BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 08:09 PM

That's the spirit!

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 09:11 PM

This has been worse, far worse, than her gall bladder surgery or any of the two cancers she's had while we've been married (breast and basal cell on one of the scars on her neck).

But we put the wreath on the front of the house this afternoon and set it to light up -- we actually have a lot to celebrate although it may not seem like it at times.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 08:06 PM

Sometimes it must seem like the "little stuff" will never end. When one problem is solved, another crops up. I hope the treatment is effective and nothing further is needed.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 04:41 PM

more good news

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 08:54 AM

At lunch yesterday I told her that this, like time in Folsom Prison, keep's draggin' on but considering the alternatives it's GREAT!

It's the little stuff, like the UTI and the slightly dislocated left jaw, the stuff that's popping up now that the BIG problem is solved, that's wearing.

She and her counselor decided that no more scheduled sessions were needed but she is to call if it's needed. Pat's pleased with the counseling.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: fat B****rd
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 08:13 AM

And best thoughts from here in Dunfermline.
Charlie

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: gnu
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 06:45 AM

Good news with the bad news, really. The good news is that she was ABLE to fly without too much discomfort. Thank goodness for that!

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 12:42 AM

Rocephin isn't one she'll want as a shot. I got that as an out patient over several days after a particularly bad cat bite. They put one of those IV vein things on the back of my hand and plugged me into it each evening for an hour or so. They said the volume of the rocephin in a dose would be a very painful shot.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Janie
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 07:12 PM

Well, I hope the dang shots take care of the UTI once and for all, Rap.

All my best to both of you, and thanks for the update!

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 06:25 PM

Copy 'n' paste from Wikipedia. Whoever did the original deserves the credit.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 06:05 PM

& appropriately so. It would have been lovely to be a fly on the wall when the little Hitler realised who he has upset.

that was an excellent piece of typing - all those numbers & brackets & strange words!

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 05:46 PM

Well, I thought I update this a bit.

We went to Indiana (Chicago orbit) on the 17th and returned on the 29th. Pat had no real problems (besides headaches) except for a Little Hitler TSA agent when we left and she inadvertently started to lose her balance and the TSA people went nuts thinking that they'd now harmed someone with a handicap AND was a senior citizen AND was lawyer.

But while she was at a meeting in a very small Indiana town (Shipsewana for those In The Quilting Know) her nephrologist's office called her cell phone. Based on a urinanalyis she'd had just before we'd left her UTI was back, or rather, still around. She got five days of cephalexine and saw her nephrologist today. He ordered another urine test and told her that it was his professional opinion (and he's very, very good) that the UTI is systemtic.

She'll need IM shots of (6R,7R)-7-{[(2Z)-2-(2-amino-1,3-thiazol-4-yl)->2-(methoxyimino)acetyl]amino}-3-{[(2-methyl-5,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)thio]methyl}-8-oxo-5-thia-1-azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2-carboxylic acid or, a bit more simply, rocephin.

We are both getting horribly sick of this whole thing!

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 10 Nov 14 - 10:48 AM

Forking hell - mind you, I used to know the chief costumier for the Monnaie in Brussels, you couldn't even get into her house - a four-foot hallway less three feet of fabric shelves...and the rest of the house was the same. Now Nessa wot does the mediaeval costumes...the only person I know who keeps a pole-axe by the front door, but she did live in Burkenhaire...

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Nov 14 - 10:21 AM

Some years back a lady in Illinois died -- she had to have a separate HOUSE to store THE REST of her fabric, and that house was full from attic to basement.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Nov 14 - 01:04 AM

the friend I was visiting referred to someone who has so much fabric that her kitchen stuff (plates, pans, etc) are stored in her defunct dishwasher - every other cupboard in that room & her home is filled with fabric etc.

'Doesn't everyone?' was her reply when asked about the situation

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: gnu
Date: 09 Nov 14 - 07:09 PM

Shag that!

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Nov 14 - 04:06 PM

Three quilts, I think.

No, it's not a lot of batting. It's not even a lot of fabric. Trust me on this, I know!

