Life's getting hard
I've got a hard run ahead of me. All week I've been going nuts trying to get the IHSS form signed by a doctor.
I went in on Monday to a drop-in clinic to see one. She couldn't sign the form because she's not my primary care physician. She did restore my Androgel prescription but I injured my bad leg and I've been housebound since Monday resting up on it. I still need to walk it a block to Walgreens, the one by my hotel doesn't deliver.
I've been phoning and playing phone tag and battering my way through Catch-22's all week. I did a better job with it than I knew getting full coverage MediCal already active, but I've only got enough Tramadol to last till Sept. 1st.
I used up my cab money getting to that drop in clinic only to be told to come in again on Wednesday "or call" but the nurse forgot to give me the number. Through a lot of craziness I finally called General Hospital and got a Patient Advocate pulling for me. Her name is Naomi.
I talked to my IHSS social worker this morning, he'll call me next week to set up my in home assessment visit. Meanwhile I'm running into the wall.
I went out too often, stood too long, walked too far, overdid it past the point my back hurt and I'm paying for that now. I've heard that I'm doing really well with how I'm handling social services and it usually takes two or three months to get IHSS. Gods.
It's this bad for me, I wonder how bad it is for someone bedridden. It's got to be almost impossible. This is crazy.
They put in the new policy on August 1st, the day I arrived. Like that irony in Minnesota when they stopped covering what I needed when the cutoff date was seven days before my appointment, I'm going through the system testing a new policy at a time when they've had severe budget cuts. It's going to be bad and it looks like I'm taking the hit.
I have to remind myself that it'll pass. That even if I wind up losing my pain medication and with it my mind, there will come a point that's over and I'll be here with the services and medications and mobility aids that I need, all of them.
I went through a lot of bad things in Minnesota and I survived. At least now I'm in San Francisco where even when I can't go out - the weather's kind. A lot kinder than anywhere else I've been. It's given me a fighting chance.
So did the muscle relaxant prescription the urgent care doctor gave me, that's helped a lot. I didn't know I needed one and it did knock everything back. I didn't know the muscle cramps were fibro because I had such good skeletal reasons to get them, especially where I do. But they're a lot better with the muscle relaxants.
I'll be talking to Naomi the Patient Advocate again tomorrow to try to get to see a doctor sooner. She got me an appointment for Sept. 27th though, a lot sooner than I'd have gotten without her help - it would've been late in October if I'd gone with the first one. The system's overloaded.
Worse, I broke my cane on Monday. It fell on the pavement outside Walgreens while I was waiting for the cab and the bright glass knob broke. I cut my hand picking up the broken off piece, but I saved it, maybe I can glue it back together or glue it and wrap something over it so it functions. I can't seem to get a donated one but if I'm lucky, the Episcopalians got a donated walker. This is bad because it cuts my mobility even farther. I needed the cane and a walker would actually be a lot better. But I can't get MediCal to pay for it without a doctor prescribing. If Naomi can get me one sooner I need to mention that.
Wish me luck on all of it, gods, I'm going to need it.
I went in on Monday to a drop-in clinic to see one. She couldn't sign the form because she's not my primary care physician. She did restore my Androgel prescription but I injured my bad leg and I've been housebound since Monday resting up on it. I still need to walk it a block to Walgreens, the one by my hotel doesn't deliver.
I've been phoning and playing phone tag and battering my way through Catch-22's all week. I did a better job with it than I knew getting full coverage MediCal already active, but I've only got enough Tramadol to last till Sept. 1st.
I used up my cab money getting to that drop in clinic only to be told to come in again on Wednesday "or call" but the nurse forgot to give me the number. Through a lot of craziness I finally called General Hospital and got a Patient Advocate pulling for me. Her name is Naomi.
I talked to my IHSS social worker this morning, he'll call me next week to set up my in home assessment visit. Meanwhile I'm running into the wall.
I went out too often, stood too long, walked too far, overdid it past the point my back hurt and I'm paying for that now. I've heard that I'm doing really well with how I'm handling social services and it usually takes two or three months to get IHSS. Gods.
It's this bad for me, I wonder how bad it is for someone bedridden. It's got to be almost impossible. This is crazy.
They put in the new policy on August 1st, the day I arrived. Like that irony in Minnesota when they stopped covering what I needed when the cutoff date was seven days before my appointment, I'm going through the system testing a new policy at a time when they've had severe budget cuts. It's going to be bad and it looks like I'm taking the hit.
I have to remind myself that it'll pass. That even if I wind up losing my pain medication and with it my mind, there will come a point that's over and I'll be here with the services and medications and mobility aids that I need, all of them.
I went through a lot of bad things in Minnesota and I survived. At least now I'm in San Francisco where even when I can't go out - the weather's kind. A lot kinder than anywhere else I've been. It's given me a fighting chance.
So did the muscle relaxant prescription the urgent care doctor gave me, that's helped a lot. I didn't know I needed one and it did knock everything back. I didn't know the muscle cramps were fibro because I had such good skeletal reasons to get them, especially where I do. But they're a lot better with the muscle relaxants.
I'll be talking to Naomi the Patient Advocate again tomorrow to try to get to see a doctor sooner. She got me an appointment for Sept. 27th though, a lot sooner than I'd have gotten without her help - it would've been late in October if I'd gone with the first one. The system's overloaded.
Worse, I broke my cane on Monday. It fell on the pavement outside Walgreens while I was waiting for the cab and the bright glass knob broke. I cut my hand picking up the broken off piece, but I saved it, maybe I can glue it back together or glue it and wrap something over it so it functions. I can't seem to get a donated one but if I'm lucky, the Episcopalians got a donated walker. This is bad because it cuts my mobility even farther. I needed the cane and a walker would actually be a lot better. But I can't get MediCal to pay for it without a doctor prescribing. If Naomi can get me one sooner I need to mention that.
Wish me luck on all of it, gods, I'm going to need it.