Reflections of My Life

I am heating water right now to make the Essiac tea. I make it a few times a year and drink it daily until it is gone. I love the smell of herbs steeping all day until time to strain and jar it.

The good news is that my HEAP (Home Energy Assistance Program) sent $100. more to my NYSEG (electric company) account. The federal poverty guidelines had increased by $990. for one person. Went from $13,590. to $14,580. So they had to make up for what they sent people. SNAP benefits also went up $10.00. That is good but it doesn't make up for the $95. extra I was getting due to the COVID benefit. I got used to that. So today I am going to make a food budget that is separate from my financial budget that I write out every month. What I will do is to take the total amount and divide it by how many weeks in that month. So April is four weeks. Divide by 4.

I have to keep everything written down so I remember what I am doing. It is not that my memory is bad but at times I think I am doing too many things at once.

Back to working on my story this morning. I lose myself in it. I know I should be writing a blog post for my blog but I want to do the story instead because I have things in my head about it and don't want to forget it.
 

Listening to 2 Krazy Ketos while I am writing this. I missed their live last night because I fell asleep as soon as I got comfortable in my recliner. Woke up hours later so shut off the television. Now I am watching it on the computer but it is coming to the end of the broadcast.

Today is my hair appointment so Sonny is picking me up. I will stock up on some more spring mix for Rabbit since I can get to Walmart today. Nine days to go till I can shop again counting today. Though I have some cash I keep on hand but I try not to use that unless it is an extreme emergency.

I made the Essiac tea yesterday but I am dumping it out. It seems the slippery elm bark may have gone bad while it was in the freezer. I never had it do that before. When it was boiling it stuck together and was a mass of a slippery glob. I do not want to take a chance on it so will buy more. Better to be safe than sick.

My aide was here yesterday and cleaned the bathroom and especially the shower. She did a good job and it looks shiny in there now. I hadn't been able to clean the shower as good as I wanted it before. It is all tile and pretty big so it took some time scrubbing those tiles.

I am no longer wasting my time arguing with anyone about things I do. The reason is that I don't care if they do or think the same as me. Why waste my time? People always try to make me think what I am doing is wrong and when I take a closer look I see it works for me. What makes them think that what they are doing is the ONLY way? I have always done things my way and will continue to do so. On fakebook, I basically post about pets mostly. Can't go wrong with that. lol I hope!
 
I am back from my day out. We had our hair done and then went for Chinese food. I know I should not eat it........not even close to being low carbs. But I fear my time with Sonny should be treasured and I won't be able to get it back. So I went and had a nice time. Then we went to Walmart but he stayed in the car. I got Rabbit's food and then bought some canned things for Jeff with his own money. That way if he comes here and needs food, I have something to give him. I can't keep giving him my food or I won't have any.

I set up Rabbit's cage to clean it and sat here for a minute at my computer and he gets in the cage.........and is still in it. So I will wait for him, looks like he is napping.
 

I impulsively bought an air leg massager for my Lymphedema. I got it the day before yesterday. Looks to be a quality product and I am pleased with it so far. I used it for 20 minutes that day. It was incredible. They suggest using it for 20 minutes 1-2 times a day and start with the lowest pressure. There are two massage techniques on it. One is a circling massage. I have not tried that yet. Nor the other pressures. The day I tried it the swelling in my feet and ankles went way down. Even in the morning they were not as bad as they have been. But I have decided since I see my therapist next Tuesday, I will wait to use it again till I see her. I am bringing it with me to my appointment so she can check it out. Had great reviews on Amazon and one had Lymphedema for 16 years and said this is the best she has felt using it once a day now. I am hopeful.
 
I felt like I needed to explain my comment on another thread. The one about why are girls attracted to bad boys. I didn't want anyone to think I was this tough biker girl. Never been tough. Even though I had a relationship with this guy I was never a so called "biker chick". So to explain......

In my case, the biker guy I was attracted appeared in the middle of a boring night at a bar I frequented. He was a pastor, a boxer and leader of a famous biker organization (in fact, president of the east coast chapters) and had been to our city to a wedding where he married a couple. They were celebrating. He looked like a pirate.......long black hair, one gold hoop earring (back before guys wore earrings) and seemed to command respect from the rest of their gang. Let me just say, he stood out.

He sat down at the bar the other side of a guy who was sitting next to me trying to talk to me. The guy in the middle was kind of drunk and he had bought me a couple of drinks. I was tired because I had just finished moving into my new apartment and had worked on it all day. It was just outside of the city so I now had a yard for my son to play in. Well, Sandy (the biker) sat down there and started leaning over in front of the drunk guy to talk to me.

