Not getting any worse at least

Today I'm in a health learning mode. I've been overweight for so long that I am sort of used to it. Anyway, I'm fairly comfortable now. Except for a couple of things. Of course the Diabetes is a concern. And I am stuck with that. I looked at the chart above and guess what? I can improve the quality of my life if I drop pounds. No surprise there. The range of things that would change is a surprise. And I'm thinking. Hard.

Next there is the Monster Energy drink. I drink 2 of the drinks every day. I don't drink the sugared one but the lo carb. Still has sugar but tastes better than the sugar free one. Anyway. There is the same amount of caffeine in one 24 ounce one as there is in 7 regular sodas. And we won't talk about sugar if drinking the green one. I drink the 16 ounce ones and that means I'm getting the equivalent of about 4.4 sodas worth of caffeine. In each can. And I was drinking coffee too. That has to put a strain on my heart. I know it raises my blood sugar.

I've tried to stop caffeine before by going cold turkey. And I got headaches that were so bad I had trouble with my eyes. So. I'm going to try to cut down on the Monsters in another way. First, I have given up the second one. For the last couple of days I have had only one. And I am tired. But I don't expect to get things fixed overnight. Another couple of days I'll have only one and then I'm going to pour half in a bottle to keep for the second day. I've been getting sick to my stomach. I don't know if it's the caffeine or the allergies all us Tennesseans have. But I hope to get off the Monsters within the next two weeks. Back to home brewed teas with caffeine and coffee. At least the hit isn't as bad. I gave up sodas when I became diabetic because I don't like artificially sweetened drinks.

On Pinterest I saw a quote that I'm thinking of now. "Getting old is not for sissies". Yes.

Not giving up now

Short one here. I've been reading that caffeine is good for women. I've been reading that caffeine is not good for women. I've been reading that red wine is good for women. I've been reading that red wine is not good for anybody. I drink caffeine and I don't drink red wine. I'm overweight, bad back, bad knees, wrinkles, and out of shape. Am I doing something wrong, maybe. Could it be that instead of coffee I should start the day with 2 cups of red wine? What a concept.!

Please, please,please

I am taking some time today to make an information page to keep in my wallet and one to keep in my house next to the computer. I am making hard copies. This is important to me because of an incident that happened yesterday.

I called a friend and when she answered the phone I sensed something was wrong. She said "I fell" and didn't elaborate. I asked if she was up and she again said "I fell" and then I asked how she was doing she said "I fell and I don't know". I drove to her home not knowing what to expect. When I arrived, she was up and in her chair that she watches TV in. I had told her I was coming but when I got there she was surprised. Anyway, I found her to be somewhat incoherent. She was adamant that I not call the doctor and wouldn't give me any family names to call. But I did finally contact the rental office of the neighborhood in which she lives. I had to leave to finally be able to call someone.

What I am doing is making sure a paper is in my wallet that tells my phone numbers, emergency contacts, that I am diabetic, blood type, and meds I take. For the house, I am including even more. I'll have info on all of my history, Dr., health problems, allergies, phone numbers for me and all emergency numbers, meds, banking info, credit card info(but not the numbers), soc security number, home and PO box numbers, insurance info for health, home, and auto. If something happens to me that should be helpful to anyone who needs to care for me. I may include a living will with the page.

Yesterday, when I was forced by circumstances to leave my friend, I had no idea what to do. I thought of ambulance but don't know if her insurance covers it and no idea if she was bad enough to need an ambulance. But I felt personally responsible if she had been hurt again. Please, if you can, keep your info in an obvious place and instructions if needed.

Dealing

I am a diabetic. I found out in May and I've been trying to come to terms with the needed changes to my life since then. Obviously the diet must change. And after I stopped eating all of the fatty sweets, my weight dropped a bit. But I have so much more to do. The easy part was dropping the fatty sweets. Every time I think blood sugar, blindness, losing legs and or feet, stroke, etc., sweets aren't nearly so sweet.

