Another Radical Change #2

Thanks to COVID, I moved most of my medical care closer to home. Prior to COVID, 100% of my specialists were in NYC, with the last of my remaining specialists being my nephrologist. 

Last September I found an ob/gyn office near home that advertised something to the effect of “care for every stage of a woman’s life.” 

I changed gynos because for 4 years I have been abandoned/neglected on my menopause journey. In short, I was miserable. Miserable enough to stop seeing the gyno I saw for close to 11 years. 

At my first visit a year ago, ai inquired about HRT. The doc poo-pooed my request saying I was at risk of clots/strokes. 

Before my most-recent visit, I got approval from my hematologist who cleared me for a specific type of HRT. 

When I pressed the doc about HRT, she claimed she doesn’t prescribe it. This information would have been useful to me a year ago. I wasted yet one more year with yet another doctor neglecting me & my menopause journey, she provided ZERO in the way of relieving any of my symptoms & complaints. 

Then almost in a cosmic way, one friend told me about Winona HRT (which is about $200 a month), and my chiropractor found someone he knows who prescribed (but there is a $600 consulting fee and my HRT might be covered by my insurance. 

Then an other friend who lives in NYC highly recommended her doc (who takes my insurance, I’d pay a $25 copay and my HRT copay would be close to $20 a month). SOLD! 

Four days after being told I essentially wasted yet another year of my life suffering, I scheduled my appointment with a new doc. 

Quick & radical. Bold moves from here on out! 

October 14 I see my kidney doc & I have scheduled a consultation with my friend’s gyno for later in the day, and with any luck I will be picking up my Rx within the next 24 hours. 

Hope is one thing, but without having a solid, bold plan, hope won’t get you where you need to be. 

Yet Another Radical Change

In 2019 I started seeing a wonderful acupuncturist. Saw her every week. At the time the spouse’s insurance covered some of it. At the time, she charged $75 an hour. 

Then COVID hit and her pricing went to $85 to offset the price of all the PPE & air purifiers. This seemed reasonable. I saw her every week. 

Then in 2021 I picked up my own insurance at work which is a platinum plan, which had unlimited acupuncture visits. 

From January until mid March I would pay out of pocket to meet my deductible, and for the remainder of the year she just accepted what insurance paid. She was billing insurance roughly $300 a visit every week from 2021-2023. 

At some point around 2022? she changed her hourly rate to $150. I sucked it up, and figured “well, that’s what flex spend is for.”

In the last several months, she relocated to a new office and hired someone to handle the billing.**

Unbeknownst to me, my plan changed, and now I only have 20 visits per plan year. And rather be told this in January when I could have changed up the frequency of my visits from weekly to every two weeks, no, she informs me of this SIX VISITS after my 20th visit, and I was on the hook for $900. (Again, that’s what flex spend is for, and we submitted that to the husband’s flex spend, since I am now retired. However the person who does her billing should have alerted her and she should have alerted me so I could have planned accordingly**.)

Last week, she informed me she is cutting her treatment time from 60 minutes to 30, and the cost still remains $150. So I’m getting less time for the same cost—with me on a fixed income. 

The sequencing of everything in context as detailed above, plus the fact that after five years of weekly appointments this isn’t merely a transactional thing, this is a relationship. And to be honest, I feel that more consideration should have been given to me as a long time client—especially how she benefitted from my generous insurance plan for three years—especially during the early part of COVID when most of her clientele had not returned yet. 

My nose is out of joint about this. And rather than disassociate as I normally do when I am presented with complicated scenarios or emotions or conflicts, rather than set aside my own feelings so as not to make someone else feel better, I am showing up for myself in the form of informing her at our next visit that since I will be starting physical therapy & paying out of pocket for it, for the foreseeable future I am discontinuing my acupuncture treatments as financially I can’t sustain it. 

She doesn’t need to know nor is she entitled to know that I feel like she is taking advantage of me. Also? It is the truth, I can’t sustain it. 

Day 76: More Radical Decisions Afoot

It is now Day 76 since my last day in the office. Zero regrets! It is splendid! 10/10 highly recommend!

Initially, I experienced a bit of separation anxiety or feelings of abandonment, even though it was my decision to leave when and how I did. I miss my friends. That is about it!

More radical changes are on the way! 

The last two years I worked diligently to get myself back on track emotionally as the last 1654 days have been an enormous setback for me, emotionally and physically given the pummeling of: the COVID19 shut down, mom’s death, getting seriously sick after the initial shot of Pfizer vax, instant menopause, etc etc, bringing me to my DVT diagnosis in December 2023 & me catching COVID for the first time in January 2024.  

Two years ago while out recuperating from my hip replacement, I finally had a neuropsychological evaluation, proper diagnosis of C-PTSD, then genetic testing to help determine which Rx would be best, get on Rx, and start up psychotherapy yet again with a new trauma therapist. 

The past two years of doing all that plus holding down a full time job, took all my time and attention and didn’t leave much energy & stamina to consider & focus on tending to the physical. Add to that dynamic the unexpected drama of he DVT diagnosis and sussing out all the consultations needed (vascular, hematology) on top of finding a new primary care doc, it was a full time job to get to this point. 

I am now in maintenance mode regarding the DVT. So now I have a bit of focus for addressing my physical health setbacks, re: pain & weight gain. 

Prior to the COVID shutdown I was still managing well enough from my gastric bypass; however, that all changed with the shut down, with my as yet dealt-with grief, and menopause. I know I have gained weight yet I cannot bring myself to get on a scale yet. But now my blood chemistry is creeping back into numbers that make me anxious, and now I am ready to explore what type of bariatric surgery revision I might be able to get. I want to get under 200 lbs again. 

In the meantime, my new neurologist has run several MRIs on me and has a clearer vision of my collection of challenges I have. Starting next month, I will start a 6 week course of physical therapy to essentially work on building up strength in my ass. Also scheduled: a consult with a new physiatrist for hopefully a kenalog injection in my back & maybe a cortisone shot in my hip. 

My sleep hygiene has gone to shit with all the pain I am in, I cannot find a good position that doesn’t cause pain. 

Next month I also have my 6 month follow up with my kidney doc, and even though that appt is at 11:00, I am going to try to be fasting when I arrive so we can rerun my blood tests. 

After I see him, I have my annual mammo, and lastly a follow up appt with my primary care regarding medications & discuss the bypass revision idea. 

My quick & radical decision to retire really awakened in me a sense of purpose in my ability to be more present for myself & to stop neglecting myself. 

More radical changes are afoot!