HQAL – 29 OCTOBER 2023! Not a Lot of Progress on the Quilting Front!

I remember the day we discussed purchasing our new travel trailer in August, and since then I am not sure where I have been most days! If you are living in the same world that I live in (Only when I leave our 5 acres) it is utterly unbelievable. Nothing seems to have gone right here as far as unforeseen requirements. All I know is that I have been drowning in solving problems for Doctors, Business, Insurance, etc. I know I am not the only one who has to do the work of the staff of Physcians, Billing, and then having to work with Insurance to clean it up! AND no trip to Rockport to find an RV park and The Duck is still sitting in the shed!

To top it off my BCBS Federal medical insurance decided to OPT-IN all Retires into Medicare Part D Prescription WITHOUT OUR APPROVAL. May I say that I spent 5 days researching and trying to pin more idiots down for accurate information – that failed. I was finally able to OPT OUT OF THAT MESS. I DO NOT WANT THE GOVERNMENT CONTROLLING MY PRESCRIPTIONS! This is why I say it is becoming a full time job dealing with any business.

During August I began having some pain in my right hand at the thumb area and as the months went on it became more painful and kept me from doing my quilting. So like a dutiful individual who takes care of themselves, I requested an x-ray of both hands to see what is going on and ordered a thumb brace to see if that would help until I got the results.

The x-ray showed a tear in a tendon. I had thumb surgery in 1980 to correct torn ligaments and tendons on my right thumb when I took a fall and put my hand down to brace the fall (don’t ever do that one – just take the fall). The surgery did not work and I did not want a repeat surgery, so I have worked around that one for 43 years. I figured that this could be giving me the problem. (Certainly NOT the 16 quilts I quilted, 20 that I hand quilted the binding earlier in the year!)

I selected a Hand Surgeon from the group I had previously used for hand issues. The Surgeon advised me that I have Thumb arthritis. It is common with aging and occurs when cartilage wears away from the ends of the bones that form the joint at the base of your thumb — also known as the carpometacarpal (CMC) joint (See below) Of course it requires lots of steroid shots (I am allergic to steroids), braces (tried that one and limited use) and if that doesn’t work – the big “S” word Surgery! But before that he made a final decision he wanted me to get an MRI of my hand. At first I thought I would just live with it, but after reading all about the CMC joint I realized that if I let it go it would only get worse, so I bit the bullet and arranged an MRI with my favorite sit down open MRI Imaging place! NO tunnels for me.

So Friday I went for the MRI (I still hate MRIs) and had an appointment with the Doctor’s Physician Assistant (an idiot) just to see what the MRI showed. The Doctor took Friday off (unexpectedly) so I was to see him on his final diagnoses on Tuesday next week! The Idiot PA kept asking for the MRI for my wrist and I told him I had brought the disc to them. He told me that they only got the hand. I told him I did not know they wanted the wrist. The Idiot left the room and I made a phone call to the Imaging people to find out what happpened. They advised me they did not get the one for the wrist.

There were some loud words exchanged after that between myself and the Doctor’s Number one Nurse Rachet (trying to be nice) because I realized that someone had dropped the ball and the Imaging people did NOT receive the orders for wrist and hand. YUP I HAVE TO HAVE ANOTHER MRI. If I were having to pay for the MRIs out of pocket I would be billing the idiot who did not do their job. I was livid. I complained at the front desk very loudly and walked out – told them I would never be back. The problem started with Nurse Rachet assistant to the Doctor because she DID NOT send the prescriptions to my Imaging company. She sent them Friday and they were received. (There is really more to this story but I would be writing a book – this is the condensed version and you are probably already bored!)

On the way home from that mess, I received a call from the The San Antonio Orthopedic Groups’ Office Manager. She had been advised of the situation from the lady at the front desk when I lodged a complaint about having to have another MRI due to their mistake. She was apologizing for what happened with the 2 encounters with Nurse Rachet and the fact that now I had to get another MRI. I told her I would not be using the original doctor and requested that I be transferred to their top Doctor in the Group. So now I have an appointment on the 8th of November for the MRI and on the 14th of November for the Doctor’s appointment where I will know the extent of the damage to the Thumb joint!

On the 19th of October the air conditioner went out in the bedroom – that required 2 full days of trying to obtain bids to replace the unit in the bedroom and Den (other side of the house is central air (4 tons). By the end of the day Friday 20th of October we had a company scheduled to install the new system – Mini Splits in both rooms starting 30 October! The units were installed in the wall, so Clay will need Monday and Tuesday to close up the wall area where the units were. Murray Air Conditioning from La Vernia will remove the old units for us and hopefully by Thursday evening we will have them installed. This time we purchased A/C and Heat. We will not need the air and probably not the heat at this time as we are going to receive a very welcomed Canadian Norther! Should be here within the next hour or so and will be bringing rain! YEA! Speaking of rain this week we received 6 and 1/4 inches of rain! Drought buster and another inch on Friday!

My walk in the morning will be my favorite 40 degrees! YEA!

OK I have accomplished a couple of things that I consider fun and relaxing. I loaded my lap quilt for “The Duck” (if we ever get to take it out on a trip). She is loaded and one row done this last Thursday before the Black MRI day! Rebecca quilted my Irish Spring quilt with red thread and I am doing the same with the lap quilt. I will finish it starting tomorrow (Monday) as Clay will be busy with the wall repair and I will be quilting!

I finished another block from In The Garden Quilt by Dawn Heese. Only 2 more to go and it will take longer because of the thumb issue.

Next on my diatribe is to congratulate our new House Speaker, Speaker Mike Johnson from Louisiana. This man is going to change our way of doing business in the House! Just watch!

POLITICAL ALERT: I am appalled at the colleges who have turned out Students who are protesting Israel in their War with Hamas and Iran! This should show Americans how sick our Education System is. May those people/students never work for an American Company EVER! I saw today where UAE, Saudi Arabia, and 2 other Arab countries contributed over 6.6 BILLION to our colleges. This has to change. No wonder we are where we are in this Country! No more selling of our precious land to China either! OK I am done!

I LOVE President Trump as you all know, and we need him and Speaker Johnson to clean up the mess that the Democrats have given us for the last 3 years. My prayers are with Israel and its people, President Trump and House Speaker Johnson! May they be kept in the Fold and Safe and Sound.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy stitching and rest those hands. I will age another year on 31 October at 2 minutes to Midnight! I will be flying on my broom in the sky!

Hugs,

Nanette

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This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.
Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, Connie, and Cathie.

Linking To:  My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away;  Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts;  Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching  Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party, To Do Tuesdays