Patient Rights and Tricare- How do I get a timely appointment? « Military Spouse MilSpouse.com Blog.

So far, in my experience, Tricare in a military predominant area does not get you very good service, but in a non-military area, it’s an entirely different experience.

My PCM doctor near Camp Lejeune, I couldn’t get a first time visit until at least a month later.  Whenever they do tests on me, their policy is, we get too many patients, if you don’t hear from us, it means nothing is wrong.  Another time, I had a bad case of UTI and needed help asap.  I called the office looking for an appointment, they were all booked until next week and would call me back after they talked to the doctor to see if they can get me a prescription for antibiotics.  I never got a call back.  My husband just took me to the ER at the naval hospital where we waited for a long time.

My current PCM near Seattle and far from military communities, I was able to get a first time appointment a couple of days later.  They took blood tests and emailed me what vitamins I was lacking and what supplements to take.  After my appointments, I would get a summary on how much my medical care costs and how much Tricare paid.  Even now that I am out of state, I can email my doctor for advice on my medical issues and she replies when she is able.

In my opinion, military communities and hospitals are so loaded with patients that can see their doctors without any or very little out of pocket expense that the system sometimes forgets about the quality of care as they struggle to keep up.  On the other hand, in places where people actually have to pay a larger sum out of their paychecks and pay deductibles up front whenever they see doctors, offices are less crowded and maybe more inclined to keep their customers happy.

BTW.  I saw what the actual bills (what my doctor’s office normally charges everyone) vs. the max amount the government allows the doctors to charge Tricare and there is quite a difference.  I’m not so good with legal or medical mumbo jumbo, but it looked like PCMs don’t get as much money from Tricare patients as they would from other patients who don’t have government insurance.  No wonder some people are opposed to government run health care.

Even with all that, I am grateful for having any insurance at all.  I know a few people who don’t have insurance at all and some of them are actually in need of some medical care.  Being broke and with all my health issues, I am grateful we haven’t had to pay out of pocket for all our hospital and doctor visits.

Costco – $139.99 after $30 OFF Cables Unlimited™ Wirelessly Connect PC to HDTV.

bwahahaha!  And came the day.  For a loooooong time I’ve been wondering about this.  Some people would say it’s like electricity and how it would be dangerous to transmit it wirelessly.  But we’ve been doing it with sound, and TV’s get their images wirelessly.  We get the internet wirelessly also…  And video on cellphones is available.  I’ve always hated how many wires even my laptops would have to connect to, so why not something like this?  I’m waiting for them to come up with something better.  Maybe have it already built in the new Macs, or make a better and faster bluetooth.

On a side note.  How they’re saying cellphones are frying our brains…  Will this add to the damage?

Avatar Official Movie Website | In Cinemas December 18.

Honestly, it was amazing visually, but the story could have been better.  More specifically, it could have ended a lot better.  Either they reach a truce, the natives win because there are laws to protect them and the human homeland come punish the murderers, or something other than the natives somehow getting some mysterious powerups and suddenly able to defeat technology they couldn’t even dent before.

Cause seriously, the movie ends triumphantly with the natives having won the battle, but they’d have no chance if the actual earth military decided the natives had declared war on them.  It would be really sad if they ended up losing that war.

Instead of the main character’s world getting bigger and instead of him gaining more of an understanding of the way the world is, it felt like his world had become smaller and he had become less mature or developed.  Sure, he discovered this alien world and came to understand more about it, but instead of his world broadening to add in this new place and culture, he abandoned what he had for this new one.

The natives are backwards themselves.  They easily reject those that don’t come to understand their world while they refuse to understand the human world at the same time.

Also, though it was really only going against some major corporation, at the end it left me feeling like the main character had betrayed his species.  It’s one thing to protect the natives from being killed, but it’s another to abandon and kill your own.  And for the main character being a marine, something like that is really, really weird.  I would have preferred both sides reaching a middle ground and finding peace and understanding that way instead of one slaughtering the other no matter how ruthless and uncaring one side is.

