an expensive misadventure in May

I thought in the last weekend of May (the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, no less) that there was a possibility I was having a heart attack. I have had consistently good marks cholesterolwise and I have had intensive heart tests before (more on that later). But on May 23, I woke up with chest pain, and it decreased to a feeling like someone was touching me on the chest constantly.

We know that people can have a heart attack and not even feel it. Some have even died that way. & since I am overweight, heart disease runs in my family and I had this "sensation" (after the pain decreased it wasn't even "pain" anymore), I very reluctantly went to the local ER.

Well, since the Dr were scared of getting sued and saw the same risk factors as I wrote in the preceding, he said "we are taking you by ambulance to the hospital, because every other ER doctor in the US would do the same thing". So, I had an x-ray and a bunch of tests, even a treadmill test where they had some nuclear material injecting in my veins which better allows them to see blockages better.

Going to the hospital had weird twists. First, it was my first ambulance ride. Secondly, I worked at the same place THE SAME EXACT FLOOR as I was going to be treated! So I knew everyone who was treating me. "Hi VINCE, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN?"
"OH, EVERYTHING IS JUST PERFECT, FAITH, THANKS FOR ASKING"
That was a typical, repeated conversation I had. Thank God none of my former co-workers saw me naked. That would have really sucked.
So I leave hospital in less then 20 hrs after I first came. Yes, I was a lucky man when they told me no heart attack, no arterial blockage and no diabetes either. They have known for awhile that my blood pressure was "borderline" high. Not real high but enough to take notice, so my Dr. decided to put me on Atenol.
But I had a terrible sense of foreboding. I was scared shitless of the hospital bills. When you go to an Chicago-area hospital, you get more than 1 bill. Drs. don't work for the hospital. So when you go to the hospital you get 3 or 4 bills. One from the hospital, one from the ER doctor, one from the radiologists (if you get an x-ray) one from your regular dr., one from the janitor who cleaned your room......... (oops made that last one about the janitor up)
My total bills to find out that I was just fine and didn't have a heart attack was over $11,000. Thank God and thank Maribeth for insurance!! My bill that I had to pay for myself was around $600. One could make the argument that I "got off light" . The worst part of what I had to pay was the ambulance bill, not the hospital bill (that was $10,000 of the $11,000 total, for the hospital, I only paid $100).
I had surgery for a deviated septum in 2002 (the year from hell). Standard procedure is to find out if your heart is strong enough to take such a surgery. They did an EKG and thought that I might have had a heart attack. So I had a treadmill test with nuclear material shot through my veins that time too. & the results were that my heart, my arteries were just fine. The cardiologist reminded me, "But to make 100% sure we should do an angiogram. That's really the 'gold standard'" No, 'gold standard' for me, thank you. & besides I don't want to have a needle poking me in the balls and have a wire run from my groin to my chest. That sounds like it would hurt.

Anyway, if I ever have real chest pain, I"ll go to the hospital. But if I only have a touching sensation on my chest, I'll never go to the hospital again. Screw paying even $600!! I DON'T need to pay that amount just to be told I"m ok.

we're going to get our ass kicked

Last year, I was in my law firm's softball team. I played outfield. Even at the age of 44, I led the team in walks (maybe b/c I can't run very well, he, he, he) There were some moments in softball where I had some fun and came home from the game with a smile on my face.

We had a decent team, but still there were very good teams in our league and we were only 1-6. Yes, readers, we only won 1 damn game!

Now, the woman in our law firm who organized our softball team is suffering from cancer. She won't play but she wants the rest of our firm to play. 2/3 of our outfield is gone. 2/3 of our power hitters - gone. We will field a much poorer team than last year. I reluctantly joined the team this year as I didn't want to be a weasel, but man if we win even one game, I think I'll hop all the way from Chicago to my town Oak Forest (that's 25 miles). Plus, I know that our co-worker, the organizer with cancer needs all the happiness she can get, and I didn't want to disappoint her by saying "no".

Oh well, I know I will have fun. But that's not the point, going out there and getting your ass kicked as a team is kind of lousy.

