Random 5 for May 12 2024 – Weather, contractors, landscape, lunch, dry eye

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It’s another rainy day – I’m not complaining. Yesterday was nice and we did a lot of outdoor work. Today will be a day of rest. I’m good with that. If an anthropologist looked at my laundry it would look like I was at a tropical resort and the Yukon in the same week. Erratic weather (and a body sensitive to temperature) does that. Still not complaining. We haven’t had the hurricanes and damage that people living further south of us have had. Happy Mother’s Day to Mother Nature! She’s one tough mama!

I forgot! – On Thursday the house painter arrived with a pressure washer. All three houses in our unit are getting painted this year. He parked in our driveway for most of the day. I was parked in. I wasn’t going anywhere but knowing that it would be a hassle to get out gave me claustrophobia. He’s a nice guy but the process. Yikes! The pressure washer makes a lot of noise, and it was going on all day. I forgot how annoying it is to have contractors on site. Not looking forward to the bathroom work. That will be six weeks’ worth of annoying. Note to self: Double mochas every day!

Stuff I didn’t think of – We have mature landscaping around our house. (Mature means that it touches the house.) The painter had to cut some back not only to paint the house but to get ladders in. Double Yikes! He’s a painter, not a landscape artist. I should have had a service gently prune. (Some of it is too tall for me to trim.) He cut off the buds on the oakleaf hydrangeas and hacked the side of a very tall viburnum. Sigh. They will grow back.

Another fall! – Not me this time. This week the women in my extended family got together for lunch. We do this a few times a year to catch up. My sister-in-law looks forward to this, but she took a fall and was sidelined. Other than spending way too much time at the emergency center and having a badly swollen leg, she’s fine. She’s 94 and seems to spring back no matter what life throws her.

Source: divinecaroline

Something new – I received a new prescription drug for dry eye this week. It’s new on the market in the US but has been available over the counter in Europe for some time. It costs $20 overseas and over $600 here. (Yes you can do a double take on that! A bottle lasts a month.) The drug lobby has shut down the ability to get mail orders from overseas. My eye doc’s practice is disease specific. They don’t do routine eye exams but specialize in eye diseases. As such, they are often involved in clinical trials and freebies. It takes a while before Medicare approves new drugs, so they are not covered (or available at a reasonable cost) for a few years. Somehow my doc got an approval for an exception. I received the first bottle free. I’m waiting to find out what “my share” of the cost will be going forward. It’s not a “life or death” medication. It’s something that helps retain tears so if it is outrageous, I won’t get it at this time. Our whole process of prescription drugs is nuts.

So how was your week?

62 thoughts on “Random 5 for May 12 2024 – Weather, contractors, landscape, lunch, dry eye”

  1. I have been sitting in an empty house. I do have a recliner for me and a love seat for the big dogs. The cat goes anywhere she wants and the tiny dog has to be on my lap indoors or out.
    trying desperately to find an apartment, no transportation to go take a look! Van died! Most places seem to have September 1 dates for move in. I simply can’t wait that long. And yes this is all about me! No one else to talk to.
    I wanted pizza and found out my daughter locked me out of my bank account. How is that for love?

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  2. Power washers are crazy noisy, and I’m so sorry to hear the painter hacked your trees and bushes! You definitely deserve double mochas every time there is a contractor involved in your day.
    Hope the medication is helpful and that it isn’t too crazy expensive! You are right – medication costs are just ridiculous.

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  3. You’ll definitely want double mochas once the remodel happens. Congrats on your new eyedrops. I hope they work for you and that you can get them at a reasonable price. I started Xiidra a few weeks ago, the price is right but the product is meh.

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    • I have used Restassis, Xiidra, Cequa and now going back to Xiidra and to be honest, I can never tell a difference. Maybe the eye doc sees something I can’t feel. Dreading reno. Painters are working on the outside. They are a nice crew but the intrusion is huge and they are not in the house!

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  5. 94??? WOW!!! Falling is becoming too common. I’m glad that she’s okay.

    Our weather’s been screwy too. I just came in with a winter Barbour jacket and a cap. The heat’s back on.

    Love the cats in your intro. That wink. I know it’s not about flirting since he came that way, I remember, but it’s cute just the same.

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  6. Here’s hoping the kitties provided you with a lovely Mother’s Day (i.e. no hairballs or other ailments). Oh gosh, $600? Yikes. Yeah the drug lobby is an evil cartel as far as I’m concerned. While I’m not on any medications (knock on wood)…yet…it took a while for approval for a medication for my Dad’s new macular degeneration injections. The old one wasn’t helping but it wasn’t easy getting the one the insurance will cover. And it’s not the latest but one that’s been around for a couple of decades. The newest one likely won’t be available for him for years. Sigh. Hope the ‘landscaping’ doesn’t wreck the look of your beautiful yard.

