Day 105: on some more successful adulting

It's a very good thing I utilize the phone on my calendar, because it wasn't until after I had logged off yesterday that I realized the Queen Mother had her quarterly doctor's appointment today! These days I allow an hour for her to get dressed, get into her trusty "chariot," get her to the car, help her into the car, drive to the doctor's office, get her out of the car, get her back into her "chariot," and get her wheeled up to the office in time for her appointment. It's as elaborate and exhausting as it reads.

Good news: the Queen Mother has gained a little weight since her last visit. Possibly not so good news: her blood pressure went up a little more than I would have liked. The doctor wasn't concerned, but I will keep an eye on it. It's my intuition giving me a little nudge, you know? We paid a visit to Radiology afterwards, to get an X-ray of her middle back and see if she had any compression fractures that might be causing her pain. Fortunately, there weren't any. Aside from sticking with what we're doing, I will need to find a B-complex vitamin that isn't the size of a horse pill sometime next week, per the doctor's recommendation.

Meanwhile, in the Epic Medi-Cal Quest, I spoke with a nice and helpful lady in the Appeals department, who explained things in a way that made a whole lot of sense: the Federal Poverty line is reset each April, not January, so it was that reset that increased the amount the Queen Mother's income was over the line by tenfold, but no one informed us about this until October. So our appeal is to make sure we have the last year covered, to ensure the state doesn't start asking for their money back. I believe I will have the required supplemental insurance ready to present to the Medi-Cal folks early next week, so that should take care of this particular Quest. Then we will have to see what the guidelines become for this coming April...and I really hope we don't have to do this whole dog and pony show again. :p

The whole process has become this larger-than-life game where everyone I interact with gives me a piece of the puzzle, and my road map becomes clearer and better defined as I put the pieces together.

I kind of botched dinner this evening, as I didn't quite follow the directions on the bag of garlic pasta shells, and I didn't realize that the seasoning wasn't in its own little individual packet, to be added once the pasta was cooked. I managed to salvage it enough, as the shells were still edible, and the salad was good. After dinner, Himself and I went to our usual Friday night meetings, and mine was rather good. I can feel like total crap before I go, but when the meeting is over, I feel refreshed and reinvigorated. This too is a source of support, even if some of the connections aren't as tight as in some of my other groups.

Speaking of - tomorrow the Sunday group that Himself and I attend are gathering for our "annual" luncheon. I'm looking very much forward to good food eaten in good company. The rest of the day will be played by ear, but I'm sure we'll manage quite nicely. :)