NYC_SKP
NYC_SKP's JournalJust back from a "Debridement" surgery following a brain surgery. ACA covered. Ask me anything!
First and foremost: If you have been treated for hypertension, don't drop the meds unless you're told to.
I picked up my exercise and dropped 30, improved my eating habits last December and quit my $1,350 COBRA plan for similar ACA coverage under same provider, Anthem.
BUT, it took time for cards and I never picked up with my PCP for testing and refills of cholesterol and BP meds.
Big Mistake.
On 5-17 I became dizzy and fell, continued dizziness after a short unconsciousness took me to an ER, and a brain scan indicated possible brain bleed so was flown to Stanford and had a cranial angio, then brain surgery to treat a minor aneurism, then another angio and release.
The surgical site deal heal well and I went in last Tuesday and they checked me in, opened me back up (but didn't have to remove the skull piece again, thankfully) and sent me home today with a PICC and IV meds to be self administered for the next six weeks, pretty intensive but likely to prevent a relapse.
The jury is still out about coverage, but I know my $6,350 max out of pocket and deductible are covered (all that on the first day, easily).
I hope and pray for good health, but also hope that the ACA Silver Plan will cover everything, this is a costly deal.
Just some of the costs:
Ambulance: $2700
LifeFlight to Stanford: ~$25,000
Angiograms: $60,000 - $80,000 each for total of maybe $160,000
Cranial surgery: I have no idea, thinking at least $100,000 (I have one bill for one doctor alone that's $25,000)
Room and Board in ICU/Neurology at Stanford Hospital and Clinics: No idea, great care, five star staff and surgical crew.
Cost for return visit and second CT Scan and Surgery: No idea.
Six weeks of home health care, PICC system meds and other prescriptions: No idea.
I'm thinking this is at least a $250,000 medical event, possibly twice that, all for about $500 and month plus the max out of pocket.
I'm grateful for the medical team and for the providers.
Lesson learned: I take my hypertension meds, I check my BP with a decent device that has a memory that stores the values. A few minutes ago I was at 109/83... much better than the numbers I had when admitted!!!
Needless to say, there are other measures (reduce sodium, chill out) to manage stress; meds aren't the only way to reduce tension.
But I'll bet I'd not have had the problem had I not so cavalierly dropped them.
Be well, DUers!
*** BLM Says It Will Prosecute Illegal ATV Riders at Recapture Canyon ***
Background story here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024936993
(audio at the link)
May 12, 2014
BLANDING, Utah - The federal government says it plans to prosecute everyone who illegally rode an ATV on federally protected lands in southeastern Utah over the weekend. Juan Palma with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) says his agency will "pursue all available redress through the legal system to hold the lawbreakers accountable."
Motorized vehicles have been banned in the area, which contains ancient Native American cultural assets, since 2007.
State Sen. Jim Dabakis says the BLM took the right approach by avoiding any escalation with the alleged law-breakers.
"I'm grateful there was no violence, and apparently there were not a lot of guns displayed, the way that there was in Nevada. So, I guess that's something to be grateful for," Dabakis says.
- See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2014-05-12/public-lands-wilderness/blm-says-it-will-prosecute-illegal-atv-riders-at-recapture-canyon/a39300-1#sthash.J9E8PBOe.dpuf
NYC_SKP adds, "Hey, asshole, FUCK YOU!"
There are people who want all new guns to be smart guns, to be followed by the eventual....
...confiscation, removal, or mandatory surrender of non-smart guns.
As much as it may make sense to those who don't think there's any value in the Second Amendment;
Who don't think that people should be able to chose their own home self-defense tools;
Who fully trust the police, the army, all branches of the government now and in the coming 500 years;
Who don't care that then only the rich will have weapons while most of the rest won't be able to afford them, but that's "OK";
Who must think that even in natural disasters people shouldn't be able to protect themselves....
Well, how selfish of the rest of us to not trust them!
True.
And then there's apocalypsehow.
They had that ridiculous sigline that read:
They left with tail between legs after this:
1. I'm not going to count up alerts. But I will say this...
That person has been crowing for weeks about the number of alerts (allegedly) sent about his sig line, even going so far as to state the the number of alerts that were allegedly sent.
He has no clue what he is talking about. There is no way for a DU member to know an alert was sent against them unless a post is hidden or a juror shares the alert with them. In the case of this person's sig line, the actual number of alerts sent was negligible.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12591326#post1
Before checking out, they changed the sigline to read:
Which is made even more laughable by their DU2 profile statement:
It's remarkable.
