DW Needed To Go To Doctor

[Waynem]

Got settled down today and finally ended up at Seton Southwest Hospital. It's a small place, but being retired military they honor the USFHP insurance.

The wait was not unreasonable for an emergency room. One thing about USFHP, any emergency room or Urgent Care facility and USFHP will honor or reimburse their members. Today was no exception and no co-pay. Darn I love being past 65. (DW also, but don't tell her I told you.)

As background, back around the beginning of July, while hiking in Maine, she turn around to see where the slow-pokes were, (Me and the dog) and popped her knee. Everything was fine and nothing was thought of it until about 4 days later when walking up a hill it started hurting her. From there it just progressed to a worsened state and more painful. Around the 3 or 5th of September (It was a Wednesday) she had the knee operated on and the Meniscus repaired/removed.

Everything went fine and one week later she went for her follow-up. No problem, come back in 4 weeks. Well, IKE was coming and we were leaving. On the night we left, Wednesday of last week, we pulled into the CG, got set up, and Miya, our furry family member decided to body slam. She walks up to your leg and will throw her butt against you. It's a plaything, but in this instance she hit Earlene right square in front of the surgically operated knee.

We were battened in with the hurricane and medical facilities in the area we were in did not have electricity, or running on emergency power, and had other more important "emergencies" than a sore knee, which kept getting worse and worse and worse. So once her in Austin, it was to the doctor we went.

They did not have an MRI machine but the doctor and staff were very nice. They saw here and recommended a knee brace, keep it elevated, and Ice it.

Of course, I had to ask the usual question of housekeeping, like sweeping the floor, vacuuming, cooking, doing dishes, Laundry, you know, the not to ever consuming things that women are expected to do. (Oh crap! I'm in trouble now on this forum) Wait, now wait! The doctor agreed with me!!!! Well, that is until my wife doubled up her fist at him and he changed his mind - so for the time being, I'll just have to hunker down and do those menial, nothing-to-it, chores.

You would think that after 47 years she would have those chores down to a nothing task! It's probably going to take me a week to do them!!

Edited: Do you believe this!!! DW just said to me, "After you get finished doing the laundry tomorrow, we could go shopping."

Now that's baaaaadddddd! That's wrong.

[skypilot]

Wayne - she could have told you to wait and do them after you take her shopping!! That is what my wife's favorite trick is.

[ols1932]

Wayne, we have Medicare as our primary and Tricare 4 Life as our secondary. It allows us to get medical care any place, any time, no questions asked. It sounds to me like USFHP might be sort of an HMO program. I'm pretty sure they are only regionally located and must be called within 24 hours if you are at a medical facility not associated with them so that the attending physician can talk to a USFHP representative.

Where am I missing it?

Orv

[Waynem]

Orv,
Sounds like I need to investigate some more, as I have Medicare Part B also.

Here is a link to USFHP

We never had any problem whatsoever when around the homestead. Even when I had my motorcycle accident 80 miles from home and was admitted to a Regional Care Center i was well taken care of with not a penny from my pocket - no co-pay. Second motorcycle accident and I was admitted to ER at a Trauma Center (UTMB) who does not as a general rule take USFHP, but all was paid for by USFHP - again not a penny for co-pay. I don't know how Medicare and Tricare 4 Life work together, but USFHP is a primary Tricare program. I really need to look into this more thoroughly now that we are traveling more.

[Driftwoodgal]

Wayne,

It looks like we will be headed out of town on Saturday morning. We have a mandatory meeting tomorrow, then I have a Dentist appointment on Thursday. Have to fit a trip to Camping World in on Friday, or Thursday afternoon.

Will you still be here Thursday afternoon? If DW needs to see a good ortho doctor let me know. A friend works for a great group of docs. I might be able to get you in quicker if you need to.

We will be in Kemah RV Resort once they get power.

Sorry to hear that your troubles continue. Just something to remember. If you end up with a bill from Seton and you pay it in full once you get the bill, they will reduce it by 40%. I just paid for the fish treble hook that I caught myself on when trying to take a bass off. That is another story.

Colleen

[Waynem]

Coleen,
We will still be here Thursday afternoon. Give a call 409-771-6508 and if we are at the grocery store or Wally-world, will head on back. Would like to meet y'all. If you park at the gate, will come down and pick y'all up.

Going to give the knee another day or two, but might take you up on that Ortho offer.

Thanks.

How far down the road is Camping World? I forgot.

