I didn’t feel quite right all through the class, but I’m pretty sure by this point that the problem is with the statins I started taking rather than the flu. Muscle weakness is a side effect of this medication, and that’s what I have heard others say it feels like. I’m taking half of the lowest dose of the mildest statin, and, yes, I feel the difference. I checked the Internet to see how long it takes for statins to be entirely out of your system. Three days. I’ll try it. It will be my own personal science experiment.
Boy, I am missing Mike. I feel angry. I don’t know if this is just a replacement emotion for the ones I could express with him: affection, laughter, and silliness. I loved kissing that man, long, satisfying kisses. Boy, that was just wonderful. We exchanged affection many times a day – generally on my initiation. I would say, “Okay,’” and he would get over to me as quickly as possible and hug and kiss me. We were downright silly with each other.
If you look at the picture I chose for the blog, you will see us in silly mode. We were playful, like young children. I so was lucky to have that man in my life for forty-five years.
I recently got two statements from Kaiser for Mike’s medical expenses for 2019. They contradicted each other. I called to get it straightened out. They explained to me that I owed an additional $784. They told me I made two payments while Mike was in the hospital, and it had not covered the full deductible of $3400. Since I didn’t understand what they were saying to me, the clerk offered to send me the entire bill. It arrived yesterday.
The problem was the same now as it had been the other day. There was no reference to the money he spent before he went into the hospital, specifically his copay for the dialysis clinic. I spoke to one clerk who tried to explain to me that the charges were cumulative. She kept repeating they were cumulative but was not able to explain to me what was being accumulated. I saw no reference to the copayments for before January 25 on this billing statement. It starts on January 25, the day he entered the hospital.
There is a scene in Schitt’s Creek, which reminds me of my experience with this repetitive clerk. Moira is reading a recipe to David. It calls for him to ‘fold in the cheese.’ David asks what it means to fold in the cheese. Moira says, “I already told you. Fold in the cheese.” They go back and forth; Moira, who has no idea what it means to fold in cheese, keeps saying, “Fold in the cheese.” David eventually did his own research. He looked up, folding in cheese on YouTube. Like David, I did my own research. I called the dialysis center to ask what the copay would be for a Kaiser patient on Senior advantage. She said she didn’t know. Their accounting department took care of that. She said I should call Kaiser membership to find out his coverage. I said, “give me the number of the accounting department.” Now, in all fairness, I didn’t tell her Mike had been a patient there and had an account.
Back to Kaiser. I explained to the clerk that Mike had put out over $400 in copays for the dialysis. Kaiser accounting had no record of that. They told me I should tell the dialysis center to refund my money, and I should pay them the full $784. I asked, “Why should they be the ones to refund the money when he had the service before he went to the hospital?” I reminded her/ informed her, he had died on March 3 and had required no additional medical services. Finally, they heard what I had to say. They will get back to me sometime in the not too distant future.
I spent some time reading today and writing, catching up on the blog. I also talked to Dorothy. Thursday is her day for calling me. She missed, and I was in need. I told her that I was down and that I suspected the new medication I was on, the statin, might be one of the causes. She told me that she had tried statins and felt so miserable on them that she refused to take them. She felt tired all the time and had muscle pains. She also told me that there is no clear correlation between statins and a reduction in strokes or heart attacks. I will be off the medication for the next three days and see if I feel better. If so, I think I’ll stay off them too. My LDL’s are 60 points higher than the max, but my HDLs are still in the mid-seventies. They were over 100 at one point. My ratio is still good. Dorothy said she would rather die a little earlier than be miserable for the rest of her life.
Judy called. She, her sister, and her visiting friend are all on Mauna Kea beach, one I had never heard of, or at least not by that name. She said they were all sitting there bundled up. You can tell the tourists from the natives by how they’re dressed. She said the temperature was 80, but there was a cool breeze. It must have been in the low sixties up here last night.
I finally got to work sorting linens. I started with the bed linens kept in drawers under our bed. I found two complete sets with enough pillowcases to suit up about ten pillows. Mike slept with a lot of pillows. I’m down to one, and it rests under my head at night.
There is a cabinet that goes across the width of the bed. I found pillows and a mattress pad down there. I didn’t get all of it out yet. I will ask Yvette to help me so I can take an inventory. I was about to go out a buy more pillows. I have been washing everyone in the house. The ones that have lost their shape, I am giving to the Friendly Place for the homeless. The decent ones, I am putting into plastic bags. I will have to find a place to store them.
I also attacked the guest linen closet. Ready for this? I found twenty-six (26) tablecloths, including one from Target that was still in its original packaging with a Target label on it. I’m going to try to return that one. Now granted, some of these are from my mother; there have to be several large white linen tablecloths. There were also some decorative ones, several that were hand embroidered, probably by some family member. I guess I’ll make the round of family again before I give those away.
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