If I was still healthy and teaching, today I would have participated in a GIS workshop with 9-12 year olds from around the region. I and other CWU folks (including, in my case, students, graduates, and a mom of a graduate) host the visitors in a program called Expanding Your Horizons. It is to introduce “science” to these kids by having them participate in what we do at the university. It’s a great program that I have participated in for many years (even back to being involved at the University of Idaho before coming here in 1988. That I choose to tell you about it says that I missed doing it.
It was a wonderful night and I slept well. My appetite is not the best though, and that is causing concern, especially to John who, when he fixes it, has to eat what I don’t.
Breakfast and lunch were late, but John was working much of the day on the newsletter he puts together for our Kittitas Valley Trail Riders group. Their meeting is next Thursday night at 7:00.
This was supposed to be a non-eventful day; however, we still had to deal with crazy paperwork things. Problems of the day meant writing correspondence to insurance companies and Friday’s mail brought additional misunderstandings from Medicare, the State Health Board, and my primary provider of insurance. Referral for physical therapy was approved at the wrong facility. The first time we can straighten this out will be Monday morning. One agency has different dates for our marriage. How that happened we cannot understand. We don’t know if we have to prove this or just state the date (July 12, 1969), which neither of us would have filled in wrong on a form. What a mess is all the paperwork associated with health care. We sure hope someone thinks of a way to simplify this but that doesn’t seem likely.
John also had to go to town to mail the newsletters and while there picked up the correct Iron Supplement I was supposed to be taking. The system somehow spit out 27 mg rather than the 325 mg the doctor wanted me to have. John caught the under dosage by comparing notes and pill bottles – explained his find to the doctor – and now it is fixed. Moral: check everything. So, I have had an under dose for the past week, for my anemia. It’s no wonder I’m anemic with all the frequent tests and their demand for blood. One young cute female tech told John it only looks like a lot but isn’t – and he believed her!
I continue to try to catch up on all the emails that came to me — and John saved. Thanks to all of you who were supportive all those many weeks and continue to call and check up on me. While I was in Yakima and EBRG my cell phone worked well, but not now from home. The best telephone line to use now is the land line (509-925-3304) because our cell phones don’t work well in most of the house. The nearest tower is about 12 miles away through most of the house and the trees to the south. Our best reception is in the middle of our 7-acre pasture, but that is uncomfortable in bad weather and won’t do for me now. Standing by the window in a storage room on the correct side of the house often works and often doesn’t.
After John bought his first cell phone in December he got a letter from AT&T from a vice president saying how much they loved him and how willing to serve him they were. So he wrote back with a few comments, including a suggestion of a small hill in our neighborhood where they could place a tower. The letter was returned as undeliverable. Either the address or the man or both are bogus. Go figure!
Carry on and we’ll talk soon.
Nancy