Domicile Decisions

[sandsys]

9 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

 If you ALWAYS  run  a little on high or low side of the normal range that is important for any blood chemistry.

Having my records for 19 years available my doctor was able to determine that my slightly elevated white blood cell count is what's know as a normal variant. It's nice to know that. Just like my "normal" temperature is lower than 98.6 so a high temperature reading is a bit more of a concern for me. Yes, annual physicals are good for something even if it's just peace of mind.

Linda

[filthy-beast]

When you look at the insurance plans it's not hard to get a list that shows what they will pay for out of network hospital stays and by the way it's a pretty good bet that the doctors and tests will also be out of network.

When you go to the ER because you had chest pains and then passed out, that will be covered as emergency.  After they stabilize you and you get move upstairs to the cardiac ward for days of testing that's not emergency and now is a hospital stay.

The point being, Read The fine Print

[RV Hooligans]

On 11/23/2019 at 8:21 PM, 2gypsies said:

The state mails the new stickers.  You then have 72 hours to get it inspected once you get the vehicle back in the state.

Ken

Is this 72 hours pretty much enforced?   When we hit FT status next year (yeah, our departure is going into yet another year 😪) I expect we will "meander" our way down to Livingston or Tyler area where my son is.  It may take 3-4 weeks to get from the border to one of those locations.

[Kirk W]

26 minutes ago, RV Hooligans said:

Is this 72 hours pretty much enforced?  

Nobody really knows exactly when you arrived in TX so in most cases if you get caught it will be either for some other violation of an LEO notices your expired sticker. The only cases that I am aware of this happening the officer let the driver off with a warning and instructions to get that inspection. With the advent of the single sticker there is no longer an expired sticker so you probably won't be bothered at all unless stopped for some violation or involved in an accident. I suspect that if an LEO should run your plates he would be informed of the registration without inspection. If Big 5er is around he probably knows the answer to this.

[Blues]

On 11/28/2019 at 10:54 PM, Barbaraok said:

I never said a all serious illnesses can be detected early, but there are enough of them that can that to NOT have at least an annual checkup as one ages is really dumb.    

Just because someone makes a health care choice that you wouldn't doesn't mean it's dumb, never mind really dumb. I was just pointing out that there are people who don't want to have various screenings. I cited some of the issues presented by medical testing because I thought it would lead to an inference that they are making informed choices, and commenters would give their opinions some deference. Obviously I was wrong.

 

[Barbaraok]

Yes, I will say that as they age if they don't get at least annual checkups they are dumb.   And I'm still looking for a list of routine annual checkup tests that think are unnecessary. And part of the annual check up process is for you to review with your primary care provider any changes you've notice, especially those little nagging things that you just aren't sure about - - usually they are nothing, but often enough they indicate a problem that can be managed easily with some simple lifestyle changes and sometimes medication. 

Could you please indicate what you think is unnecessary.   Now, there are some tests that go away as you get older, such as colonoscopies after 80 if one has never had any problem, because at that point you are much more likely to die from something else.     So what other tests do you think are unnecessary and why.

[sandsys]

2 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Now, there are some tests that go away as you get older, such as colonoscopies after 80 if one has never had any problem, because at that point you are much more likely to die from something else.

All of us are much more likely to die while driving than anything else at any age. I understand your cancer made you scared but, please, don't insist that the rest of us need to be scared too. That's not how I choose to live.

Linda

[Jaydrvr]

5 minutes ago, sandsys said:

All of us are much more likely to die while driving than anything else at any age. I understand your cancer made you scared but, please, don't insist that the rest of us need to be scared too. That's not how I choose to live.

Linda

Very strongly agree with this philosophy. Living in fear is not a way of life I would enjoy... Jay

Edited December 5, 2019 by Jaydrvr

[Barbaraok]

2 hours ago, sandsys said:

All of us are much more likely to die while driving than anything else at any age. I understand your cancer made you scared but, please, don't insist that the rest of us need to be scared too. That's not how I choose to live.

Linda

Didn't make me scared, made me determine to make sure that I know what my body is doing and what adjustments need to be made.   You're never cured of cancer, just in remission.

I'm still waiting for a list of routine tests that are unnecessary.   I suppose if one just wants to roll the dice, then not making sure all systems are functioning as well as they can, or need some help,  that's fine.   Of course 5 years down the road, when what would have been an easy problem to treat, the glaucoma is so advanced that the person may lose the sight in one eye.   Or one passes out and ends up in the ER with a blood glucose of 450 because they never bothered to have even a yearly check of their fasting glucose level nor notice the increased urination.   Or a stroke occurs and the cholesterol level is 280 and small clots have let go in various parts of the body.    Or you are dead because it was just a sort of mole and no need to get it looked at.  

Tell me Linda, do you get a mammogram every year or two?

[agesilaus]

Have you been thru a 'fasting glucose test"??  I hope that is not included on the average physical. I've been thru it twice and it isn't pleasant unless you enjoy having you blood drawn every 30 minutes for 6 or 8 hours.

I do myself get scheduled checkups, and if the doc's say I need XYZ then I get XYZ. I'd be dead, most unpleasantly if I wasn't alert to problems. I caught a melanoma at class 1 myself. Years ago and I consider myself cured but still get annual skin checks. What people do themselves is up to them of course but Medicare covers annual checks 100% I believe.

