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7415. thoughtful - 10/13/2008 10:38:50 PM mother went for an mri fearing her lung cancer had spread to her bones....good news was she's fine...only signs of arthritis. Phew! Til the next test. 7416. arkymalarky - 10/13/2008 11:33:53 PM Wow, that is good news! 7417. judithathome - 10/13/2008 11:53:17 PM Well, just as I relaxed, I get another call from the doctor and they have decided not to wait 6 weeks and they're sending me to another radiology place next week. Grrrr.... 7418. thoughtful - 10/14/2008 2:36:11 PM better to know sooner rather than later...fingers crossed for you. 7419. wonkers2 - 10/25/2008 6:14:14 PM Any thoughts on the best health insurance to supplement Medicare. My former employer is canceling my Blue Cross-Blue Shield policy, my Medco drug coverage, my Delta Dental policy and my eye and hearing care coverage effective January 1. I've decided not to continue any hearing, eye or dental coverage and just pay my own bills. But I'm trying to figure out whether prescription drug coverage is worth the cost and what to do about supplemental hospital-medical coverage. I'm told that Michigan BC-BS has applied for a 100% rate increase which will make the premiums quite high. Two alternatives recommended by an outfit that's supposedly helping us choose coverage are Mutual of Omaha and AARP's United Health Care. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
[One factor on prescription drug coverage--if I don't sign up for it now, I can enroll later, but the price goes up 1% per month for each month.] after January 1, 2009. 7420. judithathome - 10/25/2008 6:37:15 PM A group of ladies I know have been very satisfied with Secure Horizons as their secondary.
I don't have a personl offering because we are using the retired military insurance, TriCare For Life. Thus far, it has been smooth sailing... 7421. wonkers2 - 10/25/2008 7:18:01 PM TNX, Judity. 7422. thoughtful - 10/26/2008 5:58:38 PM I always worry with any plan managed by united health care as they seem to be masters at avoiding paying for anything. My mother went through all kinds of hell with them just when they were managing her health insurance, including getting the insurance sponsors on the phone with her and united health and it still taking months and months before she received payment.
They also managed my MILs secondary insurance and I had issues with them there too.
But then again, these days, I suppose you can have issues with any firm.
What you want to make sure you do is go with the big guys tho. A neighbor of friend of mine went with a smaller firm, was in the middle of chemo treatments when the firm went belly up and he was responsible for literally tens of thousands of dollars worth of treatment. Yikes! 7423. wonkers2 - 10/26/2008 6:42:51 PM I'm not a fan of United Health Care either. As I recall their CEO narrowly escaped the slammer a couple of years ago for plundering the company. 7424. thoughtful - 11/3/2008 7:38:24 PM Researchers are finding genes that seem to be related to lung cancer. Considering both my father and mother had it, I've got to be extra diligent. It is the leading cancer killer in men and the 2nd cancer killer in women.
Amazing that so little seems to be known or done about it.... 7425. anomie - 11/4/2008 1:51:07 AM Does it tend to hit people late in life? Maybe that's why. 7426. thoughtful - 11/4/2008 6:12:58 PM Average age of onset is 60, though my SIL died from it at 39.
I think the problem is people assume it's from smoking, blame the victim and figure if they don't smoke, they're safe. But mother was not a smoker but exposed to 2nd hand smoke all her life.
Asbestos, radon, some pollution can also play a role in getting the disease.
There also seems to be an estrogen connection. They are finding the chemo that works well on breast cancer that blocks estrogen also helps with lung cancer. 7427. thoughtful - 11/4/2008 6:15:38 PM Studies comparing rates of lung cancer among american men vs. japanese men (who have higher rates of smoking but lower incidence of lung cancer) suggest there may be something in the cigarettes themselves or a role for genetic predisposition. I don't know if they've studied the incidence of say Japanese american men... 7428. judithathome - 11/12/2008 6:07:08 PM I heard a study about tart cherries reducing joint pain and I'm always up for being a lab rat so I ordered some this morning. I will let everyone know if I see results!
It seems cheaper to take it in concentrated form rather than try to eat...and pay for!...enough cherries to get the same amount as found in the fruit or the juice.
I'd heard about this before but this doctor I listened to last night had done an actual trial on his patients (with the soft gels versus the whole fruit) and he said he felt the results were good enough to recommend it to people as an alternative to pain meds.
Tart cherry juice is not only hard to find and expensive but it's loaded with carbs and I don't want to ruin my modified low carb diet by adding so many carbs wach day so I went for the pills.
Bt the way, 41 pounds down and still going...slow and steady wins the new pair of skinny jeans! 7429. thoughtful - 11/12/2008 6:38:18 PM Excellent news on the weight loss and good luck with the cherries.
For knee pain, I understand leeches work wonders...if you can get past the fact they're leeches! Ugh! 7430. judithathome - 11/12/2008 8:41:39 PM My knees are about the only thing not hurting right now, thankfully. 7431. thoughtful - 11/12/2008 9:26:52 PM do you take flax seed oil? 7432. judithathome - 11/12/2008 10:34:42 PM Yes....and glucosimine. 7433. thoughtful - 11/13/2008 12:07:55 AM that's all to the good. I found flax seed oil really took away my joint pain and stiffness... 7434. robertjayb - 11/13/2008 1:31:34 AM My annual visit to the cardiologist revealed things ticking along smoothly thirteen years after the bypass operation. The PA touted me strongly on fish oil. He practically guaranteed a boost in HDL, the 'good' cholesterol. I've been taking niaspan, which I dread because at least once a week it results in a flushing/itching episode which is really unpleasant.
So I'm adding fish oil capsules to my bag of meds. At least they are cheap.
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