Proof of vaccination and antigen tests

Ontario now has a COVID-19 proof of vaccination certificate. I downloaded mine a couple of hours ago.

I was eligible to download it on Saturday, but didn't know about it until yesterday. I like that it clearly lists both my shots. I no longer need to flag my two receipts on my phone. This one works well and comes with a QR code, which I hope works.

I have been researching places to get my COVID-19 rapid antigen shot here. I have read that Shoppers Drug Mart doesn't issue a professional-looking receipt according to some unhappy customers. Although valid for travel to the States, I have heard some horror stores of negative test results being written by hand and don't look professional when presented at the airport.

After doing quite a bit of research, I have found three other drugstores that provide certificates for the same price as SDM. So, I'll give one of them a try next month and will report back with my findings.

I am excited about travelling again. 

Flu shot and interviews

Yesterday, I got a phone call to get my flu shot. The call came in while I was conducting an interview with my manager. I actually had to tell the guy from the drugstore that I needed to call him back and that it was a bad time for me to talk to him.

Yesterday was a crazy day. I have a bunch of documentation updates to make on top of having three interviews with candidates for one intern position. It means that I am likely conducting training in early January.

My arm that got the flu shot is sore right now. Other than that, it went smoothly.

Decongestant and noise

I went out first thing today to get cold medicine with decongestant. My local drug store opens at 9 am. I got there a few minutes early.

It'a amazing how well decongestant work. I also notice when it wears off. Ugh!

My staycation is going well. I am checked into the hotel. It got a bit noisy with families enjoying chatting in the hallway of my floor after I had checked in, in front of the elevator. Geez, that's convenient for me trying to roll my luggage past an audience. Luckily, I have earplugs.

Here's hoping that I can get some rest.

Diagnosing my mom's pink eye

I visited my parents after work on Friday night. My mom asked me to take a look at her left eye. It was all red where it should be whitish. It made me think that she has pink eye, which is also known as conjunctivitis.

I have had two bouts of it in my lifetime. The first was a good decade ago and it was the worst. An intern at my workplace had used the washroom and didn't wash her hands. I had washed my hands and then touched the same doorknob. I probably rubbed my eye and there it was. Pink eye.

After work that day, I went to get over-the-counter pink eye drops. A few days later, my pink eye had cleared up.

After letting my mom know what I think she had, I went to the local grocery store to get the same eye drops. I told my mom to give them a try.

On Saturday, I dropped by to see how she was doing. I could see some white in her left eye. She told me that she feels better, and that both my dad and she feel that she's getting better. Cool.

I'm not a doctor, but I am kind of glad that I have experienced pink eye to recognize it in my mom. Here's hoping that she's on the road to recovery.

Eye is doing well

On Friday, I had my eye injection. Even though I have been doing eye injections for over a couple of years, I am still not used to getting a needle in my eye.

I am thankful for each injection. I have recovered well from blood in my central vision, which was pretty scary when it happened. My ophthalmologist continues to tell me that I'm doing well. I like it.

Travel, caffeine pills, and savings

My guy has left for India for business. Although I always miss him when we are apart, it doesn't feel as bad this time. It's likely because we spent a decent amount of time a couple of weeks ago that we are good for the time being.

He has recently stopped drinking coffee. The problem is that he isn't a morning person and needs something to wake him up.

"Let's go to to the drugstore to get me some caffeine pills for my trip," he said to me.
"Sure," I said. "I have a rewards card if we go to Walgreens," I said.
"Sounds good. Let's go there," he said.

I am the one who is the researcher. I found the local Walgreens in Dallas on my maps phone app and he drove us over there.

Sure enough, caffeine pills were on sale with the rewards card. It was several hours after I had landed and did not have a chance to pull out the physical plastic reward card from my wallet in my computer bag. Instead, I had loaded it on my Google Pay app. It scanned nicely at the store and my guy got a decent discount.

"I'm so happy. I bought one bottle and got one free with your rewards card," he said gleefully.
"I love when you're happy about saving money. You are my Cheap Bastard," I noted.
"Yes, CB is happy to have you with me in many ways," he said.

He's sweet. We both love saving money. It's helpful and feels good.

Happy Boxing Day and hieroglyphics

It's officially Boxing Day in Canada. It basically is an extra day off for most Canadians.