[Driftwoodgal]

Wayne,

Camping World is about 45 miles from Austin. So about 35 miles from us, but I don't want to be without a surge guard anymore. We have lots to do before we leave, but I would love to meet you if there is time. I will try to give you a call Thursday after my dentist appt.

Colleen

[eeoski]

Wayne,

I hope that Earlene is recovering quickly so you don't mess up her home too much! LOL

Been out of the loop too long...work has been VERY demanding and I've been TDY as well. But the real "excitement" happened after I returned back from Patuxent River, MD Friday of Labor Day weekend...


On following Tuesday, Doug had a pre-surgery (knee) chemically induced stress test (our doctor insists on it). Wednesday morning saw me getting ready for work and Doug on the laptop in the recliner (normal for him as he gets up earlier than me). Went to get my shoes and when I came back into the family room he says "You need to call 911." Heading for the phone I asked, "Why?" and he responded, "Just call 911 please." (Even in a crises he is polite!) I respond, "I am, but in case you pass out, what am I to tell them?" He responds, "I have all the classic symptoms of a heart attack." SOoooo, I call 911, the fire department EMTs/ambulance responds (OBTW Doug took the time to change into his fire department T-Shirt before he told me to call 911 and after he had "googled" the heart attack symptoms.), he goes off in the ambulance, I follow behind in the car (because I will need it to drive him home according to him), and he winds up not with a heart attack (good news), but with an electrical "short" in the lower chamber of his heart which the doctors decided would be best treated with medication and a pace maker/diffibulator. He was released the following Monday.

He has been home almost two weeks now and the follow-up with the "electrical" heart doctor was very good (his heart is doing what it is supposed to be rather than the 196 beats per minute it was doing when the EMTs arrived to the house and the medication seems to be doing the trick (the device is back-up to the meds). WAY too much excitement for me, but apparently my opinion was neither asked for nor considered! :-P

Biggest "issue" Doug has at this juncture is that he is restricted from driving for at least four weeks and I am his chauffeur. (I think I've already shared that I learned to drive in Naples, Italy...for those of you who aren't familiar with Neopolitan driving but do know what an "E-ticket" ride in Disney is then you have an idea about the excitement level of driving there is like!)

We consider ourselves very fortunate to have a very good city fire department and a station that can respond quickly (from the time 911 answered, transferred me to the fire department 911 operator, and the EMTs arrived at the house was within 5 minutes.)

In relation to the medical insurance, when the admitting desk clerk spoke to me (after I had arrived and was with Doug in the Emergency Room) to get Doug's Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance card and I confirmed we also had Tricare for Life she told us we were "golden" with regard to coverage. To date, the only bill we have received is the one from the city for the ambulance so we'll see how true that is, but a close friend who has done insurance billing told me the same thing. We are extremely grateful for the fact we have both types of medical coverage.

Anyway, we feel very blessed inasmuch our regular physician said this is exactly why he insists on pre-surgery stress tests as Doug would have likely had complications during surgery for his knee and possibly died. Further, when the word went out (via close friends) about Doug's condition we, literally, had an international and interdemoninational prayer ring going within an hour of his being admitted to the hospital. For that we are truly grateful as we know that this is what put him where he should be and directed his medical care givers in his diagnosis and treatment.

Something that you will also appreciate Wayne is that Doug INSISTS that the manual on his device (that's the way it is referred to by the medical types) states he can not do ANY housework or yard work for TWO YEARS! I read the manual cover-to-cover and I have yet to find those restrictions listed anywhere, though I am sure you would find the same restrictions as Doug did immediately upon opening the manual! LOL

Take care of your DW and try not to whine too much about the house work!

Robin

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

Robin, it sounds like Doug had exactly what Wayne had 2 1/2 years ago, but in Wayne's case, he had a bad heart attack and lost consciousness out in the garage, and I didn't know it until I went out to see what was taking him so long to bring the barbeque in for lunch. For the next 2 days, his heart beat wildly out of control, so the surgery couldn't be done until the meds kicked in and did their thing. (After the dust settled, the doctor told us his heart had so many old scars and dead heart-muscle areas that it was obvious he'd been having heart attacks for some time prior to the 5-star one that landed him in the hospital. I wasn't surprised--he'd had frequent and painful chest pains regularly for 2 years but always said it was just heartburn or he was choking on something, etc.) Anyway, he has a defibrillator/pacemaker implant like Doug has, and hasn't had a moment's trouble since it was put in at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane in March, 2006. He lost 75 pounds pretty fast after that episode. The heart attack got his attention after years of being told by his doctors that he needed to get his weight under control!

