"Four Weeks From Today, On June 10th"

Monday, May 13, 2013

This afternoon I went to my G.P. for a follow up visit on how I was doing with some new medications he had prescribed.  I have a lot of allergies and a lot of drug allergies, so it is always a challenge for a doctor to find a medication to do what is needed without doing what isn't needed - like an allergic reaction.  The current problem we were working on was just that: Allergies! 

The Doctor had put me on four medications to try to keep my allergies under control so that I wouldn't end up with chest congestion at time for the surgery for the Cochlear Implant.  The medications are doing fairly well, but I still battle sinus drainage down my throat (my main complaint when we started this).  So today he decided to add a nasal spray, as I requested last month.  First he mentioned a few different types and I told him several of them, I had tried but developed nose bleeds with them.  So he decided on a new one.  The only drawback he said (other than a list of possible side effects that he showed me) was the cost.  He said, "It is very expensive."  So he checked on his lap top computer that he carried in with him and found that my insurance covered it except for the co-pay. 

As I was leaving the office, I stopped at the desk where a young lady always gives me an assortment of paperwork.  This sweet young lady sits in front of me at church most Sundays and it is comforting to see a familiar face on each doctor visit.  One thing I really like about this doctor is that when you leave, this same lady gives me a printout of all that we discussed at the visit.  The printout tells what medications he thinks I am taking, both prescription and over the counter.  It shows the results of any lab tests that were run and it lists all new instructions I was given.  This is so helpful to me when I am not always sure I heard correctly.  One day I mentioned that to him and he quickly told me if I ever didn't understand something, to tell him and he would repeat it.  He has been very patient and good about repeating many things.  Back to the paperwork, last they attach any new prescription orders and list the next appointment. 

When this sweet clerk handed me my papers, she highlighted the next appointment and said, "Your next appointment is four weeks from today, on June 10th."  I told her that wouldn't work since that is the day of my surgery in Houston.  Then it hit me!  Four weeks from today!  Wow!  On May 10th,I had actually thought about the surgery date, but that meant it was still a month away.  Four weeks is much shorter than a month - right?  Anyway, it just really hit me when she said the date, that time is passing and it will be time for the surgery before too much longer.

Before I had left our office this afternoon to go to the doctor, my husband had put in calls to the surgeon's office in Houston and to the hospital there, to find out what our final costs would be.  They had told him to call about this time and they would have the figures for him.  Well, Praise God, the doctor's office said we would not owe them anything.  Medicare and my supplemental insurance will cover it all.  That is great news!  We don't know yet about our portion of the hospital bill or the anesthesiologist's bill, but so far, so good. 

On the way back to work I stopped at the drug store to have that prescription filled that the doctor had warned me would be expensive.  I asked the girl to give me the price before she filled it.  Tap, tap, tap, on the computer keyboard and eventually she said, "$40."  I told her to go ahead and fill it.  When I got my package from the pharmacist, as always, they printed on the information sheet how much my insurance company saved me on my prescription.  This one said, "Your insurance saved you $166.99".  Yikes!  The doctor was right, it was expensive: $206.99 was the regular price.  Oh, my!

Just as I was returning to the office, that very loud noise in my head started.  I believe I mentioned in an earlier blog.  This is just NOISE!  The music was still there, but was almost drowned out by the noise.  It was instantly as though someone flipped a switch and turned on "the noise".  One result is that when the noise is so loud, I talk way too loud, trying to talk over the noise.  Of course no one else hears the noise so they don't know why I am suddenly yelling at them.  We were planning to go to Chick-fil-A tonight to take part in a fund raiser for our church school, (since my husband is on the church school board, I thought that would be a good idea)  but I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with a crowd and my noise, so my husband said he would go pick up our supper there and bring it home. I really appreciated that and since it was already past closing time, I headed home. 

At home, I spent time in the yard filling the bird feeders, the birdbath, and putting out some oranges for the woodpeckers and any orioles still around.  The noise began to slowly subside and by the time I had eaten supper and taken a relaxing bath, I was back to the normal music and no noise.  I have not been able to pinpoint any trigger for the noise to start or stop, but I continue trying things to turn it off once it has been turned on. 

One more important item, not really related to the hearing loss, but is something I mentioned earlier in this blog.  Our son and his wife who live here had invited us over for lunch after church, along with my mother and my husband's mother, to celebrate Mother's Day.  That made it a special day.  But the thing that made it most special, was the baptism of our two oldest grand daughters.  In our church baptism follows the time when a person comes to a point in their life where they realize that they are a sinner, confess that sin to the Lord, and accept Christ Jesus as their personal Savior, realizing that Christ paid for their sin on the cross.  As is tradition in our church, if a child's father is a member of the church and wants to, he is allowed to baptize his own children.  So our son had the joy of baptizing these two precious girls to symbolize that they are being buried to their old life of sin and raised to a new life in Christ.   Here, the girls are waiting for their baptism.