Fortunately, we have not (thus far) had to reinforce the floor under her sewing room. Someday we ARE going to have to replace the carpet. I don't want to think about that....

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: JennieG
Date: 09 Nov 14 - 06:25 AM

Noooo......four yards of batting might seem a lot, but it's not really......

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Nov 14 - 06:01 AM

no, but I don't say provocative things to people who are armed ...

I spent the weekend with a quilter friend who has 5 unfinished tops + lots of other unfinished stuff!

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Nov 14 - 10:26 PM

Oh, yeah. We were at dinner and she said, "When I hold my head it's because of the swelling."

I replied, "So you've got a swelled head?"

Ever been stuck repeatedly with a fork??

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Nov 14 - 10:25 PM

Quilting...weeeeellll, she's found a LOT of unfinished projects (mostly quilt tops that were never matched to quilt bottoms) and is finishing them off. Binding and sandwiching and getting ready to give to the woman who does the long-arm quilting for her. She keeps finding backing material in her "stash" and tonight we got four yards of quilt batting. That's a LOT of quilt batting!

But the reading of books is still on hold. And she hasn't made any new tops, but at least she's sewing.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Nov 14 - 12:46 PM

Has Pat shown any interest in quilting yet? Or some other soothing and fulfilling hobby?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 08 Nov 14 - 11:53 AM

Thank you for the update. I wish her well as she follows through.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: gnu
Date: 08 Nov 14 - 04:23 AM

I echo those thoughts. TMJ

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: LadyJean
Date: 08 Nov 14 - 02:24 AM

Yes, indeed good luck with everything. I share the road with cyclists, because I don't like to share the sidewalk with them.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 Nov 14 - 12:11 AM

Good luck with everything... y'all could use some of that.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Nov 14 - 08:27 PM

She's going to a counselor for her anger/fear/etc. and to a TMJ specialist for her jaw. She told the latter that she wanted the damage from the bicycle bashing fix and nothing more as that would return her to her previous condition (he wanted to do a full year of treatment!). And that's all the insurance will cover -- she was fine before that.

We're discussing a visit with our attorney.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 07 Nov 14 - 07:53 PM

Anything new Rap? If not, no news is good news.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Janie
Date: 31 Oct 14 - 10:22 PM

All I will say is I no longer take insurance of any ilk, including Medicare and Medicaid, in my private practice, nor will I provide a receipt that has the information needed for some one to submit an out-of-network claim to their insurance. I have been able to drop my standard fee by 40% as a result of that decision because of the lower administrative cost of doing business. I can also now choose to charge people lower fees based on their ability to pay without having to bill them for a larger fee that hangs over their heads to satisfy regulators and insurance contract agreements. This has relieved people of the fear my estate might come after them for unpaid bills carried on the books when I die.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: gnu
Date: 31 Oct 14 - 10:04 PM

So? You have to enjoin them and prove why they..... ohhhh... never mind. No way I can be more pissed off than you.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Oct 14 - 09:01 PM

75% of the surgeons bill was disallowed by the insurance. About 67% of the hospital bill was disallowed. Then both of them were subjected to what the insurance calls "reasonable and allowable" fees, which I think are also subject to regional variations (i.e., it would cost me more in New York than here in rural Idaho).

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Janie
Date: 31 Oct 14 - 07:28 PM

No bonafide relationship among billed costs, actual costs and actual payments from insurers. Medicare, i.e. CMS has better data than anywhere else, but their data is not good either. All the numbers are pulled out of a hat. In the USA, no one knows what it actually costs to provide a medical service. Mostly because of the crazy cost-shifting necessary.

Keep mending, Pat. And I second Maeve's comment, like it or not, Music Stand.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Oct 14 - 06:13 PM

And I still respect you. (Just had to do it.)

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: maeve
Date: 31 Oct 14 - 09:24 AM

Rap, I have such respect for the way your and Pat have conducted yourselves through this long and challenging process.