Most people say there’s no difference between bottled water and tap water.  I would say, it depends on where you are and who is supplying your water.

I’ve had problems with UTI since I was a little kid, but when I grew up, it practically disappeared until recently.  It escalated when we moved to NC.

This is by no means a scientific observation, but I’ve been noticing some differences.  In Washington state, I have less or no UTI.  The water where we live is ok to drink straight from the tap and tastes better than bottled water.  In NC, I’ve only been able to stand drinking tap water if it’s filtered and the house is a new construction meaning newer pipes.  Still, the water tastes bad.  In our new home, I was only able to get used to it by putting slices of lemon in the water to mask the taste.  In older buildings, the water goes down the throat painfully even after being filtered.  What does this have to do with UTI?  My husband started buying me bottled water and I’ve noticed that I have less problems when I drink that instead of tap water.  The last two times I’ve had UTI, were when I ran out of bottled water to drink.

One reason could easily be because I may drink less water when it’s tap since I don’t feel hydrated whenever I drink the tap water here, but I just have to wonder.  On searching Google for a relationship between UTI and tap water, most articles for people would say it does not matter.  But when it comes to animals, vets apparently recommend to use distilled water as they believe tap water to be contaminated by bacteria, chemicals, etc. and does not at all help with the animal’s UTI.

So, if tap water is so harmful for animals, what makes it less harmful for humans?

When people say, tap water is filtered the same and sometimes better than bottled water, I do believe that is true when comparing certain places and certain brands.  Most likely, cheaper brands may not have any extra filtration at all, while more expensive ones go through more expensive filtration.  But I believe different places also have different facilities and standards when it comes to tap water.  And at the same time, tap water also travels through so much piping both new AND old before it gets to your house rather than being bottled right away.  Places like Chicago, apparently they’ve put out so much salt to get rid of ice on the roads in the winter, that it has affected their drinking water and when you wash your hands, it can smell strongly like rust.  I will also never drink tap water in California as it apparently can affect pregnant women.  Certain old buildings in Seattle, I’ve even found yellow water coming out of their drinking fountains.  And some buildings have pipes that are not up to code or codes are not strict enough.  I have even heard of our old high school getting a new building, but the builders have cut corners.  The pipes were lead free, but something like the connections were not.  As a result, they had to redo their work.

In the end, what I would like to happen is that hopefully water quality can be improved upon and more research be done for UTI because…  when you have it, it’s very, very torturous and hard to control.  The worst I myself have had it, the infection reached my kidneys and I was peeing dark blood.  There’s only so much you can do with cranberry juice and the only sure way to get rid of it, for that one time, is antibiotics and pain relievers.  If something like the local tap water is affecting me negatively, I would like to know.

Chobani Yogurt – nothing but good..

Found these at costco.  It’s really different from regular yogurt, if that’s what you’re expecting.  The texture and thickness is different.  It reminds me of cheesecake.  The way it’s still a liquid but when you scoop up some, it breaks away in a cakey way.

I don’t know about how it compares to other yogurt in terms of nutrition, but it doesn’t look bad.  0% fat and cholesterol, though.

Though I’ve only tried the peach flavor, I really like it.

AIR OPTIX for Astigmatism :: AIR OPTIX Individual for Astigmatism.

I love how these feel in my eyes, but just getting them out of the packaging and into your eyes is hard and if you haven’t worn astigmatism ones in a while, it’s a little weird until you adjust.

These are more expensive contacts.  About $50 a box, but i was able to get a years supply for about $170 at costco.  That doesn’t include the $20 rebate I’m waiting on which I sent online.

