Wow, time really flies! I just looked at my last post and it’s dated May 26th. I didn’t think I’d been off the blog that long. So, gosh, what’s been going on with me?

Well, I started dating someone, and we’re about 4 months in, now. Things are going very well, and I’m very happy. At the same time, I hadn’t been feeling very well and dreaded going to the doctor, especially now that I don’t have health insurance, anymore. I kept putting off going to the doctor hoping I would get better. I never did, so I broke down and made an appointment.

As far as I know, the lupus is still in remission. But, I also have Fibromyalgia, which is the culprit this time. It’s weird in that most people with lupus also have “fibro”, but most people with fibro don’t have lupus. I don’t know how that works, but it turns out that I was feeling bad because I was having a pretty bad fibro flare. My muscles were really tight all over, and as if that wasn’t enough, all the tendons and soft tissues around my joints (both shoulders, both elbows, both knees, both hands, both ankles, both hips, and my neck) were inflamed, which made them super sore and stiff. And, I had been like that since about March, getting progressively worse, before I finally couldn’t take it anymore.

I was put back on prednisone for a month long high dosage taper, and prescribed a muscle relaxant and a pain reliever. I felt a lot better within 24 hours, and dramatically better within 48 hours. At 72 hours in (3 days), I literally felt like I had a new lease on life. I felt so good! Then I had a very sobering thought… I realized that I had forgotten what it felt like to feel good. Isn’t that a shame? Then, I had another sobering thought: I might be one of the people who can never fully come off of their meds. What made me think of that was when I told my primary care doctor that my (former) rheumatologists had taken me off all meds related to lupus or fibro, he dead-panned that that might be the reason why I was feeling so bad. :eek:

And, y’all, when I say I was feeling bad, I mean I was feeling bad. I scared the poor medical assistant so badly when she put the rubber tourniquet around my arm to draw blood! I hollered, and I couldn’t help it. One of the places I was having severe pain and soreness was in both my elbows. The med assistant tied the tourniquet right around the most tender part of my upper arm, and I was hollering before I could catch myself. End result? A nervous med assistant and the doctor taking the blood samples, himself. He had to put the tourniquet farther up my arm, and it was somewhat of an ordeal to get any blood out of me.

I still feel a lot better than I did, but my body has now adjusted to the prednisone and other meds, so my activity rate is slowing back down to normal. But, I tell ya, those first few days were AWESOME!! So, that’s pretty much been what’s going on with me, and why I haven’t been blogging much. I wasn’t feeling well, and so wasn’t doing anything, and so had nothing to talk about.

Yeah, I got some camera lenses during this time, but I couldn’t really use them since I really wasn’t up to doing too much, physically. But, since I knew there was going to come a time when I would be using them, I bought them anyway. Before I go any further, I just have to say that my boyfriend has been wonderful with all of this. I know he’s nervous about the lupus, fibro, and other issues, but he’s not letting “what if’s” scare him away. He’s the real deal, and I’m glad I met him, and I’m glad he’s a part of my life.

Well, that’s it for the update. Stay tuned for some fireworks pics I took this weekend at the city of Morrow’s annual SummerFest on the Green.

I got my “Grady card”, but will have to pay more than I expected. Apparently, they changed the income guidelines in August 2009. They’ve started charging patients a copay for office/clinic visits as well. So, I have a $50 copay ($75 for ER) just to be seen, and have to pay half of the remaining charges for not only office visits, but also for lab work, scans, x-rays, and prescriptions. So, I will only be going to the doctor every 4-5 months. Too bad, so sad if they want to monitor anything at closer intervals than that.

Anyway, I ended up getting a little testy with the financial counselor I saw yesterday. I was required to bring 3 pieces of mail as proof of residency, as well as proof of income. I took my proof of income letter from UNUM, two utility bills, and another piece of mail that happened to also be from UNUM. The counselor told me that she couldn’t use the third piece of mail, because it was from the same company that my income letter was from.

I told her that I wasn’t told that when I called earlier. That’s when she took leave of her senses, and thought she was talking to a hoodrat, and tried to clown me by telling me that I “should have known”. I asked her how was I supposed to know, and she told me that it was “logical” to assume that one of the pieces of mail couldn’t be from the same company my proof of income letter was from. Can you believe this trifling shit? I know I’m smart, but damn… I’m not omniscient! :|

I told her it was NOT logical to assume, and that it may seem logical to her because she did this every day and knew what all the little rules were. I told her that it was not MY job to know this stuff, but their job to make sure people had the right information. When I said that, she got this little look on her face and said “Oh, I see”. The NERVE! Right after that, she “remembered” that she could use my driver’s license as the third proof of residence, since it had my current address on it.

