Blog

Tomorrow morning I will be leaving for Houston to go to my first MDA/ALS Clinic. It will be all of the same doctors and therapists that were in on my diagnosis. My parents are going and my daughter, breebylou, is going too. She has posted a few times here. She has been worried and stressed about my diagnosis, so I think that going with me will help her understand it more.

I just had it in my heart to post this. With my own problems lately. And Life in general. I would like to say something about my brother Tim with ALS. Tim, You are an Amazing person. The Inner strength you have, just astonishes me. The wonderful Will and Attitude. You are so Strong. You have always been Caring, Generous, and Giving. All your Life.

Lately I have had an aversion to my mailbox. Now that there is anything really wrong with it, it has just become the harbinger of bad news. Since all those lovely medical bills have been coming since my hospital visit and diagnosis, my stomach wrenches when I go to pull my mail out of the box. I think I have received all the insurance statements now and have an idea of how much I owe. But twice now, including today, I got a wonderful surprise inside doctor bills.

In 2005, I lost my position with my company, which was a good thing. I hated that job. I submitted my resume everywhere and did some contract work with a company in Memphis, TN, while my husband worked heard for Fed EX. In late Summer, 2005, there was a hurricane named Katrina that ripped New Orleans apart. My husband's parents and brother came to stay with us until it was safe for them to go back (lasted about 6 weeks).

While I was visiting my family, I was told of a woman (my little sister went to school with) claimed to be the illigent daughter of my brother. My brother disclaims this assertion. My mother told this woman's mother, let's go for a blood test and confirm. They refused so that tells me it was a lie. It is diffcult for me to believe that someone could and would make a claim such as this only to disrupt my family. Don't need it and don't welcome it. Now this woman was accepted by my dad's wife and she now occupies his home with her two sons. She kicked her husband (go figure).

Well, my insurance company has sorted through the medical bills from my trip to Houston for diagnosis. I don't know if they all have been filed with the insurance company because no bill or insurance statement has the doctor who diagnosed me, but his bill might be combined with the other neurologist, at least I hope. I have received the bill for my part from the hospital, the radiologist, and the other neurologist I spoke of. It was wonderful to open up the radiologist bill and find out that they automatically discounted my bill as if I were in their network.

For the first time, I am blogging from home. It may not be a big deal for you, but going without a computer and internet access from home since the fourth of July last year has been a big deal from me. Since I can compose and post my journal entries on the same day, even on weekends, I have decided to have more creative titles for my posts than just the date I originally wrote it.

I have almost forgotten what it was like, being able to go on the internet at home. Last July when I got a divorce, I gave my ex the new computer because he is self employed. So I took the 1999 Dell that we bought brand new and had been relegated to the kids' computer. But between the time it had been disconnected at one house and connected at the other, it had totally fritzed out. It had never been the same since a virus infected it two years ago Christmas, and a computer tech friend had to practically start from scratch to get it up and going.

When I was told in Houston that I needed to start thickening my drinks, I was quite a bit reluctant. The thickened drinks that I had every day for breakfast and lunch at the outpatient center were pre-thickened. The orange juice was too thick but tasted good, I didn't like the thickened milk, and I never even opened the thickened iced tea (without the ice). But the PA told me that even though I have just choked mildly a few times on liquids, that all my drinks need to be thickened from now on to prevent aspiration.

I had a great intersession week and Spring Break, but it was back to school today. The kids were really quiet, but I think they were still in shock or sleepy from being up late during our two weeks off.