There will be sales happening. I will try and avoid going to stores for deals. However, I do need to get a few things at the drug store. We'll see how crazy that store gets!

My guy got me the sweetest gift from Cairo.

"I got this little gift for you," he said, handing me a small box.
"Cool," I said, opening the cobalt blue box. "Hey, it's a pendant with hieroglyphics!"
"It's your name in them," he said.
"I love it. I'll need to get a chain for it," I said.

I need to find a silver chain for this wonderful jewellery piece to dangle from it.

Busy Tuesday - feeling drained already

My first day back from a long weekend was busy at work. I have two new students to train. I'm dealing with two visitors from South America. I will be training all week, including two folks remotely.

I have only been to work for one day and already feel drained.

The funny thing is that I was perfectly fine after work going to the drug store to look at chocolate chip cookies that were on sale. It's amazing how food energizes me. I bought a couple of packs to bring to work for colleagues.

Here's hoping that this week ends quickly. I need another weekend.

Seeing my guy all next week and noticing improvements in my vision

My guy works from home most of the time. He doesn't have a huge need to come into the office, unless he is there for training or has to talk to someone.

He let me know that he is in the office all next week. It's wonderful news, as it means that we will have lunch dates. We both miss them.

The other thing is that he is normally the one who is delivering training. This time around, he is attending a course.

My good news is about my right eye. If you have been reading along for a while, you will know that I had an eye stroke back in late March. On Wednesday, I went back to my ophthalmologist for my third eye injection.

To recap, my first injection containing a pretty powerful drug did a lot of good. A lot of the blood clotting in my central vision dissipated. My second injection continued the trend, although the improvement wasn't as drastic.

I did an eye test on Wednesday. The eye assistant was pleased that I was reading the eye charts well for both eyes.

I then talked to my ophthalmologist, who said that my right eye is "almost perfect." It's great news! After this injection, I will go back in a month to get another assessment. If all goes well, my monthly injections will be staggered over longer periods.

My second injection wasn't too pleasant. We both felt that there wasn't enough numbing done to my eye, so I felt more than I should have. This time around, his assistant put more numbing fluid in my eye and he made sure that there wasn't any stinging happening when he cleaned my eye with iodine. All went well with the needle.

It's definitely encouraging news about my sight. I am glad that I am recovering nicely. My guy never doubted that, which I love him for being so positive and supportive.

Dealing with incompetent insurance and drug representatives

I dread talking to both my insurance company and the drug company program these days. It seems that every time I have an upcoming appointment, I get annoying calls from them. I then get all worked up dealing with their stupidity.

Today, just before a meeting at work, my cell phone rang. It was from my insurance company. I let it go to voice mail. I then let it sit there for over three hours before I decided to listen to it.

It was from my assigned case manager at my insurance company. She was the one who gave me the option to either have my insurance company dispense the drug for my eye injection or go with my ophthalmologist's pharmacy. I elected to go with the latter when I was asked a couple of weeks ago. Instead, both my insurance and this drug program went with the former. Um, so why call me to ask what I want and then not respect what I want?

The case manager asked me to call her. She had more questions for me. Again, I wasn't thrilled.

I was driving over to Starbucks. It is frappuccino happy hour and I managed to get my order in before the 18:00 cutoff time. I decided to call this case manager.

She seemed friendly. She didn't annoy me as much as the first time I had spoken to her, simply because I asked her the question that has been on my mind for a while. Why wasn't my decision to go with my ophthalmologist's pharmacy honoured?

She advised that she had told this drug program what I wanted. For some reason, it assumes that everyone wants to go with the insurance company's pharmacy. I flat out said that I get stressed out dealing with all these people who cannot communicate with one another. I told her that these calls get me all worked up, which is contrary to what I need to do. She understood and apologized, saying that she would fix everything.

Finally, I asked her whether I was going to continue talking to these various insurance and drug program folks every time I go to my next appointment. She confirmed that I would not.

I find that when you have too many parties involved in such a situation and they aren't as bright as you'd expect them to be, no one communicates effectively. The patient suffers the most.

I do hope that I don't hear back from any of them anymore. For the first time, I actually felt good after speaking to one of these folks. Let's hope that it was my last.

