Ski Season CANCELED

Lookout Pass opened on Saturday for limited skiing. They have gotten more snow since and are planning to open again this weekend. 49° North is talking about opening next weekend. Mt Spokane has snow but not near enough to open up yet.

I mention all this because I had a Doctor's appointment today. Just the regular monthly visit I've been doing since I got on the Milrinone and the PICC line.

During the course of the meeting, I brought up skiing and my plans to ski and if that was okay. Dr. Lewey kind of cringed and then said, "No!" Skiing is not a good idea right now.

I guess I can see why. They have restricted me from any heavy lifting, especially with my right arm where the PICC line is located. The other reason is the IV bag I carry in a fanny pack. It could rupture if I fall. I tried to explain that I don't fall but that didn't matter. I could fall and that might be bad.

In truth, I had a few falls last season. At least one was pretty hard.

So, I got a letter from the Doc to say I can't ski so I can get my money back for the Season Pass I bought last year. I may hold off getting the refund so I can go up at least once. This would be my 60th year of skiing and I do not want to break the streak.

October BP

 

Praying for Will Power

I started the month weighing 239 pounds. I decided to dedicate myself to losing twenty-five pounds. That would get me down to around 215. At that point, I would work on the other 15 pounds. I would like to maintain myself at 200 pounds.

But that is a loooooooong pipe dream away.

On October 18th, I managed to get to 230 pounds. I hovered there a few days but now on the 26th, I'm back to 239. I'm quite disgusted with myself. I have such little will power. I blame it on Halloween Candy. I love me some candy corn.

So, I'm starting over and just trying not to eat crap. Protein is my goal and avoiding the carbs and the sugars are my other, more important goal.

Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers!   

Fun with Air

I did an experiment today that I should have realized in advance what the outcome would be. I walked around the park without my Oxygen Generator and then I walked around again with the O2.

I both cases I wore my Oxymeter on my thumb to gather the needed data. Obviously I did better with the O2. I was hoping that would not be the case but now I know.

Both trips around the park took about 20 minutes.  The first trip without oxygen, my O2 average was 88%. The second trip with O2 , my oxygen level averaged 93%. Anything below 90% is bad.

There was some other data but it essentially confirmed that I’m better off walking with oxygen than without. Again, I should have known this but I had to confirm it with empirical data…because I’m soooo scienterrific.

Blog Review and the SSA

I had a little time yesterday and started reading this Blog from the very beginning. It’s interesting to look back and see how I totally failed all of the goals I set for myself 14 years ago. 

Here I was, struggling to lose weight when I weighed 207 pounds. Now I’m 232 pounds, unable to run anymore, on oxygen when I walk, trying to get on the heart transplant list and dealing with the same issues.

I’m trying to think ahead another 14 years and wondering what sort of condition I will be in. The most likely condition will be worm food. But just in case I beat the odds and God decides to keep me here a bit longer, I see myself in a Rascal Scooter, talking into my iPad as it converts speech to text, with the constant thumping drone of my artificial heart filling the silence as I watch reruns of Matlock, the one with Kathy Bates, complaining about trying to get down to 275 pounds and reminiscing about my glory days when I weighed 207. 

I’m actually looking forward to that!

Right now, I’m waiting on a return call from the Social Security Administration concerning a phantom payment that showed up in my account. I want to make sure it is a legitimate payment that won’t be recalled by them in a few months.

They said the wait time was 120 minutes and I’m well past that now at 148 minutes. That’s two and half hours to you and me.

Stand by and hopefully I’ll have an update for you shortly, at least by the next paragraph.

12:25PM: I finally got the return call from Fidel at SSA. It took about 2 1/2 hours for him to call back. That must be a bitch of a job. No wonder they’re humorless. In this case however, Fidel was very helpful and said the one time payment was an adjustment and I should be getting a letter confirming that.

So, I guess I’m okay to accept and spend this money. However, being the horrible saver I am, I’m going to attempt to keep most of this as a buffer for as long as I can.

I am going to go out a buy me a new shirt however.

 

Lament of the Wealthy American

 I am going to have to have another session with Social Security on the phone.

I was checking my bank account on Friday and the balance was way off from what I was expecting. Way off to the good. Upon further investigation, which means I looked at the account, I discovered I had a payment from Social Security in there that I had not expected. 

I got on the website and logged in to find out I had indeed been given an extra payment of about $1,200. It was listed as “One time payment”.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining.

However, I’m very suspicious of SSA when it comes to “Free Money”. I want to be sure this is legit. When SSA discovers they’ve made a mistake, they don’t just say “I’m sorry” and move on. They take back the money. RIGHT NOW!

I don’t want to wake up a month from now and find I have a $1,200 hole in my account.

So, it’s Monday morning and the first thing I did was jump on the phone to SSA. While I was working my way through the phone tree, I got myself logged on to the website and into my account. I also had planned to record the phone call. I want all the backup I can get.

At the end of five minutes of announcements and instructions, the recording said the offices are closed today due to the Federal Holiday.

Damn you, Christopher Columbus!

So I have to wait another day. It’s not as though this money is burning a hole through my pocket. I can wait. It’s nice having an extra buffer in there. It makes me feel like a wealthy American.

SSA Help Line

I just got off the phone with a woman from Social Security who has to be one of the most humorless people I have talked to on the phone.

I called because today is the day my Social Security posts to my bank account. It wasn't there when I checked my account this morning.

You may recall I have had some difficulties with my accounts because of a Low Life MoFo Scammer that tried to rip me off.

In the course of trying to repair the damage, I had to redirect my SSA Direct Deposit to a new account. That account number is 509 3825 968. (If you use the corresponding letters on the phone to those numbers, you’ll get a message that tells you I’m not giving you my account number.)

So I called the SSA Help Line and gave them my number for a call back. I'm glad I didn't wait on the line because it took an hour and 39 minutes for the lady to return my call. 

During that time, I called my bank and learned that the money was there, but in the old, closed account. They would move it to the right account by the end of the day.

So the humorless lady from Social Security called me back and I told her I had resolved the problem with my bank but I wanted her to help me with a new login system that SSA is changing to.

While she was on the phone, I went through the process of signing up to the new program. The website would not let me create a new account. It kept saying there was already an account associated with the email address I provided. 

OF COURSE THERE WAS AN ACCOUNT ASSOCIATED WITH THE EMAIL ADDRESS I PROVIDED. IT'S MINE!!!

We got to the point were she was not able to help me,. Nor could she direct me to anyone who could help me.

For the time being, I have access to my SSA account on line but I'm not sure what will happen when they switch over. And the wonderful sourpuss on the phone had no idea when that transition would happen.

Needless to say, I left an unflattering report with the after call survey. I wonder if anyone will follow up on that.

Not holding my breath.