Category Archives: Getting Healthy
Words, pictures, blogging, the hats we wear and the stories we tell…
I’ve been thinking…
Hey it has to happen every once in a while!
Seriously, I’ve been having this kind of firestorm going on in the back of my head when I eat, watch TV, fiddle on the net, exercise, plan for my return to the world of dance, sleep, tinkle…
Uhmmm was that TMI? It has been going on for about two or three weeks now and it came to a head (kinda sorta) in yesterday’s blog post.
There is lots of debris flying around in that thought typhoon: stress about my finances, the challenges that lie ahead, the reality that the road is going to be tough, that my life is about to change yet again, uncertainty, angst. Now toss in a new found political awareness and activism, frustration that the system, the environment, and so many factors seems rigged against people trying to better themselves.
A huge chunk of that inner thought tornado is the difficulty in conveying why when “I went to the grocery store and to my storage unit today” should be received by the listener with the same respect as someone saying “I just ran a marathon in record time.” — more on that in a later post. For now, please accept it as one tiny line of paint to be included in a much larger painting. A thread in a larger tapestry.
However, there is a center. A “core” to that whirling maelstrom inside my brain.
In every case, somehow it all comes back around to WORDS!.
And how inadequate they sometimes are. How easily they can be misunderstood and the meaning behind the words lost when they come from me to another person.
Words and the inadequacy of “words.” How they can either soar and convey with perfect clarity emotions and thoughts or they can plumment horribly and thud into the ground, like bricks falling from a workman’s scaffold, creating the most awful mess!
Arrrrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!
Here, on this blog, on any blog, the words are both the solution and the problem. How to use them? Which ones to use? Do I write about this or that? Share this bit or that bit? If writing about that bit then “how?” In what way? Get the idea?
Let’s break it down a little; use those words to illustrate:
Here I am in Dallas, sitting in my room (which needs desperately to be neatened, dusted, and cleaned up). Over in one corner is a shirt and a pair of pants that need to be thrown into the laundry hamper which is itself overflowing. On my futon are my pillows from last night, and the sheets from last night which really should have been neatly folded and put into the closet for the day, but weren’t. The futon is still in it’s “inclined” night-time sleeping position instead of being moved to it’s upright “day-time” couch position.
Right next to my desk I have a stack of three boxes and a stack of two boxes. These boxes are detritus from my storage unit which I’m slowly working through: sorting, selling on CraigsList, tossing in the trash OR giving away the enclosed “junk” and “stuff” to the local resale shop which benefits the LGBT community called “Out of the Closet.” Watch for the return of my “online garage sale” as I work my way through that pile and the much larger pile-o-clutter that I need to get OUT of my house!
I have a half finished diet soda on my desk (which I really swore I would not be drinking any more of… …I should be switching to green tea instead). My desk is as cluttered as my mind. Lots of stuff left in mid project, bits of this and bits of that.
Yer basic slice-o-Tony’s Life in fifty words or less…
About those words…
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My not so “quick” “quick post” about good stuff that is happening!
Random bits of “good news“
OK folks, I have NOT had my morning coffee so this may end up being a bit of “free association”
HOWEVER… I wanted to share a random assortment of things that have happened in the past little while that are AWESOME.
So in no particular order…
My blood glucose number was 119 this morning…
…well below the 130 max my doctor has set for my “fasting” level. “Fasting” means “just before breakfast” YAY!
I woke up this morning at a teeny tiny bit just past 9 am.
Yes, you read that correctly. OMG! Of course it probably helped that I went to bed last night around 11-ish. But this is unusual for me. My normal range is 2am – 10/11 am.
And recently, over the past month and a half, I’ve not been able to get to sleep until 4 or 5 or 6 am after which I sleep 8-10 hours and wake up waaaaaaaayyyy after the “day” has started for most folks,
So… getting up at 9am where I’d really LIKE my wake up time to be so this is great. YAY!
And this has been the case now for almost an entire week! So my sleep patters may be shifting back to the “typical norm” YAY!
I went to my doctor yesterday…
…and I had dropped 8 lbs from my last visit to her office. YAY!
I had gone to her because I have ringing in my ears. She is trying a couple of things and said she’ll send me to a specialist if the stuff she is trying doesn’t work and stop the ringing within a couple of weeks. YAY!
Since I was there anyway, she went ahead and did the “follow up” stuff — monitoring my diabetes and high blood pressure and weight management stuff.
I showed her my chart from the blood glucose testing meter and I’ve been 95% within the target range that she has set for my blood sugar. She was all happy about that! Woot!
And the reason this “doctor stuff” is unqualified “good news” is because thanks to President Obama and thousands of people who worked very hard to pass and protect the ACA, I am under medical care. Before qualifying for the ACA subsidiy I would have just ignored the ringing in my ears, and my diabetes and … well you get the picture. Health insurance is good. YAY!
Not having health insurance. BAD. – not “yay”
AND this is “good news” because when I called up to make the appointment, she said that she would bill me for the $20 copay. She said I could pay it after the first of the month when I get my pension check. Which is awesome because if she had not said that I would have not been able to go.
My checking balance, the day before yesterday, on Monday, when I called her to make the appointment, was sitting at 67 cents. Yes, under a dollar. So having a doctor who cares more about getting me in to see her when I need care than about making me wait to get that $20 copay is a good thing! A very good thing.
YAY!!! in fact DOUBLE YAY!
Slllluuuurrrrppppp…… Ahhhhhhhhhhh — first sip of coffee.
You know that you are officially a caffeine addict when you whole body gives this little shudder of anticipation as soon as you have that first sip.
There is no way the caffeine can have hit your system yet, but the taste buds let the rest of the body know that the fix is on its way…
Oh-so-YAY!
