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Lebanon, Oregon, United States
We are Terry & Cathye Kinkelaar. If you've followed my blog in the past, you know that Lydia, my beautiful wife of 52 years, and I made the lifestyle choice to move to Oregon in 2017. You've seen my posts about losing her in May 2020 to cancer. Although I was left alone, I am pleased to say that I have found happiness again. In April 2021, I met Cathye, who also lost her longtime husband in 2020. Well, we fell in love and were married in April 2022. So, if folks are still interested, I will continue to post here as we move forward with our lives and adventures!

Friday, November 29, 2019

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #110 – Insurance, Motorhome Work and Getting Pain Managed


 

Monday, Nov 25th, 2019……  God, I hate insurance companies!  As I mentioned before, we have switched our UHC PPO to a UHC HMO. Well, I got the welcome/confirmation call on Friday. They couldn’t tell us why Lydia’s hasn’t come through yet. I have to notify Boeing by Tuesday so they wouldn’t continue deductions on our old PPO, so I wanted to get this resolved. I made a call direct to the number that called me on Friday. I was transferred a few times and eventually found out they were not holding it up – Medicare was. It seems they show Lydia as a dialysis patient, even though she was only on it for 8 weeks back in 1998!  They will not provide insurance if the person is currently on dialysis. Back in 2017, when we were with the UHC HMO they required a letter from her doctor stating she was a renal patient, with her own working kidney, not requiring dialysis.  Bottom line after a lot of complaining is that we have to again provide that information to get her authorized and processed. We have calls in to both her current nephrologist and our current physician to get a letter generated that we can fax in to them. Sucks but we need to get er done! 
I went out this morning and got breakfast and once we got all of the above calls completed, I headed out to work on the ladder project out in the shop. I had to add some more support for the plywood shelves on the ladder because I bought plywood sheets that were too thin and they were curved (aka bowed) too much to use as is.  I was trying to keep it all light but should have bought thicker plywood for the shelves. I can always change them out later if need be. I turned on the tv out there and since I had just bought more propane bottles, I was able to turn my Mr. Heater Buddy on and got the chill out of the room. That works well but I think that I might just try the stove that is in there next time. I haven’t even fired it up since we have been here but I am getting so much firewood recently that I need to get that thing going and use some of it for a change! I hadn’t saved many newspapers (for kindling) but I will take them out of the recycle and that should be enough for the rest of the season. I spent a few hours and got 90% done of what I wanted completed. I will go out again this afternoon but came in to rest and eat something.
Ok, it’s later now and I didn’t make it back to my project. Lydia’s nephrologist’s office called back and said that the doctor had made up a letter and signed it.  We decided to just go there (she was in the Corvallis office today) and have them fax it for us. I brought the cover sheet I had made up with the UHC reference numbers and Lydia’s info and put them together and had the office send it off.  I will have to check in tomorrow with UHC and see that it is in work. We decided to stop at Arby’s on the way home for dinner. Once we got back, we had to feed our poor starved puppy. We settled in and later watched Dancing With the Stars. I really didn’t care who won and just wanted fair judging.  But I was surprised that Ally didn’t win, or score better than third. I was also not surprised that they have decided to not have the show in the spring, choosing to do the next one in the fall. I think all of the folks either moving on or getting voted out early has taken it's toll on the ratings.     

Tuesday, Nov 26th, 2019……  Today I had to get moving early. I had an 8:00am appointment in Albany to drop off my motorhome for the scheduled brake job. I got going around 7:00am!  I had asked my sister to come by and pick me up at the Home Depot across the street from Peterson Trucking.  That way I didn’t have to hook and unhook the tow car. Meanwhile, Lydia took off to get her mri done. I got the coach parked and they checked me in and I was done and went over to HD to wait.  A bit later, Sis picked me up and we headed home, stopping by her place on the way so I could help her a bit with an excel spreadsheet she was working on. When she brought me back home, Lydia was already here. She said they dressed her in scrubs and put her into the machine. It was only for her foot but they have their procedure to follow. No results yet. She said when she got home, she called her doctor to let him know she had done the mri plus she wanted to ask for some pain meds. Last night we were both up most of the night. She had taken some Vicodin but they really didn’t stop the pain and wouldn’t allow her to sleep. I even took monster puppy and went off to my chair to allow her to try to relax. Didn’t help. They called back later to say that they had phoned in a prescription to Walgreens. We’re waiting for the pharmacy to call so we can get her meds.   
Meanwhile, I went back out to the shop and finished up adding the support lumber to the shelves. They no longer bow. I came in and rested for the day. Walgreens called back and said they needed authorization approval from the insurance company before they could process the order. They also had to check back with her doctor so see if it could be filled using a generic brand. So, no relief for tonight.... 
Later, I made ravioli and sauce and cheese bread for us for dinner. I had her try Tylenol pm which turned out to work well and she was able to sleep most of the night.

  
Wednesday, Nov 27th, 2019……  We didn’t have anything going today. I had to make a run to Walmart to get a few things for dinner tonight and tomorrow, plus I needed ink cartridges for the new printer.  The weather here has turned again. There is a major storm that is hitting the northwest and well down into California. They are expecting snow in Portland. We are in the Willamette Valley and the elevation here in Lebanon is only 340 ft. and snow levels are down to 1200 ft. so they say we are ok. But it’s still in the 30s this morning expected to maybe get into the high 40s. So, when I get out to the shop later, I most definitely will get the furnace going!   As mentioned, there was a problem with the insurance for the prescription that the doctor called in to Walgreens yesterday so they were going to get back to his office for a possible alternative. This is probably because Dr. Wimmer isn’t her regular doctor and he most likely prescribed a name brand drug, which won’t be approved without authorization. Hopefully, they will work that out and we can get these meds today. Meanwhile, nothing back yet about the motorhome. They would like to get it done today and out of the shop but the guy said if they needed air valves or new brake drums or something they didn’t stock, it likely wouldn’t be done today.
After my Walmart run, I headed out to the shop. It was actually warm enough out there to only need the buddy heater. I got the first coat on the new wood I added. Hopefully, I have enough paint for the second coat on those. Then, except for assembly, I will be done. Lydia didn’t hear back from her doctor on the meds but the pharmacy called and is waiting for the authorization for insurance. She has had to wait in the past for authorization for her specialty anti-rejection drugs so this is not unusual. Walgreens pharmacy is closed tomorrow but the Tylenol pm worked well last night and she will use that again. She did get a call today from an orthopedic surgeon office in Corvallis to schedule a consult (Dec. 10). Obviously, the mri results are in but the girl didn’t know anything other than to make an appointment for Lydia. After that call, Lydia made a call to Dr. Wimmer and asked if he could tell her what they found. But, with the holiday, we most likely won’t hear back until next week.  I was back in and relaxing after my work out in the shop. Later, Lydia sent me to KFC to pick up dinner. But, guess what - the pharmacy called and said they received approval to fill the  prescription and it would be ready in 30 minutes. I went off and picked it up. Later, we settled in and watched Survivor. The Masked Singer was a repeat I guess because of the holiday tomorrow. We both stayed up later than normal and Lydia took her meds a little before calling it a night. We'll see how it goes tonight....          

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