Maeve

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Oct 14 - 08:48 AM

Financial: Medicare is the front line and then the insurance kicks in. SO FAR we are responsible for about 1% of the billed costs and we can afford that (less than USD 1,000). More bills will come in, of course, but they shouldn't be excessive. I might have to give up a bottle or two of single malt, but I can probably do that. We won't be out in the street. But I do wonder about people who don't have such insurance as we have...no I don't; I grew up without such and it was very, very rough for a widowed mother with four kids. I'm glad that we have it, very glad.

Pat will call the sheriff's office when she feels able and see what, if anything, was done. In the meantime I just want her to get completely well.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rumncoke
Date: 31 Oct 14 - 06:52 AM

In the UK we do sometimes moan about the Health Service, or we hear about it going wrong - but it is a different world to the situation in the US.

A cyclist who rides on the pavement and causes an accident here might be prosecuted for doing wrong and causing injury, but it is not down to them to pay for the treatment for their victim, nor to the family to organise payments.

I have never understood the rationale behind the system in the US, even though we have been bombarded with TV programs about US hospitals for decades.

I am glad to read of the good progress your wife is making Rapparee, but I would have the financial worries removed from you too.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Nigel Paterson
Date: 31 Oct 14 - 06:08 AM

Good news, plus a good laugh too (the ADD reference).
All the very best from London UK,
                                                    Nigel.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: gnu
Date: 31 Oct 14 - 04:25 AM

Too bad it's taken so long to learn about the jaw but the overall prognoses are encouraging. Thanks for the update.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Janie
Date: 30 Oct 14 - 08:35 PM

The two of you are not a well-matched pair. Nope. Unhuh. No way. *big smile*

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: fat B****rd
Date: 30 Oct 14 - 03:12 PM

I've been away for a while but glad to read good positive news. ATB from Charlie.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Oct 14 - 01:28 PM

A good 'whomp' now & then helps keep things straight... so I am told.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: maeve
Date: 30 Oct 14 - 12:29 PM

Good news is just getting better. Thanks for the laugh, too.

Maeve

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Oct 14 - 12:14 PM

I might as well tell this: we found out yesterday that her jaw is slightly dislocated, which has caused the jaw pain she's had. A specialist dentist is working to reset it and it feels much better today.

But as the neurosurgeon said this morning, "We deal with the big stuff first." And then he said, "I don't see any problems ahead. If you want to travel or fly, go ahead and do it. The attention deficits and reading deficits will resolve themselves over the next six months or a year."

I told her later that medicine can deal with Attention Deficit Disorder and she said it was a good thing she was driving or she'd have whomped me one.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Oct 14 - 11:06 PM

That is good news! My friend who was injured decided to go through the driving test with the state to prove she could pass the test. We had to practice parallel parking a few times - but then, there are lots of people without brain injuries who have trouble with parking.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Oct 14 - 10:07 PM

She has concentration problems, so no, she hasn't yet started sewing again. I've got a whole pile of mending for her too! (Well, no. My mommy made sure her sons could cook enough to heat canned soup and sew on buttons.)

BUT!! She drove in traffic today!! First time in normal traffic since she went in the hospital!!!!

All sorts of nurses come next week: case managers and therapy managers and I don't know who all. She also sees the neurosurgeon on the 30th, so we'll know after that if she can fly (in an airplane) then.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Oct 14 - 09:30 AM

I'll second that

Is Pat quilting yet?

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Nigel Paterson
Date: 25 Oct 14 - 07:11 AM

That is progress indeed. Your relief must be palpable.
                                                                                  Nigel.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: gnu
Date: 25 Oct 14 - 06:25 AM

Progress! Great to hear it, Rap.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Oct 14 - 09:14 PM

Usually we do have indoor plumbing. When Pat was lawyering she called attorneys which were not from...well, she was at a university in the General Counsel's office...as "outhouse lawyers" and it kind of stuck. She was in house and they weren't so....

She drove herself to a walk today! Mind you, nobody else showed up so she drove herself to the post office, got the mail, and drove home. It was pretty early in day and traffic was very light, but still!!!!

She still can't concentrate enough to read more than short articles.

Subject: RE: BS: My Wife's Having Brain Surgery 5 Sept
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 24 Oct 14 - 08:55 PM

Outhouse therapy? Don't you have indoor plumbing? Oh. Never mind.