Happy Tuesday

I'm in a bit of a fog thanks to a head cold/allergies (not sure which) that has me spinnin'.  My niece Jamie was miserable yesterday because of (I think) the pollen. She laid down on the ottoman in front of the tv with a roll of toilet paper and just kept wiping her nose over and over and over. I said, "do you know who else had bad allergies?" she said, "Marquee!" Yes. Her cousin-in-law has to buy tissue by the case.

Today I went to the free clinic. The good news is that they can monitor my blood pressure and COPD and prescribe meds as needed. The bad news is that they don't have the resources to do the full workup that I need to diagnose and treat the "evil gut pain".

It was very telling that the parking lot in front of the free clinic was packed and the parking lot at the nice, new doctors office building where my regular doctor is located was practically empty. Supposedly seven million people are now insured through Obamacare. Apparently not in White County, Georgia. To be fair, Georgia did not expand Medicaid which could have helped a lot of people like me but... I'm not sure that Medicaid expansion is the answer.

My nurse at the clinic has some similar back problems to mine so she was sympathetic to my pain. She was also sympathetic about the cost of the pain doctor. She told me that her lab charges are over $2000 per visit. LAB CHARGES! Say what you will about the insurance industry being evil... how can a blood screening cost that much? Between big pharm and the cost of providing medical care (that gets passed along to consumers) ... our health care delivery system is screwed up in this country. Insurance premiums are high for a reason.

My blood work from last week wasn't great and most of it was expected... you know, the whole cholesterol thing. I've got a new (cheap) med to help with that. My liver enzymes were elevated which could be because of the pain meds or it could be from being overweight or it could be related to the evil gut pain. They'll repeat labs in a month for comparison and go from there.

Ironically the doctor that was volunteering at the free clinic was the same doctor my parents paid to see this morning at his office. Small town life.

We had a little scare Sunday night with Little Kitty. Grandma had given my mom a shamrock plant and Little Kitty made a snack of it. It turns out that it can be dangerous to pets. After consulting Dr. Google and doing more research than I ever thought about doing on plants that are poisonous to pets, I got an idea of what to watch for. Other than being a little more affectionate than usual, he seems to have been unaffected. Curiosity didn't kill the cat this time, thank the Lord. Trust me, many prayers were sent up about my little friend. I don't know what I'd do without him.

New mind candy on tv tonight - True Tori. I know it's complete junk but there's a part of my heart that can't help but feel bad for women whose husbands cheat. Granted... every woman should know that what he does WITH you, he will do TO you... and Tori started out as the other woman... but man... he's a dog. A low-down-dirty dog. I'm hoping the therapist rips him apart.

I'm also enjoying Chrisley Knows Best about the Atlanta family of a millionaire patriarch. News reports suggest that he isn't as wealthy as the show makes him out to be but the family interaction is fun to watch. Southern families are funny, whether or not they have money. Families with a lot of kids are funny (to me) and they have five. Trust me, the dynamic between that many moving parts is interesting.

I'm having a great time following Will and Kate's tour of New Zealand and Australia. I think Prince George is hilariously adorable and they seem like great parents.

I'm bummed that this week will be the last one for Christina on Grey's Anatomy. It won't be the same without her.

And... I guess that's about it for now. Love and hugs, y'all.