes the appt online the same day of my appt.

[Acadianmom]

I found some leather New Balance walking shoes at the Shoe Station. That is what I had that I wore out. Because I walk on grass often I would rather have leather so I don't get them wet like mesh shoes. Most of the time I can wear a size 7 narrow in a dress type shoe. I buy a size 8 medium in walking shoes so I can put my orthotic inserts in them. Some tennis type shoes are too wide for me. A couple of friends recommended Hoka shoes. I tried a pair of $175 Hoka shoes and couldn't walk in them. I should have looked at Academy but didn't think about them having shoes until I passed there. I found the orthofeet web site hard to navigate.

I am having the same problem finding doctors here. I went to a gynecologist in December, 2023 and got the feeling they wanted to know why I was there. She make me an appointment for December, 2025. When my son had to go to the emergency room a couple of times we waited for hours. The second time we went he brought a blanket and pillow and laid in the floor because it hurt his back so much to sit in a hard chair. They didn't like it but so what. You get the feeling that they hope you will leave. They got their a$$ in gear the time his blood pressure dropped to 60.

I don't know where it was but I saw flooding in California somewhere on TV. It has been in the 70's during the day and 50's at night so not bad. I don't think we have any rain coming until next week. I have a Meetup brunch in the morning with my group. I usually don't go to brunch because it a pain to get to Lafayette for 10:00 but I like where we are going.

Martha

[snowball]

Totally over slept missed the alarm by about an hour that was after I snoozed it a few times...guess I was tired... so all day I've been behind talked myself out of going to the store sent "the kid downstairs" for milk we had bk for supper pancakes and link sausage I think I prefer patties... get the links once in awhile though...
my niece and her dd came over so I could check and see if the hat is going to fit we decided it needs to be a bit larger in the crown as she has a larger head and her shape is longer to where you would find the crown... will put another couple of rows on the crown and then start on the rest of it will see if it fits if not well I know how to take it out... it would have been nice if the pattern came in larger sizes so I could follow something
sounds like some of you are getting rain... my daughter was in power outage from 7:30 until 4 something... due to the weather (she lives in WA) glad no one had large issues
Beth that was interesting to read
you all have a great day
sheila

[Pooker]

Can't resist adding my 2 cents worth about medical offices and not getting a live person to talk to. Anne, I sometimes can't help thinking the medical community writes us off after a certain age, too. Perhaps they think we don't have that long left, so why bother? My medical organization has a list of all doctors and their phone phone numbers in a flyer. Ha! ALL phones are answered by the appointment people (when you actually get a real live person instead of the AI, that is). I've had doctors tell me to call them and give me their number. I ask if they have ever tried to call themselves? Yes, I can make appointments in my portal; however, it only allows me to do that with doctors I have visited routinely or recently. In the last 6 months I have lost 3 of my specialists and never been notified. I find out when a prescription runs out and the pharmacy can't get approval from "my doctor". I guess no one replaces a particular doctor when one leaves. In some cases, I only get to see the doctor's assistant. My cardiologist left and I didn't find out until a year later! I wondered why my twice a year check was done by the PA so the second time I asked. She said, "Oh, Dr. --- left last February and they haven't replaced him yet. I hear we are getting a cardiologist in two months."

It's futile to think we'll just change to a different medical group, because I think if you live in a populated area they all have the same problems.

Okay, getting down off that soapbox.

Evie

[Cudedog]

Can't resist adding my 2 cents worth about medical offices and not getting a live person to talk to. Anne, I sometimes can't help thinking the medical community writes us off after a certain age, too. Perhaps they think we don't have that long left, so why bother? My medical organization has a list of all doctors and their phone phone numbers in a flyer. Ha! ALL phones are answered by the appointment people (when you actually get a real live person instead of the AI, that is). I've had doctors tell me to call them and give me their number. I ask if they have ever tried to call themselves? Yes, I can make appointments in my portal; however, it only allows me to do that with doctors I have visited routinely or recently. In the last 6 months I have lost 3 of my specialists and never been notified. I find out when a prescription runs out and the pharmacy can't get approval from "my doctor". I guess no one replaces a particular doctor when one leaves. In some cases, I only get to see the doctor's assistant. My cardiologist left and I didn't find out until a year later! I wondered why my twice a year check was done by the PA so the second time I asked. She said, "Oh, Dr. --- left last February and they haven't replaced him yet. I hear we are getting a cardiologist in two months."

It's futile to think we'll just change to a different medical group, because I think if you live in a populated area they all have the same problems.

Okay, getting down off that soapbox.

Evie

Nah, Evie. Please stay up on that soapbox!!

Thank you so much for posting, Evie. It really helps me to think I am not alone on this. I live in a small rural-agricultural town that is kind of an "island" - "nearby" cities of any size are 40 - 50 miles away. Although my town has most of what I need (LOL, Amazon has the rest!) the selection of doctors here is extremely limited. And to try to change doctors where I live (that is, if I don't want to have to do a two-hour, 80 or 100 mile round-trip drive to see a doctor) is difficult to impossible. You can't actually phone a doctor to see if they might be taking new patients - you have to use the %%!1##!! "portal"!!!

And if you ask about getting a new doctor through the portal, it's 40 questions you need to answer as to why you want a new doctor. Without doing a character assassination on the old doctor (and who wants to do that?) you are pretty much out of luck.

AARRGGHH! Evie, I totally agree with you that it is likely an "ageist" thing. My kids disbelieve me when I tell them of the problems that I have, and say things like "come on, Mom, this can't be possible, can it?". They never seem to have any problem getting questions answered, or getting in to see the doctor of their choice, and seem to be able to change doctors at will (they do live in a different city than I do, though).

I know someone, older than me (who has acquaintances/friends in the medical community - also lives in a larger city than I do) that doesn't believe it either. They get actual same-day callbacks.

Since I am not quite ready to drop dead, I guess I will just need to keep kicking the door. And risk being labeled a malcontent for doing so.

Catch-22.

Anne

[Redetotry]

Anne you are not a malcontent your chart like mine, is probably tagged Non-Compliant which means you refuse or question procedures and diagnoses. I refuse certain shots, and tests like osteoporosis. I ask for particular lab tests to be included in the twice a year blood work they do here. I don't know about your insurance but we can only get generic meds so your doctor may not be able to get the non generic prescription you are wanting but they still should answer you. Here at most places you never talk to a person when making an appointment or have a question, you leave a message and maybe you will get a call back. Urgent care is sometimes the only option as doctors are so busy. About 8 years ago when you could reach a doctor or their nurse to ask a question, I was trying to get the results of a lab test to see if I needed a refill on a prescription. It was a Friday and her nurse said the report had been on her desk for quite awhile but they couldn't tell me what it said and she had left for the day. I asked if I could go to Urgent Care and have another test ran and they said no. Someone apparently contacted the doctor and she called me. She was so angry she was screaming over and over 'you are old and you are going to die" and other really awful things. I washorrified and I finally hung up. I told a friend about it and another of her friends was head of the Board of Directors for the hospital and clinic and she told him. He called me to ask exactly what happened. I hope the issue was addressed but she is still there.