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  7. I am glad your SIL bounced back. Falling is scary. Painters don’t seem to worry much about what they do to bushes or the downspouts they squash. Having work to fix up things causes a domino effect of other kinds of repairs. I had my cataracts removed on two seperate days, the first one on May 2 and the second one on May 9. It seems like it has helped my dry eye syndrome. Fingers crossed. I hope you are able to get the drug for your eyes and it works!

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    • I had my cataracts taken out about 20 years ago and they said it would worsen the dry eye but every one is different. Fingers crossed for you!

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  8. Your sister-in-law amazes me with her resilience. Yikes on the eye drops. My wife is seeing an eye specialist, and he’s changed her drops a few times in an attempt to find one that will work (the last one might be the charm!). I hold my breath each time, hoping it’s not something horribly expensive. So far it hasn’t been. They pressure washed our condos in advance of painting also — good lord you’re not wrong about the noise! – Marty

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  9. Yikes! to the $600. I use Restasis and it works nicely–so far. A lot of the drug companies offer discounts/free for those who qualify. Which I didn’t for one I used for a while, even at 70+ years. Sigh. Still I hope it works, Kate.

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    • I’ve used Cequa (an updated version of Restassis) but I’m moving to Xiidra. I used that before and for me it has less sting. It’s hard to qualify for anything. I am fortunate that Xiidra has been around for a while and it’s an approved Medicare drug. Restassis has a generic so it is cheaper than Xiidra but the cost isn’t too outrageous. I keep telling myself we are fortunate to have access.

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  11. I feel the same way about the weather – we have had a weird Spring so far, but not severe for me. SW Michigan had four devastating tornadoes Tuesday, just 100-125 miles from me. I just deal with it and complain when one day it is too hot; the next day it is 25 degrees cooler/colder. And the wind is unrelenting … every day. Today I walked six miles and when I looked at the wind speed before I left, it was gusting to 7 … no way was it 7 after I drove 30 miles to a big park. It was more like 25 and worse on the water.

    That’s a lot for eye drops. My mom was on some eye drops to keep her low angle glaucoma under control. They were costly and that was 15-20 years ago. She would get samples which helped, but they were very small samples.

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    • There is a drug for IBS that may work for me. It’s been out for maybe 5 years but still isn’t covered under Medicare. The cost is so outrageous I couldn’t consider it. IBS isn’t a life or death illness. My heart goes out to those folks who need life saving meds that are priced out of their range. The weather? Yikes! Back in sweats, long pants and wool socks. It may warm up this week but it will be rainy. Of course it will, I have house painters waiting! 🙂

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      • Well, I hope all drug costs can come down – I don’t know how people can afford it. My mom’s eye drops were ridiculously high as was the cream for her legs to keep the cellulitis flare-ups at bay. We have had strange weather, like 20-25 degree fluctuations day to day and it’s rare when you get a totally rain-free day. We have rain off and on daily for the next week – tomorrow looks promising as of 8:12 p.m. Always raining when the painters or contractors come in. I had an A/C tech for a routine inspection last Thursday. It was torrential rain the entire 90 minutes she was here. She did her check-up in a rain suit and a golf umbrella. And, I had ordered supplies – they got wet as well.

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            • Neither have our forecasters. The painters didn’t come yesterday (Wednesday) because the prediction was for rain. It never rained so they lost a day. He told me outside jobs are the worst for planning.

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              • It’s very frustrating. I told myself the last time I decided to sleep in as they called for torrential rain and storms and I got up to a sunny, beautiful day, I would no longer take their weather reports as gospel.

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  12. I wish something could be done to make all prescriptions affordable. My niece works for the pet part of Merck. I am glad she makes a lot of money, but it also enrages me to see how all this money is spent for travel and to bring food and gifts to vets to get them to want to buy. I know it is even worse with people meds.

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  13. I’m never quite sure whether to hope those expensive drugs work or hope that they don’t. I’m afraid they’ll be the best thing ever and then I’ll have no way to afford it. I wish you well, either way.

    Also, good luck on the house washing and painting. It seems to me that the painter could have warned you all to get your bushes and trees pruned. But you’re right, they’ll grow back.

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    • I knew the shrubs touched the house. I thought he would pull them back with ropes. I’ve seen that done. I should have been more on top of it. He told me he’d have to trim them. I just didn’t think he’d be so severe.