WTF CNN's British Accented "Expert" Richard Quest???
I loathe him, they call him and aviation expert but I think they call him a different kind of expert with each passing week.
I guess it's the accent that gives him such a tone of authority. 
So I Googled him, couldn't get past this story from a couple years back, "a rope around his neck that was tied to his genitals":
CNN personality Richard Quest was busted in Central Park early yesterday with some drugs in his pocket, a rope around his neck that was tied to his genitals, and a sex toy in his boot, law-enforcement sources said.[...]
Quest was initially busted for loitering, the source said. Aside from the oddly configured rope, the search also turned up a sex toy inside of his boot, and a small bag of methamphetamine in his left jacket pocket.
It wasn't immediately clear what the rope was for.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/18/richard-quest-cnn-reporte_n_97466.html
I repeat...
Expert, yes or no???
Oh, Wait, There's even more Fail! "Men, Married, Southerners Most Likely to Be Gun Owners"
Here we go again. A flaccid attempt to smear a demographic by association with gun ownership. What bigoted tripe.
What the hell is the significance of this? There are studies that show any number of things, but is being a Gun Owner and a Married Man in the South some kind of fucking epiphany inducing revelation?
http://www.gallup.com/poll/160223/men-married-southerners-likely-gun-owners.aspx
"Across those six data sets, an average of 30% of Americans said they personally own a gun. Another 14% did not personally own a gun but live in a household with someone who does. The results presented here focus mainly on personal gun ownership, though the demographic patterns are similar among the larger group of Americans living in gun households."
-Snip -
"In addition to gender, Southern residence, and marital status, personal gun ownership also varies significantly by age, race, and political ideology.
- Non-Hispanic whites (33%) are significantly more likely than nonwhites (22%) to own guns. Hispanics (18%) in particular show below-average gun ownership. Twenty-one percent of blacks own a gun.
- Younger Americans (20%) are much less likely to own guns than older Americans. There are only minor differences among adults 30 and older by age group (ranging between 31% and 34%).
- Gun ownership is much higher among those who are politically conservative (39%) than among those who are politically liberal (17%)."
Liberals, Progressives, and especially Democrats not only own fewer guns, but upcoming generations of Americans are more prone to be Liberal, and less prone to be attracted to the macho American gun culture they were born into.
It took the NRA several generations to poison this nation with the unfettered proliferation of guns, and the inevitable gun violence brought about by easy access to guns. It will take as long as it takes for thinking Americans to reverse that insanity, and to find solutions which are compliant with the Second Amendment while imposing reasonable restrictions, and instilling enforceable responsibilities on gun ownership.
[div style="display:inline; background-color:#FFFF66;"]Let's see, gun crime is DOWN, but there are more guns in circulation today than EVER before.
“There are as many as 300 million guns in circulation today (the majority owned legally, but many not) and [div style="display:inline; background-color:#FFFF66;"]more than 4 million new guns come onto the market each year.
[div style="display:inline; background-color:#FFFF66;"]And, more pro-gun rights laws were passed last year than were anti-gun rights laws.
Chart of the Day
About 1,500 state gun bills have been introduced since the Newtown massacre and 109 have become law.
New York Times: “In the 12 months since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., almost every state has enacted at least one new gun law. Nearly two-thirds of the new laws ease restrictions and expand the rights of gun owners.
I'm glad that our gun crime rates are falling, yet there is still much to do, like uniform background checks, safety training, and taking guns away from violent people.
Fuck the Olympics... Fuck the Committee and fuck the Russian organization of this fucked up event.
The Olympics has always pissed me off for it's commercial corporate bullshit, it doesn't really celebrate the common man or woman- one largely has to come from an entitled family or be in a favorable position to participate.
And it seems to get worse every year and here we have a year where we could stand on principal and boycott, we aren't. Too much money at stake.
This year just fuck it all. Let it be a commercial failure and let them all learn a lesson. In fact, if the Olympics dies off altogether I don't think I'll miss them.
There's a better organization:
There's a hell of a lot more good will and humanity in the Special Olympics.
The next Special Olympics World Summer Games are coming to Los Angeles, California.
The 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games will feature world-class competitions in aquatics, gymnastics, track and field, basketball, football (soccer) and many other summer sports.
Find and support a Local Special Olympics Event Near You!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Olympics
Fuck, I'll kick this one... nt
Profile Information
Name: N/AGender: Do not display
Hometown: The Golden State
Home country: www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&f
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Member since: Thu May 29, 2008, 11:43 PM
Number of posts: 68,644
