6 December 2023
And the medical appointments continue! I pulled into 3341 Johnson Street in Hollywood around 8:30 am this morning for a 9 am appointment with the acupuncturist. At check in, I was met by a trainee who started to check me in but quickly moved me to another person, who moved me to a third person. All said and done, I paid $80 and sat down but not before I questioned the $80. I had originally been quoted $50 for any secondary sessions after the initial 1 1/2 hour session. I reconfirmed that later with a phone call. When I mentioned it to the acupuncturist, she laughed it off and said it was always $80 and when I told her I wasn’t upset but wanted her to know someone on the phones was telling people $50, she said she had no control. Oh well.
I spent approximately 5 minutes being stuck with needles and 40 minutes laying there on the examination table. At least the table was heated. When she asked if I saw any improvement in the neuropathy from the first visit I said no and she said it sometimes takes a while. She is certainly persistent. She reminded me of the two other appointments in January and she previously called to reminded me of this visit and left me a message to return her message or she would continue to call me.
I drove back home to get ready for a 12:15 appointment with my GP. As I pulled into the drive way, I noticed a warning light that my tire pressure was low on all four tires (the low temperature this morning). I pulled out the air pump and plugged it into the cigarette lighter and started pumping up the four tires. I could barely get the cap of the stem of the tire and then barely get the nozzle attached to the stem. I have absolutely no strength in my hands. Turning the key to lock the front door is an exercise is frustration.
Add to that getting down to ground and getting back up four times and you can image how tired I was. I still have no stamina.
When I arrived at the GP, he examined my flexibility and I explained the pain in the hips, thighs and calves and that I was experience foot drop in the left foot. He agreed I needed an MRI to rule anything out. Depending on the results of the MRI, I’ll either be referred for physical therapy or a pain specialist. The MRI is scheduled for January 12th – first available. Is everyone sick in Broward county? It’ll take about the same amount of time to schedule physical therapy if that is recommended. Fortunately, there’s a Holy Cross Physical Therapy facility 2 miles from the house.
When I went to schedule the MRI, I was told I needed a blood workup and the GP had to put that request in. A phone call to the GP resulted in being told no, I didn’t need that. The MRI I will be getting is without contrast. If it was with contrast, I would need the blood work up. Strange. Nothing seems to be going according to plan today. Holy Cross sent me an estimate of the cost of the MRI – $4K+. The good news is that Medicare will pay for it at a much reduced rate.
My GP wasn’t too happy with the idea of a chiropractor. He confessed with minor issues they may help but with serious issues they could do no good. I didn’t tell him I had switched to the one recommended by Judith and have an appointment on Monday.
Last night, Farah, Dr. Jellinger’s aide called and told me my blood work from Tuesday looked good and that Dr. Jellinger wanted me to shift to taking 2.5 mg of prednisone every other day for 10 days. On the 12th day, I’m to repeat the blood work for cortisol. She also warned that I might experience a drop in energy when coming off the prednisone.
Tomorrow at 1:15 pm I go in and pay to have a dental hygienist torture me.
Last night I was watching a new episode of Midsummer Murders when I heard what I thought was the smoke detector warning me of a low battery. I pulled out the step stool, removed the cover and replaced the battery. Have you noticed everything requires a new and strange looking battery these days?
This was the battery required for the smoke detector. You can buy a pack of two on Amazon for $13.65. News flash! It wasn’t the smoke detector. Instead, it was the battery powered alarm in the north window of the guest room. The alarm connects to the main alarm via blue tooth.
If you look closely at the bottom of the unit on the left, you have to press that in to lift the cover to get to the batteries. I have 10 of these and each requires two batteries. Whoever installed them for me put some in this position and some with the unit 180°. It makes getting to them and to the batteries very difficult. Of course, it has a different battery. Anyway, all the batteries were replaced at the same time so I need to replace all the batteries or go through two weeks of the alarms failing individually.
You can buy 20 of them on Amazon for $17.99, so they are cheaper. I’ve changed these out once before. At least the batteries last for several years in the alarms. I had enough from the last change out to do all but 2 of the 10 units. I’ve ordered 20 more.
As tired as I was yesterday, I still took time to make a tart that Jacque Pepin’s mother used to make every day in their restaurant. I’ve made it several times before and it always turns out great. I had 6 Granny Smith apples I needed to use before they went bad. The most work is peeling the apples, getting rid of the core and slicing them. I only managed to cut my fingers once. The pastry is a breeze. Here’s the result before I took out a slice.
I did get a nap in this afternoon so it wasn’t a total loss of a day with appointments.
Stay tuned!
