Category: Life Update

Health Insurance

Ben

December 14th, 2023

Well, it’s that time of year again, health insurance open enrollment, and this year, due to all of the expenses I’ll be incurring for my treatments throughout most of 2024, it’s time to try to try an find a somewhat affordable plan for Michelle and I. This will be the first time I’ve had health insurance in over 10 years. We spent time tonight searching for a health insurance plan that would cover my doctors/medication/hospital visits/etc. as well as local healthcare providers (for Michelle,) but there really is no good option. If you find coverage, it’s crazy expensive, if you want an affordable price, you get no coverage. It really made me consider maintaining my “no insurance” state.

By the way, if you can’t afford health insurance either and don’t already know this, I want to share… at least in my own experience over the last several years, the discount healthcare providers have been giving us for not having health insurance, often referred to as “self-pay,” is around 76%. That’s pretty good if you ask me! So, in spite of this great discount, we opted to try and get a plan for next year that would cover as much as possible since even with that self-pay discount 24% of $56,000.00 is still a whopping $13,440.00.

We ended up choosing a health insurance plan that will cost us about $350/mo. and supposedly claims it will cover what we need covered, keeping our out-of-pocket expenses and deductible pretty low. It really is too expensive, but we can at least afford to carry it through 2024 by using our savings to offset the cost. I really don’t like dipping into savings to be able to pay for it, but it should only be for the duration of next year and it’s better than getting $100,000.00+ bills which I would have to spend potentially the rest of my days paying off, even with the 76% self-pay discount. 🙂

Life Update

Annoyed
Where Did The Time Go?

Ben

December 5th, 2023

Well, I’d like to apologize to any of you who may have been using this blog as a main source of information regarding my health. I just realized today that it has been a whole month since I posted anything. I got busy and kept saying to myself “I’ll post tomorrow” until tomorrow wound up being today and I realized this evening that you would probably like to know what’s been going on! So, I’ll try to catch you up without being too long-winded. 😀

Now to recap November 2023… Well, in my last two posts I left you with some serious information and then gave you something silly for dessert! So, my dad is now doing much better and is back at home again. My temporary symptoms after that first injection subsided quickly and I was back to normal after a few days. Michelle got to have a fun girls night out with some of her friends and they all painted their own ceramic Christmas trees, the kind with little colored plastic lights stuck into them. Michelle and the kids attended an Ice Hockey game (the local team) and from what I heard later that evening, they all had a good time.

A few weeks ago we had a friend take some family pictures for this year. I haven’t seen any of them yet but I’m sure they’re great. 🙂 On the 21^st I went in for my second immunotherapy treatment. This time things went a little more smoothly since I knew what to expect, though I think they may have forgotten about me for bit because they left me waiting in a treatment room (with no IV) for quite some time. In fact, it was about one and a half “Hallmark channel movie’s” long! 😀 Thankfully, this time I didn’t experience any noticeable side effects, so I’m hopeful that means the first time will be the only time I have any side effects to report.

Michelle and I both had birthdays this month. That makes us both one year closer to AMAZING! Right? Right?… No? Well, anyway. 😉 So the dealership we bought that Toyota from, in October, finally sent us the Tennessee title, in December, so now I can get it titled here. Apparently things in the Tennessee B.M.V. just move a bit slower than here. I didn’t know how good we had it!

Last Wednesday was our church’s Christmas dinner, which is always a nice time. Then the very next night was Madrigal dinner at U.S.I. If you don’t know this already, I was in choir in college and was a part of this production/fundraiser back then. Essentially it’s a nice catered dinner and a Christmas music choir concert all wrapped up into one medieval Irish themed setting. It can be a lot of fun, especially if the court jesters decide to come and pick on you or someone sitting close to you! I would recommend trying it next year if that sounds interesting to you.

Our church also held a “Ladies Christmas Tea” this weekend and it was quite well attended. I think I heard that there were upward of three hundred attendees. We volunteered to help out, though I’m not sure I really ended up being much help! 🙂 The youth group acted as the servers and after seeing how things went in previous years, I must say this year was a marked improvement. I didn’t spot any big mishaps, the kids were well behaved, and everything went out to the tables accurately and in a quick and organized fashion. Great job guys!

Well, in spite of my best efforts, this did turn out to be longer than I had intended. But, I’m almost done! Tomorrow, I have a follow-up appointment with the dermatologist, which I believe is just to give me another once-over to verify there are no new concerning spots showing up. Also, next Tuesday I’ll be going in for the third immunotherapy treatment, so if not before then, I’ll at least make sure to post a more timely update for you after that appointment.