I know I could have handled her better, but by the time she got to me I was cold, tired, and in pain. These people just really have no clue, or just don’t care about, what some people have to go through just to get to their office. The last thing we need is to be played to the left!

Lord Jesus, please don’t let these Negroes test me…

Well, I’m finally getting down to Grady Memorial Hospital. I’m without private insurance now, and they operate on a sliding fee scale based on income. I’m still on LTD so I HAVE to be under a doctor’s care. President Obama’s health bill is a godsend for people like me. I can afford to contribute meaningfully to my health costs, but I can’t do it all. I shouldn’t have to move to the ‘hood and dodge bullets just to be able to afford the care I need for Lupus and all the other stuff that’s wrong with me.

I don’t have a sense of entitlement, but I do have a sense of fairness and I shouldn’t be a sitting duck in a bad area just to stay well. The irony is that the stress of living in a bad area would make me sicker and end up costing US taxpayers more money. And yes, I do pay taxes, as in having to send a check to the IRS or the state. So I get to complain, too!

It’s been a long, long time coming, but I know… oh, I know a change is gonna come. Yes, it is.

Well folks, that change HAS come, and it’s a done deal. Now, to be sure, the Republicans are going to fight tooth and nail to make sure people like me (permanently disabled with serious chronic diseases) don’t get the affordable health care we need so we can die off. You know, they very much seem to embrace the concept of natural selection (aka survival of the fittest). Well, if they believed in evolution, that is. *side eye* ;)

Anyhoo, this short paragraph from the CNN.com article about the new law caught my attention:

Senior Republicans in Congress warned that voters will judge Democrats harshly in November’s midterm elections, with Sen. John McCain of Arizona saying the Democratic-passed bill killed any chance of bipartisan support on legislation for the rest of the year.

I’m trying to figure out how in tarnation the Republicans figure that American voters will judge the Democrats harshly in the November mid-term elections. You know why? Because this health care reform was a TOP PRIORITY, and cornerstone, of Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign. He was very clear about his position and plan for “universal healthcare”… and American voters OVERWHELMINGLY voted for him.

We didn’t vote for him despite his promise to give us universal healthcare. We voted for him, in part, because of his promise to give us universal healthcare! So, how exactly are the American people going to “harshly judge” the president for doing exactly what he told us he was going to do BEFORE we elected him? Am I the only person this makes no sense to? The Republicans have a serious case of selective amnesia.

Now, to the second issue in the above quoted paragraph. Senator John McCain (who I actually liked, and who was my front runner until he lost his balls and let his campaign get away from him and end in a disgraceful train wreck) said the Dem-only passed bill killed any chance of bipartisan support on legislation for the rest of the year. McCain must have been hiding under a rock for the last year! There has been NO bipartisan support of anything Mr. Obama has tried to do since he took the Oath of Office!

My first thought on McCain’s comment was “No shit, Sherlock!”. I mean, really… who is surprised that the Republicans are now going to switch into sabotage mode and do every evil, dastardly thing they can think of to put – at least – a damper on this reform? Is anyone surprised that the Republicans are not going to cooperate with the Obama Administration on anything? I would say this is not a surprise, because they haven’t been cooperating all this time, so why in the hell would they start now?

Republican non-cooperation is a non issue. Why? Because, again, they’ve never tried to work with the Obama Administration. What the Republicans call bipartisan participation, the rest of America calls strong arming. They always want to take the lead and have the most influence on anything they have worked on in conjunction with the Democrats. They have never been content to let the Dems take the lead on anything. With Republicans, it’s their way or the highway. Right now, they’re pissed as hell because they have, YET AGAIN, been reminded that things can get done without them.

The Republicans better watch it. They cannot resort to their usual bag of nasty tricks and rhetoric to derail this new law, because the majority of Americans WANT this health care reform. They are in the minority, and they can’t afford to piss off the rest of us. They got some shine when Brown was elected in Massachusetts, but that was purely a local thing, in my non-expert and could care less estimation. On the national stage, if they go too far with their retaliation tactics – and believe me there will be retaliation – they will only end up hurting themselves.

But, they probably can’t help themselves. After all, they’ve bred themselves for certain traits for so long that it’s now probably just in their nature. :|