The drunk guy didn't give up he kept trying to talk to me as well. Sandy then accidentally knocked the guy's beer over onto him. The guy jumped up and Sandy apologized and asked if he wanted him to buy him another beer. The guy shook his head and left. Sandy moved right over onto that bar stool. The rest was history.......... had a wild relationship for a couple of years. 1973. I even got to go to NYC for the first time (and many more times after that) and had an amazing time. He was best friends with Jerry Garcia and knew a lot of people.

I was never a biker girl, in fact, I never rode on his bike. It was not an exclusive relationship. That was what I liked about it. I never wanted to be tied down and told what to do by anyone. I should have listened to that inner voice because having been married three times I now realize I hated being married. Anyway, it was a fun time in my life and I have only good memories. He was never rough with me and the local gang would help me if I needed help but they respected me because of him. I worked as a bartender and they frequented the bar I worked at. They were all nice to me but they were very bad guys otherwise.

So that's my story. Hope it doesn't make me sound like a fluzzy.
 
Last edited:
I have been trying to set up the two MP3 players I have. One I am doing for my friend and she is quite religious and cannot go to church any longer. So I had a couple of old CDs but am looking at a few others. The ones I really like are by Amy Grant and Alan Jackson. I wanted to put well known old time hymns on it for her. So she can sing along. I wanted to put some photos on it too of things like baby animals, flowers, landscapes, etc. but I am thinking it would take up too much space and she needs the music more.

One good thing that has happened concerning her is that she wanted to buy a book I was reading about brain conditions. So I ordered it for her and sadly she cannot comprehend it enough. Her husband read it instead. Now he has bought more books about her condition. I am happy to see him learning about it by reading the books. They have a computer but he does not use YouTube (or so she says but I plan to ask him). That is too bad because the best source of information I have found is Teepa Snow..........thank you @hollydolly for telling me about her! She is exceptional and I am learning so much from her.
 
Today is Monday, the start of a new week. My aide comes today so probably an easy day for me. I don't do much when she is here. Though I am still working on the MP3 players.

I made more chicken tenders yesterday but not doing that again. They come out good but too much work preparing them. I give up on them and the chicken wings. I am making easy food from now on. Standing in the kitchen preparing food and then the clean up has gotten to be too hard for me. Tomorrow I go to my therapist so will see what she says about my condition. Last time I was there I think was early Dec. and she said I have a very mild case of Lymphedema. I know though it gets worse with time.

Yesterday I cleaned and organized my bookcases that are right behind my chair here. I had accumulated this and that on top of the CDs and it was messy. So completely redid it and now have the CDs so they are easier to get to and see. I use them a lot. More than anything else. Books though are a problem. This made me realize that when I buy new books from now they have to be for the kindle. Books take up too much space and I believe I read them less than if they were on the kindle. Hardcovers are too heavy for me to hold to read for very long. I have a rack for my kindle that I can set it on and now have to hold it. So best to do that. Plus they don't take up the precious space in my apartment.
 
Today after my aide finished vacuuming and other chores, we went to the park. Sat on the bench and just talked. Then went to the other park behind the library. I took pictures of the flowers popping out of the dirt. After she left, I was going to lay on bed for awhile with my feet up but my friend from downstairs came for a visit. So didn't get my feet up. Did the cage after she left and made supper. Now I am tired and want to go to sleep.

I thought about my characters in my story all last night and this morning. Figuring where to go from where they are. Anyway didn't get a chance to work on it. And tomorrow either. I will be going to Binghamton to my Lymphedema therapist. So that is an all dayer with Sonny.
 
Last night I watched my favorite Keto YouTube channel, 2 Krazy Ketos, do their regular "live" off the couch video. Joe puts comments made on their three different community sites and addresses their questions or comments. Imagine my surprise when I saw MY name up on the screen! I was so surprised and happy and when they read it and Rachel spoke to me and about me and what I had said, I had tears in my eyes. It inspired me even more. I saved that video.
 
Yesterday, my aide and I went to the parks across the street. They are still basically brown. No green really to speak of. That will come soon. March is normally like this. Cold, windy, rainy and sunny all in one. I don't think we have a temperature higher than about 52 yet since spring started. Soon! Regardless, I enjoy being outside and in the park. Though we were the only ones enjoying it.

early_spring.JPG

And the memorial garden had glimpses of spring colors...........

memorial_garden.JPG



purple_crp.JPG
 
We generally don't lose most of the greenery all through winter.. believe it or not this was yesterday...

boats-march-2023.jpg
 
Last edited:
katlupe said:
Last night I watched my favorite Keto YouTube channel, 2 Krazy Ketos, do their regular "live" off the couch video. Joe puts comments made on their three different community sites and addresses their questions or comments. Imagine my surprise when I saw MY name up on the screen! I was so surprised and happy and when they read it and Rachel spoke to me and about me and what I had said, I had tears in my eyes. It inspired me even more. I saved that video.
Click to expand...
Wow! That's awesome! I hope they answered your question. I will have to look up that channel!
 