Health Update, Life Update

Doctor Visit, Happy, Hopeful, Optimistic
A Little Something to Make You Smile

Ben

November 5th, 2023

Well, thankfully both my dad and I are feeling better at the moment. So since there’s not much else to say right now, why not try a little humor? 🙂 My wife shared these mixed up quotes with me the other day and they made me laugh. Hopefully, they’ll have the same effect on you!

Just to warn you ahead of time, the following may fall flat if you’ve not seen the movie “The Princess Bride” or the Star Wars movies.

Luke Skywalker: “Hello. My name is Luke Skywalker. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Bobba Fett: “Never go up against a Mandalorian when death is on the line!” (immediately falls into Sarlacc pit)

Westley: “Wampas Of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist.”

Miracle Max: “Bye, boys! Have fun storming the Death Star!”

Vizzini: “Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed, on Hoth?”

Miracle Max: “It just so happens that Obi-Wan here is only mostly dead.”

Han: “Why can’t I see?”
Fezzik: “You’ve been mostly frozen all day.”

Han: “I could give you my word as a Corellian…”
Westley: “No good. I’ve known to many Corellians.”

Han: “Give us the access code.”
Yellin: “What access code?”
Han: “Chewie, tear his arms off.”
Yellin: “Ohh you mean this access code!”

Buttercup: “Why do you wear that black mask? Were you burned on Mustafar, or something like that?”
Anakin: “Oh no, it’s just that they’re terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.”

Peter Falk: “Luke doesn’t get eaten by the rancor at this time.”
Fred Savage: “What?”
Peter Falk: “The rancor doesn’t get him. I’m explaining to you because you look nervous.”

Peter Falk: “That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying “I know,” what he meant was, “I love you.”

The Impressive Clergyman: “The Fowce is waat bwings us togevver today. It suwwounds us, and penetwates us. It binds the gawaxy togevver.”
original source unknown

Life Update

Happy
Symptoms and Hospital Visits

Ben

November 1st, 2023

Today I definitely came down with some of the side effects of yesterday’s injection. I had a pretty good fever and headache combination going for awhile, but with approval from the doctor I was able to bring it back down by taking a dose of Tylenol. I’ve also developed a mild cough and some muscle aches, but all in all I’m still feeling pretty good.

I was at the hospital for a little while tonight, not for me this time, but to visit my dad. He’s dealing with serious congestive heart failure right now and I honestly don’t know for sure just how bad it is. I do know that he has or at least did have a lot of fluids built up and they were trying to remove that excess. He also had a low blood oxygen level when they took him in, but by the time I left this evening, they had gotten his oxygen level back up into the mid-nineties where it is supposed to be. If you don’t mind, please keep my parents in your thoughts and prayers.

Health Update, Life Update

Sad
Replacing the Wrecked Car

Ben

October 22nd, 2023

I have been doing a lot of research on vehicles to replace the Impala we lost in the wreck last month. We wanted to make sure we chose a replacement car that, like the Impala, had enough seats (and belts) to fit the whole family. It also should last us for a long time and be cheap enough that buying it wouldn’t leave us with a monthly car payment. We found one last week that seemed to fit our requirements, but was located a bit too far away to visit before the dealer closed up for the weekend.

So, yesterday we hopped in the van for a quick trip to Nashville, TN and came back with a new (used) vehicle. We ended up with a single owner, 110k miles, 2014 Toyota Camry in good condition that meets all our requirements. The interior and exterior are also in good condition, which is not really that important, but it does help make it feel like a better deal. 🙂 My immunotherapy treatments are scheduled every three weeks for the next year, and that’s a lot of long distance driving. So, my hope is that this new car will be a reliable mode of transportation for all those trips I’m about to start making.

Just for the fun of it, we also stopped at The Parthenon in Centennial Park before heading home. It is a full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Athens. They didn’t use the same building materials but it’s pretty neat to see an approximation of what the real thing might have looked like long ago. It is impressively large when standing next to it. The pictures, drawings, and photos of ruins I’ve seen in history books don’t really give you a good impression of the scale. Inside, they’ve also put a “best guess” recreation of the statue of the goddess Athena that was supposed to have stood there. It is a very imposing statue when you are standing right under it, as it stands about 42ft tall! The other thing I found impressive there were the doors. Each door is seven-and-a-half tons of metal, 1 foot thick, and 24 feet tall! But, due to the way they are mounted, the doors are very easy for just one person to move!

Athena statue

Parthenon doors

Life Update

Happy, Hopeful
Plastic Surgeon & Goodbye Car

Ben

September 21st, 2023

Today, since it’s been two weeks, I sent the NP at the plastic surgeon an image of how my excision surgery wound is healing as she had requested. She said it is looking great.