Walgreens disappointment

Most people know what Walgreens is. IT's a store where you can buy medicine that the Dr. prescribes you. But it's a lot more than that. You can get food, over-the-counter medicine, make up, toys, vitamins and minerals, toiletries, and many other things.

Maribeth and I used to love Walgreens because when you wrote a check out, they wouldn't cash it until much later. For example, if you wrote it on Monday it wouldn't cash until Friday. & that was on a regular basis. Well, like so many other businesses, they have gone with electronic transactions. So instead of it taking 5 business days it only takes a mere 2. It's been a painful adjustment complete with a few $35 overdrafts. But we have figured out their new policy so we are adjusting.

It's amazing how a simple, almost minor change can have such noticeable effects. It hasn't been fun for me. I had gone into the hospital due to chest pain. I didn't want to go but was afraid that there was a small possiblity for heart attack. Anyway, the total charges just to be in the hospital overnight, run some tests and then be told I was, "fine, no heart attack and no arterial blockage", was $11,000. Yes, the bill was $11,000, and then my primary doctor said the ER doctors should have sent me home instead of the hospital and they shouldn't have panicked.

Well thank God for insurance (specifically Maribeth's insurance, let's be thankful for her!) Out of the $11,000 I have to pay about $600 of it. That's still hard and I will be down financially for a few months, but if I would have been saddled for the whole $11,000 I would have had to file bankruptcy for the 2nd time.

I want to write more about my hospital experience later. Sorry, if you feel like you are "left hanging"/in suspense.

a couple of topics

I enjoy being in my new support group on depression. I enjoy an unexpected benefit. I have an e-mail account on Yahoo, and I hate all the stupid porn offers I get. Now, since I joined the group, I get alerts from the support group that someone is writing to me or responded to one of the things I said in a forum. I'm getting so many alerts that they are crowding out the porn offers. Which is really nice, because I hated the fact that those porn offers made up a majority of my e-mails. So I opened up my Yahoo e-mail this morning, and the alerts crowded out the porn offers, but one of the offers was better mannered than the rest of those offers. It's header was "Let's be friends with benefits". Usually the offers don't speak in code. I think we all know what "friends with benefits" means (& if you don't, I'll explain), back in LaCrosse they were called "friendly friends". So I deleted that offer as I do the rest of the porn.

I continue to be surprised about all the people on the support group that want to commit suicide. There sure is a lot of sadness/melancholy in the world! It also points out how many dysfunctional relationships people have with their parents, and how much sex abuse goes on. It's appalling! I'm really thankful that I grew up in a stable household.

Maribeth came up with the idea that we should make more money. We could use it. So she gave me a phone number to join a team of mystery shoppers. Here's what happens when you are a "mystery shopper".

1. you are told to go to a store, you may or may not have to buy something
2. you are instructed to evaluate the store for its cleanliness, friendliness of the employees in the store, helpfulness of the employees, how organized the products are, and other criteria.
3. after you leave the store, you write a report and get reimbursed for what you bought at the store and get an additional fee, anywhere from $5-30.

Sometimes, you can shop on line, then your criteria is a little different. There are some mystery shopper groups that are bogus, so I'm going to be very careful. It certainly would be nice to make a little more money.

Maribeth & I are volunteering to be pool attendants for the condo's swimming pool. By not paying for the pool attendants, the condo saves over $9,000. This year that saviings will be less because we had to repair the pool and instead of opening Memorial Day weekend, it opened up last week. Maribeth said she enjoyed doing that. Which made me happy because when she's happy, it seems like the whole family is happy.

problem solving/desperate people

Not sure if I mentioned, this but I have depression. I was diagnosed about 7 years ago. The approach I have used in the last 2-3 years is to go to a Dr. who prescribes me medicine for this illness. He basically manages my medicine, but I don't see him for counseling. Our sessions last only 10 min. and anyone who has ever been to counseling will tell you that 10 min. doesn't accomplish very much. Most sessions of counseling are either 1/2 hour or 1 hour.