Apple – iPad – The best way to experience the web, email, and photos.

yes~! i want it.  if only i needed it.  now, if they came up with one that’s also a tablet and can run FCP etc, it will be my next computer.  I just hope they don’t use NVidia graphics cards cuz, yeah, they are the fastest, but whoever thought to put them on laptops wasn’t thinking.  My mom had one for her tower at work and it had to have it’s own special cooling system.  My husband’s tower still doesnt’ work right.  The graphics weirds out even with driver updates.  Mine gave up and burned out my logic board.  Good thing I had apple care.  Husband bought Asus laptop w/ one and it warped the body.  Made him return it right away for a vaio.  Slower graphics card, but my dad had a vaio and it lasted him 10 years.  husband had a vaio before also with no major problems even after two tours in iraq.  If this new ipad is not intel, really hoping it won’t get hot in your lap.  I’m excited.

Apple, please come up with a tablet version that i can run fcp and adobe software in.  That would be amazing~!

My husband recently bought me this really nice spice container set.  It’s one of those small round ones that have windows on top and are magnetized so you can stick them on the fridge or where you like.  The set also came with a bunch of different spices.

So when we had some steak at home, he asked me if I could come up with a rub.  Unfortunately, even with all the spices that I had, we still had to go to the grocery store for some more.  This recipe that I found online was really easy though.  Since my husband loves his meat, I made a large batch to keep for next time.

What I found, when grilling, apply liberally.  The more, the better because they get washed away.  But when we tried baking with a lot of the rub, the rub stayed on better and it was stronger.  A little too strong for my taste, but when I ate it with some mashed potatoes it was good.

Bangin’ Steak Rub – All Recipes.

I don’t know about other people, but I’m only recently learning to do household chores. Certainly my parents tried to teach me, but what kid would be enthusiastically learning and applying things like cleaning the toilet. Well, I wasn’t one of those. I figured I’d learn when I needed to – like how I now need to.

One of the things I’m learning: Cooking. A hurdles I am learning to overcome: time and laziness. Here is a small, easy meal I have figured out. An alternative to the high sodium ramen. Spaghetti.

RED SAUCE

Ingredients:
1 TB minced garlic
half onion, chopped
olive oil approx 3 TB or more
1 lb ground beef or chicken pieces
salt and pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
1 jar ready-made tomato sauce
1 can sliced mushrooms

Instructions:
1. cook the garlic, onions, and olive oil until the onions are caramelized.
2. Add in the meat (ground beef/chicken) until cooked through, drain the fat.  Salt and pepper to taste.
3. add diced tomatoes, then the tomato sauce and simmer for a while.
4. Add can sliced mushrooms.  Simmer some more.

MAKE-SHIFT GARLIC BREAD

Ingredients:
minced garlic
salt
melted butter
olive oil
italian seasoning

Instructions:
Add ingredients to make a paste/spread.  Don’t put too much seasoning.  You may want to cook them all together so the garlic is not raw.  Spread paste on whatever bread, then toast the bread.

So far I’ve replaced my all purpose cleaner with a mixture of water, vinegar and lemon juice. It works well enough on the countertops, stove, etc. Most sites online say to have about equal parts of water and vinegar. I tried it and the vinegar smell is too strong for me so I diluted it until I was satisfied.

Today, I decided to sortof mop my floors and wipe down some of my walls and doors. This is because the previous owners of our house had a big dog that left a smell especially around the stairway. Even after scrubbing what I could reach, there is still some smell at the bottom of the stairs. Probably didn’t reach all the cracks and crevices or the carpet needs more shampooing. Anyway, I added a little dish soap and rubbing alcohol to the mix. The dish soap because some people said so. lol. And the rubbing alcohol to disinfect and to maybe help the cleaning mixture to evaporate faster. I imagine I could still use this as my all purpose cleaner. Though the dog smell is not as bad anymore, I may try another round of scrubbing. Maybe even sprinkle baking soda on the carpet.

I have yet to use this in the bathroom. I’m still in the mindset that I need the “stronger” commercial cleaning products for the germiest part of the house…

I must say though. After the vinegar was diluted enough to my taste, I really prefer the smell of vinegar and lemon to other cleaners like lysol. Even after adding some rubbing alcohol, I didn’t feel like I was breathing in harmful fumes and the fumes didn’t linger long after I was done cleaning.