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  14. At least you got the first bottle free. Hope you find out your share of the cost isn’t too much. That’s a terrible price. Sorry to hear the painter did that to your plants. Not considerate at all. We went from cool weather to suddenly hot summer temps. After a few days of melting, I could do with a cool down lol.

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  15. I agree that the painter has absolutely no right to make landscaping decisions on his very own. Minimum courtesy would be to ask each homeowner what were important plants and apologize for any that he caused trauma to.

    I agree that the cost of some medication is outrageous. I was taking a tier 3 drive last year and I had a co-pay of $10.35 for a 90 day supply. As of January 1, they raised tier 3 to 20% of the total cost of the drug and a 30 day supply will cost me $111.78. The maker has a patient assistance program when someone cannot afford their medicines, so I have applied for that and bought a 30 day supply to get me through until I hear back from them.

    Mother Nature has been wacky so far this year! There were two days last week I turned on a portable fan just to get some air moving because it was slightly warm. Right now I am sitting with a fleece blanket thrown over me from my ankles to my waist to fight off a chill.

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    • This drug isn’t approved so it’s not on a tier yet. Mother Nature has been wacky. We’ve had both the heat and a/c on this week. Now I’m back in my winter sweatshirt, long pants and wool socks! Crazy.

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  16. When I started reading about your new dry eye drops, I thought, great. My grandson will be happy. Then, reading a little rather, I saw the price. It may not be a “life or death” medication, but he really really hates his dry eyes. Of course, he’s young enough not to have experienced anything worse.

    Your sister-in-law is amazing.

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    • If he has standard (non-government) insurance, he may get it at a better price. Medicare does not get good pricing and we aren’t eligible for the special deals that the manufacturers have. That’s why I was so surprised that I was approved.

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  17. Your SIL is amazing . . . she wobbles but she bounces right back!

    Our house has been upside down due to a new washer/dryer requiring a redo of all the pantry shelving, etc., etc., etc. (because one thing always leads to another).

    Also, I’m having dizzy spells again ~ the “ball bearings” in my ears are not stable causing disequilibrium and discombobulation as they roll around the empty corridors of my mind. No biking until they settle back down.

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    • We had that when we bought a stacked unit but we wanted to revamp the very small laundry room to make it more efficient. In the end it was wonderful and it was a very short job. I didn’t know we had ball bearings in our ears. Hopes yours stops rolling around in there soon.

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  18. Prescription drug costs are outrageous and big pharma should be ashamed as they deposit their profits. I take two eye drops for glaucoma and they are each over $700 for 90 days. I pay a healthy copay, and the pharmacist always says ‘are you aware of the copay on this.’ Yes, I am because I’ve been using it for about ten years and the price continues to go up. I’ll stop there and wish you a quiet paint job and a really fast contractor.

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  19. Well, my week was pretty good actually. My bathroom reno was finished early this week (within 10 days) and that has NEVER happened to me. I will be blogging about it. Let me just say that it helps when the people I contracted to do the drywall and the tiling are neighbours, and my tub came in early and my plumber had lots of openings in his schedule. I think I need to buy lottery tickets before my luck runs out!!!!

    Deb

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  20. We’re not looking forward to many weeks of contractors working on renovating the kitchen either, or clearing the kitchen which we need to start doing soon!! Or being without a kitchen for a month. Sigh. Butit will be worth it in the end just as it was worth living without a shower for a month so we have a spiffy and ever so useful new bathroom and walk in shower. Keep reminding me of that when I start complaining.

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  21. We have Twilight Zone weather so far this Spring. Icy cold one day, hot and humid the next and in between a lot of rain. Everything has grown twice its’ normal size (except my 28 lb. cat thank heavens) – plants and trees and especially WEEDS. Sorry your plants were over-trimmed by the painter but yep – they only have eyes for paint not how to trim. Will be nice to have that project finished though won’t it! Sorry about the SIL fall – thank heavens at her age she can bounce back which I can only hope is the case for me when I’m in my 90s. Have a great Mom’s Day!

    Hugs, Pam

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  22. Prescription prices are insane here. I’m grateful I don’t need anything special…yet. Pressure washers are SO LOUD. The elementary school had one going last weekend. It was up the hill, 1.25 miles away. We could still hear it.

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    • This is my first experience with pressure washers. On the one hand I was impressed. He cleaned a brick retaining wall that was full of black stuff (the mortar is almost white) but the noise. Yikes! I sure hope he and his crew wore ear protection.

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        • I’m sure they do. The FDA just approved it last year so it’s new. Sometimes it takes a year or two until it gets assigned a tier but it’s worth checking out. If he travels to Canada he can get it there for $20.

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