I had a really good appointment with my Lymphedema therapist. It is the only medical appointment I like. Well, I kinda like the foot doctor appointments too. Anyway, she looked at my foot & leg air massager and said she cannot endorse it (medical legal stuff) but she said she sees nothing wrong with me using it. She said I have a mild case of Lymphedema and have nothing that would be affected by it. No heart issues. She is easy to talk to and we talked about that new bill that was passed and goes into affect January of 2024. Which means the insurances will start covering more things for Lymphedema.

I told her about my story I am writing and she wants to read it when I finish it. She kept saying I should publish it and I have no plans to do that. If I earned money from it that would affect my situation here and probably would not make that much money anyway. I could publish it and give profits to rabbit or horse rescues. That is not in my plans presently. Just writing it for fun. She is the first person I really told parts of the story to and she kept saying, "then what happened?" lol

So yesterday I wore the compression stockings all day. Then before bed time I used the air massager and it felt good. It automatically shuts off after 20 minutes. This morning when I got up my feet were not swollen at all. Don't know if it due to that or wearing the compression stockings all day. My therapist was pleased with my walking program and said movement is very important and to keep it up. The bad news is that my measurements had increased. Not a lot but still.
 
katlupe said:
I had a really good appointment with my Lymphedema therapist. It is the only medical appointment I like. Well, I kinda like the foot doctor appointments too. Anyway, she looked at my foot & leg air massager and said she cannot endorse it (medical legal stuff) but she said she sees nothing wrong with me using it. She said I have a mild case of Lymphedema and have nothing that would be affected by it. No heart issues. She is easy to talk to and we talked about that new bill that was passed and goes into affect January of 2024. Which means the insurances will start covering more things for Lymphedema.

I told her about my story I am writing and she wants to read it when I finish it. She kept saying I should publish it and I have no plans to do that. If I earned money from it that would affect my situation here and probably would not make that much money anyway. I could publish it and give profits to rabbit or horse rescues. That is not in my plans presently. Just writing it for fun. She is the first person I really told parts of the story to and she kept saying, "then what happened?" lol

So yesterday I wore the compression stockings all day. Then before bed time I used the air massager and it felt good. It automatically shuts off after 20 minutes. This morning when I got up my feet were not swollen at all. Don't know if it due to that or wearing the compression stockings all day. My therapist was pleased with my walking program and said movement is very important and to keep it up. The bad news is that my measurements had increased. Not a lot but still.
Click to expand...
Kat, glad you had a nice visit with your doctor. My VA doctor is a lot like yours. The VA allows their doctors one half hour per patient, so we discuss lots of non medical things.
 
I am making a concentrated effort to do all the things I know I should be doing to control my Lymphedema. Next year it will be more affordable since that bill passed.

Congress:

Passed House (11/17/2022)​

Lymphedema Treatment Act

This bill provides for Medicare coverage of lymphedema compression treatment items. Specifically, the bill provides for coverage of standard and custom fitted gradient compression garments and other approved items that are prescribed by a physician or other specified health care professional to treat lymphedema.

Lymphedema Treatment Act:
Great news – on December 23, 2022 the Lymphedema Treatment Act was passed by Congress, and the new insurance coverage will go into effect on January 1, 2024!

Note that we are still in the process of updating our website to reflect this new phase of our advocacy, so some pages are out of date. Check our newsletter archive for the most current information.

Throughout 2023 we will be working with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to ensure that the coverage is implemented correctly. Many details are yet to redetermined and continued engagement is extremely important.
 
katlupe said:
I am making a concentrated effort to do all the things I know I should be doing to control my Lymphedema. Next year it will be more affordable since that bill passed.

Congress:

Passed House (11/17/2022)​

Lymphedema Treatment Act

This bill provides for Medicare coverage of lymphedema compression treatment items. Specifically, the bill provides for coverage of standard and custom fitted gradient compression garments and other approved items that are prescribed by a physician or other specified health care professional to treat lymphedema.

Lymphedema Treatment Act:
Great news – on December 23, 2022 the Lymphedema Treatment Act was passed by Congress, and the new insurance coverage will go into effect on January 1, 2024!