OK to the sweets I say gbye. But what do I eat? Being fat free usually means eating lots more carbs. But carbs raise blood sugar. Which is worse? Remember blindness etc. And now I'm battling chemicals. I need to raise my metabolism and exercise. Yuck. So I consulted a list of metabolism boosting foods. What a great idea. Except-----sweet potatoes, blueberries, yogurt,

apples, oats, lima beans are carb heavy. Avocado is high in fats. Lemon is not such a good idea by itself. Nor is cinnamon, ginger, or garlic. So now I must do what I have rarely ever done in my whole life. Plan meals and follow recipes. And oh yes, exercise.

That means I'm working at getting healthy. Slowly. We'll see how well this part goes.

Been a long time since Feb

All hell broke loose on me this year. But I have found that an old dog can learn new tricks. Such as snickering when I conquer a problem and giving myself a break before tackling the next.

And men don't change much with age.

And my mind didn't change much with age but my body sure did. So why does my mind still feel 30?

And why does a newly 67 year old woman look at True Blood for the hot guys? I guess that is one thing that doesn't change.

And What the Heck is there to watch on TV right not? Oh, that's right, another rerun.

And did you know that 8 track players and tapes are being sold as vintage? And kids don't know what a vinyl recording is.

Classic music is not the music of the 60's and 70's.

Damn I'm old.

The XG#*^)WTF Medicare and Social Security

I have found an activity that ages me more than all of the sunshine, smoking, drinking, and fat ever could. I mean dealing with the Medicare and Social Security Administration. I don't understand how to read the books and booklets they send out to those of us who receive Medicare and Social Security. So I went to an insurance man who set me up with parts A and B, part D, and a perscription plan. The parts A and B plus the perscription plan were to be deducted from my Social Security. The Part D came from my checking account.

I understand that now. After paying a bunch of money I wasn't expecting to pay. No one, and I mean No One, told me about the fact that the amount the Social Security Administration charges for medicare is tied to income tax. You see, I paid income tax for a building I sold. They didn't call it capital gain, though that is what it was. An inherited building. This was in 2009 that the building sold. And I thought since I put the money into trust for my retirement, I was safe. God, I must be really stupid. In 2011 my Medicare cost me 319.70 for parts A and B. My perscription plan started at $30 per month and went to $66.40. And I still paid from my checking account for the part D coverage. But I had no idea the change was because of my 2009 sale of the building. Remember that I put the money into a trust. I was paying well over half of my SS income for medical care and had to begin borrowing from the trust.

I understand that I am lucky. My SS is about $10,000 per year and I'm lucky to have that. In this economy, any income is a really good thing. However, again, I was paying over half for health insurance. I think if I had known exactly what was going on I would have used the health insurance more, just to justify the cost. And a lot of the problem with this is because I didn't get or understand the information about the payments. After the first half of 2011 I was trying to get by on very little money and I started asking questions. I found that no one knew enough about my situation at the SS office to really help me. It was all there in the computer except for the why. So, as luck would have it, a friend told me about her health insurance which was a whole Bunch cheaper than mine. When sign up time came, I changed over. Part D and the perscription plan is about one tenth of the original plans I was on. But that didn't change the SS payment. So I submitted a 2010 Income Tax form showing my significantly lowered income and after practically camping out at the SS office, my payment was lowered to where it should be. My blood pressure on the other hand has not come back down yet.

I'm writing this blog to accomplish a couple of things. One-----If you are on SS and Medicare, please know all you can about what money goes where. And if you don't understand, don't necessarily just ask one person. Ask a bunch of questions. The man who set me up on the original policy went out of business. Small wonder.

The second reason for this blog is----I needed to bitch. Hopefully it will help my blood pressure.

Thanks for listening.

I've found

I've found it's a lot easier to be high maintenance when someone else is paying for the maintenance.