[Barbaraok]

HA1C has become the standard for monitoring how the body is using glucose.  What your describing is a  glucose tolerance test which isn’t used very much anymore.  Fasting blood glucose is a single draw after at least 8 hours without food.   Done at the same time as the lipid panel for cholesterols, etc.     yes, I  had the glucose tolerance test done, because my fasting is usually around 105.  However, my A1C is 5.3,  and my fasting glucose hasn’t changed in 30 years.   Having several years of tests provides a level of what is normal for you, and thus when something changes, it indicates further investigation may be needed.

[agesilaus]

Yeah you are correct.

[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, Jaydrvr said:

Living in fear is not a way of life I would enjoy... Jay

I don't consider us to be living in fear even though we have been getting annual medical checks for many years. It all began with Pam having the usual female checks and pap smear and mammogram. When I was in my 40's she insisted that I get a physical as I'd not seen a doctor in quite a few years. My company health insurance paid for an annual medical check so it became a routine. It was on one of those annual check in 2007 that my doctor sent me to have a suspicious looking mole biopsied. The result was a diagnosis of melanoma on my left ear. Like most cancers, the fact that it was caught early played a major role in the successful surgery and I am now cancer free but I'm also a big believer in preventive care. 

[sandsys]

7 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Tell me Linda, do you get a mammogram every year or two?

Not anymore. After several years of them telling me my tissue is so dense that can't really tell anything I gave those up. Now it's just manual exams to check for lumps. I do get my A1C checked at least once year and it's good now that my doctor put me on a medicine that only has to be injected once a week. Life is good.

Linda

[Barbaraok]

So, you are doing preventative care.    

 

[Jaydrvr]

14 hours ago, Kirk W said:

I don't consider us to be living in fear even though we have been getting annual medical checks for many years. It all began with Pam having the usual female checks and pap smear and mammogram. When I was in my 40's she insisted that I get a physical as I'd not seen a doctor in quite a few years. My company health insurance paid for an annual medical check so it became a routine. It was on one of those annual check in 2007 that my doctor sent me to have a suspicious looking mole biopsied. The result was a diagnosis of melanoma on my left ear. Like most cancers, the fact that it was caught early played a major role in the successful surgery and I am now cancer free but I'm also a big believer in preventive care. 

Obviously, there's a difference between being paranoid about one's health and just being aware of changes that need to be addressed. To listen to some (many??) of our peers discuss medical procedures ad nauseum, one would think there's nothing else going on in their lives. My wife and I are quite aware of our health status, but don't spend much time focusing or obsessing about it. Certainly not fearful. We won't live forever. Jay

[Barbaraok]

Chronic conditions are a relatively new phenomenon for humans.   Our ancestors died early compared to now, because communicable diseases depleted the population and then, without decent diets, simple medications, etc., heart disease and cancers soon killed off the rest.   Once we conquered communicable diseases, thanks to vaccinations and antibiotics, the medical community turned their eyes on other conditions and have developed medications/procedures so that a once diagnosis that was once a death sentence, is now a managed condition.    People now don't worry about dying, we all know that will happen, but the process leading up to death.    And after 70, people do tend to spend more time each year with checks and modifying maintenance medications.   If all of the people you know just talk about medical conditions, then see if you can't get them involved in some volunteer work, or doing something simple like geocaching focusing on level 1 (parking lot) caches.   

I have noted that when I get together with my cousins, especially on my mothers side, we all do compare notes on who got what hereditary condition from our grandparents.   My sister, like several of my cousins, have Grandpa Fred"s 'shaky hands', which is essential tremor that is inherited.   It really is quite evident who got those genes and who didn't.   And I have great grandmother Angevine's feet problems (from my dad via his mother), and my sister doesn't.   Recently one distant cousin found some photos from the 1890s and it is easy to see some familial facial features that have come down through the generations.  

[RV Hooligans]

Keeping in the medical line.  Is it possible to get maintenance meds sent to an Escapees address that will then be forwarded on request?  We don't have our mail service account set up yet, so if this is covered in materials issued I apologize.

[Barbaraok]

Do it all the time.  Escapees won’t accept meds that need to be refrigerated, but otherwise not a problem.  

[sandsys]

6 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

So, you are doing preventative care.    

Yes, just not so many invasive or painful tests.

Linda

[2gypsies]

Yearly checkups rarely have you doing invasive or painful tests.... unless you need them; then I wouldn't hesitate getting them done.

[Barbaraok]

3 hours ago, sandsys said:

Yes, just not so many invasive or painful tests.

Linda

So what do you consider invasive or painful.  Yes, I know mammograms are painful And you aren’t doing them.  Do you get a breast ultrasound every so often instead?   Blood tests, Pap smear, BP check?    I’m trying to figure out why so many seem to find the idea of a checkup so frightful.

[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, RV Hooligans said:

 Is it possible to get maintenance meds sent to an Escapees address that will then be forwarded on request?  

The answer is yes, as long at the medications are not refrigerated, as they don't have facilities to keep them cold. Many of us have done that for years. 

[richfaa]

Well we have a annual routine medical checkup every year and have for decades. We will continue to do so, others can continue to do whatever they wish. There are many occupations that require  annual checkups .

[Blues]

On 12/6/2019 at 8:57 AM, Barbaraok said:

So, you are doing preventative care.   

She's doing informed preventive care, weighing the upsides and downsides to her.  Just because it's not something you would do doesn't make it an invalid choice.