Technology has really come a long way, hasn't it? Wayne's device sends readings every three months to Spokane via telephone. He hooks up the little machine, puts the flat disc that's attached to the machine on top of the implant, and hits "READ"; the machine dials the number, sends the report, and that's it. Once a year he returns to Spokane for a checkup. He was told to make people aware that he can't be a target for those emergency defib devices that are in a lot of public places now, because hitting him with one would be a hazard to his health (what a euphemism!). Every so often I have to remind him that if he doesn't behave, I could get his attention by applying an electric cattle prod to the site of the implant !

So far as house work and yard work restrictions go, I can't seem to find those instructions in Wayne's "patient care" or device information either. Hmmmm ... think our boys are getting the most mileage they can out of their fancy-dancy techno-bodies?

Wayne, you are earning stars in your crown and making Earlene's life easier, you know! Hang in there, you can do it!
Carolyn

[Waynem]

Don't be to quick to praise, I just sent her off to do the laundry, sheets. And we have a WD here in the MH. I think she just wants to get away from me. I'll give her about 5 minutes and walk over to the laundry house and ask if she needs any help. Of course, I'll have Miya with me to make sure I don't have to do to much. Can't do much if you have to tend to the dog, right? Now I'm not trying to give the men any ideas, just what I'm doing.

Actually, Robin, you take good care of Doug. You only have ONE Doug. I am sorry to read that he went through that, but it is so nice to know that all men are calm in a crisis, unlike other species.

Oh! I won't even go into what spewed out of Earlene's mouth this morning when she was making the bed and asked me to help, but it would have made a merchant marine proud!!!

As for the manual, we men take that page out and put it in our wallet. We know that the question will always arise as to "Just where is that paragraph?" We need to be prepared. Unfortunately, the wallet seems to eat "unnecessary" things by crumbling them, so we have it in memory, just in case something like that happens. It is on page iv-i in small print, right after the device overlay stating what all the buttons are. See, that is something the women never really look at, so it's easy to miss. I believe I have a laminated copy somewhere though, if you are interested.

Y'all take care of them men now, 'ya hear!

[eeoski]

Wayne and Carolyn,

As far as the menfolk reading let alone having that page iv-i, as I understand it they don't even read the "distructions" under normal circumstances so I am a bit skeptical that they really do exist...HOWEVER, as I KNOW that you, Wayne, NEVER streach the truth I guess I am going to have to take Doug's (and your) word for it that it exists, BUT I'm figuring as long as he is supervised in his housework/yard duties, he can work his way back into them gradually.

Carolyn, I am soo happy to hear that your DH came through his episode in (relatively) good fashion. Not having a heart attack when all this took place, nor in the past from the test results was truly good news and Doug doesn't have any scar tissue or weakened heart muscle either. A good friend of ours (though I am thinking Doug has "disowned" him because of this) told me that I should ensure I got the remote control for his device so if he did not "comply" I could just zap him as needed to get his attention!

Wayne, it wasn't my intention to "hijack" your thread, but figured as it was a "spouse" thread you would understand.

Tell Earlene if she needs a vocabulary assist to help her express herself to you I probably have a few good vocabulary words (in more than one language even) that might be helpful! LOL

Robin

[Driftwoodgal]

Wayne,

Did you use a spray bottle of water on the mirrors so Earlene was thinking your were sweating on her doors? You know you men will do anything to keep from making the bed

Still waiting to use that new surge protector as we are still on the new generator that we had to buy.

Hope the knee is mending.

Colleen

[Waynem]

Robin,
The words she uses are found in most foreign languages, believe me.

Now you have to ask the "Man" doctor, not the "Woman" doctor about the instructions. I'll be there will be two different versions, that's why men always choose a man doctor. Well, except me. I choose a woman doctor because their fingers are smaller. Among other reasons not discussable here.

And you have not hijacked my thread. I enjoy the banter.

Colleen,
You found me out. Spray bottle is always nearby.

Earlene's knee is doing better. Not perfect, but better, except she keeps overdoing it. Today we went to the State capitol and she couldn't even make it to the second floor. I got a wheel chair for her so we could go over to the court house and research one of her ancesters, John Himes Livergood. You can Google search him for some history.

I would think you would want the surge protector using the generator? Hmmm!