Again, the arrangement works pretty well. But there are times when I'm really upset that I need to talk to someone or vent or express myself. Well, why not do that here? I have discussed problems that I have had. But, there is some editing going on. I equate talking about your problems or confiding to taking clothes off. If someone told you truthfully that last month they tried to commit suicide by swallowing razor blades, figuratively, they are standing before you naked. Now, I have never made an active attempt to take my own life, and I sure as hell won't be doing it with razor blades if I ever were. But still, I don't feel like being too revealing or being too naked on this website (again this is only an analogy, not something literal!!)

So I decided to join a group for those with depression.
It has been a very eye-opening experience. Can you believe that one of young adults in that group really did swallow razor blades because she was so wanting to commit suicide? What goes through a person's mind when they grab the first blade and place it in their mouth? I mean I have been down, but holy shit! Razor blades!
Another teenager heads a counseling group, and she feels so bad for some people in her group that she, herself, wanted to commit suicide. Gotta wonder about that arrangement.
Well, needless to say, this has been a very good group to belong to because it has given me a mega dose of perspective. & it has also been a place to vent but usually, I'm sitting there gob-smacked at some of the really tragic stories going on.

Expectations and frustrations

The Milwaukee Brewers have had the best record in baseball since the last part of May. Monday, they made a very bold, decisive move and traded for CC Sabbathia, an excellent pitcher from Cleveland (the one in the picture). What does this do? It creates excitement, optimism. There's a belief that this will be the first time since 1982, a damn lifetime that they'll go to the playoffs. The higher expectations lead to more disappointment when the Milwaukee Brewers lose. They lost last night 8-3 to Colorado. They lost to a team where the opposing pitcher hasn't won in 2 @$#@@%^& years!! They lost to a pitcher who has continued to play lousy. But the Brewer batters stunk so badk they made this pitcher look like an All Star.

It's become so hard for so long since the Brewers did well that some fans have a website call "Pee Your Pants for the Brewers!" 7,043 people have taken the pledge that if the Milwaukee Brewers make it to the playoffs for the 1st time in 26 years, they will go to their backyards and pee in their pants. The rules say you can't wear a swimsuit either. I'm not making this up. The URL is http://peeyourpantsforthebrewers.com/

Pretty crazy isn't it? But frustration, anxiety and "living and dying by your team" will make 7,043 people do crazy things. & I am absolutely safe to say that by the end of July the number of people will be nearly up to 7,100 people.

But everyone's underpants will be perfectly dry if the Brewers continue to play as bad as they did last night. Then they'll have to wait 27 or more years to make the playoffs.

Pictures & then some

It's summer, and we decided to put Brianna in ballet class. Here she is complete with her lovely little ballet uniform.

The same Sunday I met Geddy Lee (go a few posts back to read about that), we also went to Buckingham Fountain. The Fountain is another wonderful, touristy place in Chicago.

Last weekend in June, for the first time in many years, Maribeth, the kids and I went out of state (& not just to Wisconsin either) to Minnesota. We went to my nephew, Scott's wedding. Here is the lovely bride and groom, Jennifer & Scott. We stayed in a wonderful motel (which we hadn't all done since 2000). Luckily, my younger brother and his kids were all able to be at the same place at the same pool and have some fun. Kelly, my brother, & I played pool and it was nice to "shoot the breeze" some which is something we hadn't done together in a long time. Yes, I see him several times a year, but being together in a family setting and having fun poolside are 2 completely different things. Glad we were able to do the latter 2 weekends ago.

Here's a rather unfortunate mystery. Above are 2 firecrackers. As you can see, the fuse for each are roughly the same length. So why is it that when I lit 2 firecrackers very similar to those in the picture, 1 firecracker went 20 ft. and blew up (good) and the other son-of-a-bitch went only 6 inches and exploded next to my fingers and left my ears ringing (very, very bad).

Brianna's kindergarten graduation. Funny, they didn't have kindergarten graduations in the late 60s when I was going to school.

Today, we went to OakFest. OakFest is my city's 4th of July celebration. They have all sorts of festivities: amusement park rides, pro wrestling, pie-eating contests, rock music, and plenty of beer drinking. & Brianna got to ride a horse which she thoroughly enjoyed!

This picture says it all, the love between dog and co-owner: Maribeth with Faith.