By the way, the cute cat clutching a mug of coffee over to the right is one of my designs from my store: TxCowboyDancer Designs (yes this is a shameless plug) — but check it out when you get a chance. 🙂
My doctor also ordered a standard 3 month blood work panel…
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This has been a good week… Doin’ a Happy Dance!
Life is lookin’ good!
Just a quick rundown of some great things that have been happening to me over the past few days… Woot! Uh-huh! YeeHaw!
- I’ve been feeling a LOT better, more energy, moving around easier, more active.
.. - I am now within spittin’ distance of 300 lbs! Woot! This will be a major milestone, just a few more pounds!! Yay!
.. - I’ve started planning for next year’s “Dance Competition Season” Woot! Check out my updated Calendar to see which events I think I’ll be attending… — I’ve started looking at dances and music for next year. I’ve already been invited to perform in the Saturday night show at the Texas Hoedown in March! Thank you Virginia for the invite! I start rehearsals on Monday. It will so good to get back into the studio!
.. - My Blood Glucose levels are mostly within the target range. My big challenge is taking my meds on a regular schedule. My sleep cycle keeps messing up my “take the meds” time. *sigh* but it is getting better! Progress! Not Perfection! Woot!
.. - I’ve been cleaning out old files on my computer, sorting them, deleting them, renaming and organizing the ones I need/want to keep.
.. - And over the past few days, I’ve had a sudden surge of folks buying stuff off of my design store: TxCowboyDancer Designs! Woot! Uh-huh! It really does make me feel good when something I created is bought by someone who thinks highly enough of it to lay out some cold hard cash. Even at a measly 10% commission. But hey, I ain’t gonna turn it down! Woot!Here is the current “Top Dozen” most popular designs on my site:
- Also in the “graphic design” front, one of my very favorite designs was purchased this week *and* it appears in the Top 12 for the first time! Woot! It is a photo I took when I visited Banff, just outside of Calgary, Canada. I fell in love. I actually checked job listings at their local library when I got back home to Texas. Alas, there were no openings. *sigh* Here is the photo for your enjoyment (or if you wanna buy something with it on it, well that works too!) LOL
I mean, I’m not a pro photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes you get lucky… *sigh* I wish I could go back….
- And, finally, I’ve noticed over the past few days that I am more flexible, I’m able to reach and twist more that I could a month ago. Life is good.
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Janumet, Invokana and Diabetic Discount Drama!
How I got Invokana
and Janumet for “Almost Free”
For those who are regular readers of my blog, I ask for your understanding. Alas, this post will be DRAMA free! Eeeeeekkkk! Aaaaaiiiieeeeee! Yes, I know, it is hard to believe that I can do a post with no drama… … well with a minimal amount of drama, but tis true. 🙂
So… about getting drugs for “almost free” …
It helps if you have insurance
Actually, it REALLY helps if you have insurance.
If you are a low income individual without insurance; or if you are a small business owner who wants to see if you can get a better deal; or if you are just curious, then head on over to Healthcare.gov and get all the information on how to use the insurance exchanges and perhaps qualify for subsidies.
It may, depending on your circumstances be possible for you to sign up even though open enrollment has closed.
Also, it MIGHT also be possible for you to get your health insurance for FREE or for you to receive substantial subsidies from the Federal Government (US Residents only) to help you pay for your health insurance.
..
Speaking from a personal point of view, without the insurance that I get thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, my life would be in mortal danger.
No drama.
No kidding.
100% truth.
If you have insurance, the insurance should pay MOST of the cost of these drugs
But every insurance policy is different; you need to check to be sure.
Using myself as an example: when I first tried to fill the prescription for these two drugs, I discovered that my copay for each drug, after the insurance was applied, was $100 (100 x 2 =$200 per month).
Eeeeeeeekkkk!! oh, oopps I said no drama. My bad. Moving on. 😉
To find out how much your copay is going to be before you go by the pharmacy, ou have to check something called a “drug formulary.”
You can usually find the Drug Formulary in a PDF file or as a searchable database on your insurance company’s website. Or you can call the customer service 800 # for your insurance company and ask for a paper copy be mailed to you.
Check the back of your
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I’m featured in Diabetes Health Magazine!
They Like Me! They really really Like Me!
I’d like to thank the Academy…. 😉
Ok, ok, so it ain’t an Oscar, but it does feel pretty good! You, my loyal readers, should know by now that I’m a shy retiring wall flower…
What? Do I hear howls of disbelieving laughter from the galleries?
Ok, ok, tis true… I love to talk about uhmmm, well “Moi” so when this very nice reporter Tanya Caylor from Diabetes Health Magazine emailed me and said she wanted to do a “profile” of me, I thought “This has got to be a joke”
So, before replying I checked and discovered that “Yes” there really is a magazine called “Diabetes Health” and yes there really is a reporter named Tanya Caylor who has written for them and who also blogs online and who writes a column called “Adventures in Food and Fitness,” which is published every other Monday in the Health Section of The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.
So, having determined that this was not a phishing attempt and not spam, I replied back and set up a phone interview. She called me; I had a lovely conversation with Ms Caylor. And that was that. Then about a week ago, I got an email saying….
Tah-DAH!
…the article had been posted on the Diabetes Health website. It will be appearing in the next paper issue of the magazine as well, but it is now live on their website:
Woo Hoo! Uh-huh! Doin’ a happy dance while typing! Woot! YeeeeeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaawwwwwww
I invite you go go check it out. And click the “share” buttons! Woot! You can click on the image up above or if you like here is the text link: Diabetes Diagnosis Gets Derailed Dance Champion Focused on Health
And, for the record, the lovely and very talented lady in the photo featured in the article is one of my dance coaches, Natalja Sawal. We danced together for two years.
See ya on the dance floor!
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 