Note that we are still in the process of updating our website to reflect this new phase of our advocacy, so some pages are out of date. Check our newsletter archive for the most current information.

Throughout 2023 we will be working with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to ensure that the coverage is implemented correctly. Many details are yet to redetermined and continued engagement is extremely important.
Click to expand...
The Lymphedema Treatment Act seems to be very good. It is an interesting fact, that lymphedema and it's treatments are known in my country for a long time (we have specialised clinics, lymphedema therapists and companies that produce medical compression stockings as Juzo or Medi for decades) whereas in the U.S. it is a relatively young discipline.
 
George1959 said:
The Lymphedema Treatment Act seems to be very good. It is an interesting fact, that lymphedema and it's treatments are known in my country for a long time (we have specialised clinics, lymphedema therapists and companies that produce medical compression stockings as Juzo or Medi for decades) whereas in the U.S. it is a relatively young discipline.
Click to expand...
We have the clinic and therapists that are paid by the insurances but they will not pay for the supplies needed. Such as the compression stockings. I started off with cheap ones bought on Amazon and they just did no good. Had to go to a better company, JOBST compression stockings. I pay about $32. a pair and they only last a few months.
 
katlupe said:
We have the clinic and therapists that are paid by the insurances but they will not pay for the supplies needed. Such as the compression stockings. I started off with cheap ones bought on Amazon and they just did no good. Had to go to a better company, JOBST compression stockings. I pay about $32. a pair and they only last a few months.
Click to expand...
Jobst is a good brand. In Germany compression stockings can be prescribed every six months. And yes, mine get holes mostly at the toes (unless I wear them with open toes) or sometimes at the heels.
 
My feet are doing so much better since the visit to my therapist. I have started wearing the compression stockings all day, using the leg massager every evening for 20 minutes, doing the ankle pumps, walking every morning and before my shower I do the dry brushing and then put magnesium oil on my feet, calves and other places that I have pain like my knees and hands. Of course, I also elevate my legs a few times through out the day. I figure this is my routine for the rest of my life now.

Water was delivered yesterday. So this morning I will pay their bill. I am writing out my budget sheet for this month this morning. I did it already but need to make some changes on it. So all over again. My rent will go up in June. In January it went down by $17. and now with my re-certification it will go up by $22. Makes no sense to me but it is because of the increase in Social Security. The reality is that when we get an increase they decrease the help we get like with SNAP benefits and the rents go up. So we are in the same spot we were in before the increase.

Yesterday I gave my friend the MP3 player I programmed for her. She was happy. I can't wait to see her this morning to see what she thought of it after listening to it at home. I am hopeful that this will help her. She is frustrated with life and I can understand that.
 
Well, I say I don't pay a water bill, it is included in my rent. BUT......I buy water to drink, for cooking. for Rabbit (barely anything for him) and for houseplants. So in a way, I do pay for it because I buy it. I used to buy it in the store and it was horrible trying to get it down from the shelf (Walmart) for either Sonny or me. Then it took up the whole grocery cart and we had to load it in his car and then one of us had to go downstairs to get a cart to transport it upstairs to my apartment. I dreaded putting it on my grocery list. The only good thing was that I could pay for it with SNAP benefits.

Now I have it delivered by The Water Bottle company and the delivery man brings it right into my bathroom where I store it. I get two big bottles and two cases of 6. I know I am paying $2.00 for the convenience but it is the same water I was getting at Walmart and the same price. Must be he has a lot of deliveries because he said he is loaded and on the road by 4 AM. No more in a panic because Sonny can not come here to take me to the store. I could have order a couple of bottles from Instacart with my groceries but two bags is best for those deliveries. I can handle them better.
 
I checked the temperature when I got up at four and it was 46. I thought that was a bit warm for that time this time of the year. Well, within the hour had a thunder and lightning storm so I shut everything down and unplugged all. I learned when living at my house to do that due to having lightning take out a printer that was plugged into a outlet strip that was plugged into the inverter even though the inverter was off. Turned out that the husband forgot (??? How do you forget to do this?) to ground the inverter and printer. Now I just like to be safe and not lose any of my computer equipment. Only takes a second to do and if it saves my equipment it is worth it.
 
I wanted to mention the Fit King Leg Air Massager since I have used it four days now. 20 minutes in the early evening on the lowest intensity so far. It has made a big difference! My feet used to be red, swollen and the calves of my legs hurt and were swollen too. My legs felt heavy and tight. Now they don't! Is it this massager? I have no idea. It feels good though.

leg_massager.JPG
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top