So, I’ve been having to touch the wound (it has completely closed up at this point) when I have been applying the prescribed cream, and I’ve noticed while applying the medication that I have absolutely no feeling in that healed area. I cannot feel touch in the healed area. I’m curious if the nerves will grow back in time or if I’ll just always have a touch “dead zone” on that part of my leg now? 🙂

We were also notified today that the wrecked car has been deemed a total loss by the adjuster. That was probably the nicest car I’ve ever owned and the appraiser even made a special note that it was in excellent shape too, minus the new wreck damage. Goodbye car, I hope we can find an adequate replacement for you. 🙁

Health Update, Life Update

Optimistic, Sad
Catching Up

Ben

September 20th, 2023

This evening I had a chat with the father of one of my good friends. I think I would also consider us to be friends since I kind of grew up around him. We spent a little time catching up on what has been going on in both of our families and then talked a little bit about reconciliation. Specifically, about me trying to reconcile with one of my sisters who I’ve not communicated with in quite some time.

She and I had a falling out a while back and haven’t really spoken to each other directly since then. My friend and I talked about the perceived cause(s) of the rift between my sister and myself, and some possible ways to work on slowly getting back to a more functional sibling relationship. We’re planning to talk again after he’s spoken with my sister too, then maybe the three of us can all get together and start a healing dialog. 🙂

Life Update

Hopeful, Optimistic
Car Wreck

Ben

September 17th, 2023

Today, on my way home from an activity with the wife and kids (I drove separately), I was rear-ended by a lady in a jeep who was apparently not paying attention to the road. Fortunately we’re both OK physically but she hit me hard enough that she broke her axle and tore the heck out of my trunk. I can only guess at what happened on that lady’s end of things but whatever it was, she was highly distracted until the last moment when she apparently tried to swerve to keep from hitting me, but it was too late.

So, this is how it went from my perspective:
I was sitting stopped in the road with my left turn signal on and waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so I could turn. Suddenly and with great force I was pushed forward several feet and was covered in fizzy Diet Coke from the can I had in my cup holder.

As soon as I was done being stunned at the surprise of it all, I got out quickly and ran back to make sure the other driver was OK. She let me know she wasn’t hurt and a man that had been planning to turn right where I was turning left had stopped and gotten out of his vehicle to check on us both. After making sure we were both OK, he said he would call in to the 911 dispatch and let them know that he was a willing witness if they needed one to help resolve any dispute that might arise in this incident.

I called the police to report the collision and while we were waiting for them to arrive, I got the OK from the dispatcher to move the vehicles off to the side of the road. The officers were there in under five minutes (Wow, nice response time!) and took our information and then helped us do a quick inspection of the vehicles to see if we would need to tow them. The Jeep was deemed not able to be driven because an axle appeared to be broken and leaking fluid. My vehicle, though smashed pretty badly in back was deemed able to be driven far enough to get home, which was only two more blocks.

I was given a police report number but was not given any contact or insurance details about the other driver, so I guess I’m going to have to obtain that from the police report as soon as I can get a copy of it. I’m thankful that nobody was hurt, at least not in any way that was immediately noticeable, but gosh this makes for an unhappy way to end the day! 🙁

The aftermath

Life Update

Frustrated, Sad
Michelle to the M.E.C.

Ben

September 2nd, 2023

We took Michelle to the Minor Emergency Center near our house this afternoon because she hadn’t been feeling well and I wanted to rule out anything we needed to worry about. After a decent wait time, they checked her out and referred us to the ER because the M.E.C. didn’t have the equipment to verify there was no issue.

We went to the ER as instructed and waited way too long (surprise, surprise) and then when they finally got her back in a room, they discovered that the issue the M.E.C. wanted checked was something they were not allowed to do at the ER and they told us we’d have to follow up at another place in town, that does have the equipment and is allowed to do that kind of check, but on a week day.

So, long story short, problem not solved. The pain that initiated the M.E.C. trip is still there, but the doctor indicated that there is no serious issue present for now. If you’re a praying person, please pray for Michelle’s health, both mentally and physically. It would be nice if we could keep it to only one of us (me) having medical issues for now. 🙂

Life Update

Doctor Visit, Optimistic
Dinner with a Friend

Ben

August 29th, 2023

Tonight we had dinner and spent the evening with a good friend who’s leaving the country at the end of the week. She’s only here for a short time most years so it’s always nice to be able to spend what time we can with her. 🙂

Life Update

Melancholy