Aggravating insurance question, farewell to a student, and hello to celebrating seven years at work

This week has been quite the mix. Frankly, I can't wait for this week to be over.

Late last week, I got a call from the drug program that I am on for my eye injections. This program will cover the remaining 10% of the drug cost that my insurance does not cover. That's good. I had to schedule a phone meeting with yet another person at my insurance company. It was on Monday.

We talked. She asked me whether I wanted my insurance to handle getting the drug from its own pharmacy or to go with my ophthalmologist's pharmacy. This question actually caused my stress level to go up. I asked what the difference was. Apparently, going with my own insurance's pharmacy would lower costs for my insurance.

I basically slammed this woman by saying that I shouldn't have to decide. All I am concerned about is showing up for my appointment next week and having the drug available for my eye injection. Can this insurance's pharmacy guarantee that it will deliver the drug that I need to my ophthalmologist's office on time? I told her that I should not need to be concerned about whether the drug will be there for me. I need to get better. My health is more important that dealing with such an odd issue that only benefits my insurance company, but could cause issues for me if someone drops the delivery ball.

I flat out said that I wanted to go with my ophthalmologist's pharmacy. It has worked fine for my first appointment. Why break it? Why add more unnecessary stress?

Friday is one of my co-op student's final day of her work term. She is a sweet person who gave me looseleaf green tea from China as a gift. She wasn't one of my better students, though. I think that she is young and needs to mature. She also needs to establish a better work ethic, which I hope will get better with time and experience.

On Friday, we have a farewell lunch for her. I also have three interviews to conduct that same day, as we are hiring new writers and can't keep up with the growth. It will be hectic, to say the least!

My guy and I talked about how long we have been with our employer. He started six months before I did. He hit his seven-year anniversary last month. Mine is in September. It's crazy that we have lasted this long and met at work. We are grateful.

Our next date is on Sunday. He has already requested my wearing a skirt. It's sweet that he asks ahead of time.

O is for odd customer service #AtoZchallenge

I am going to use customer service loosely as a term in this post.

On Friday, as I was driving home from work, I received a phone call on my cell phone. I picked up. I have bluetooth in my car, so the call went to my speakerphone.

This woman said that she was calling from an eye program. This program is a part of the drug used for my eye injection. The first injection is covered by this program.

I asked what the nature of the call was. She repeated herself by saying that I had my appointment on April 7th and that the injection was paid for by this program. Okay, I got that information the first time. It was obvious that she was reading from a script. I asked her specifically what she needed from me.

She said that she needed to ask me some questions. I asked her how long would they take. She said ten minutes. I told her that I needed to pull over and park. I was also starting to get annoyed with her constantly repeating April 7th (she is now at the fifth mention of my appointment date) and talking over me.

I was parked. I was getting so annoyed. I asked her point blank what information she needed from me. Clearly, my ophthalmologist gave her details about my date of birth. She was asking for my drug plan information. I fired back by asking whether she had it, as my ophthalmologist would have forwarded all information to her. She first disputed my claim, but then backtracked.

She then decided to call my insurance company and patch me in. I knew exactly what she was up to. She wasn't upfront with me.

I know that in Ontario (I don't know if it is Canada-wide), medical folks who need to know what coverage patients have on their medical insurance for whatever category cannot get this information directly from the insurance company. Patients need to either call and relay the information to the medical folks who need to know, or in my case, this woman decided to have me on the line, which would allow her to get the information that she needed by calling my insurance company.

She didn't get my consent. She just called. My drug plan covers 90% of the cost of all injections. I could have told her that.

We disconnected with the woman from my insurance company. This woman proceeded to explain that, should I get approved, this program would cover the remaining 10% of the cost, provided that the 10% does not go over $500 for each injection.

I basically let her have it. I gave her this feedback:

• Right off the bat, you should let me know that this program would pick up the cost of my injections, depending on my drug plan and my eligibility in this program that is sponsored by the drug used for my injections.
• You should point out that you need to know whether my drug plan would cover this drug. You should ask whether it is okay for both of us to call my insurance company to figure out what percentage is covered.
• You should then let me know that a decision needs to be made as to whether the remaining 10% will be covered by the program. That decision should take another week or two.
• When you call me, you do not need to repeat April 7th a grand total of seven times during the call. I am fully aware that I had an appointment with my ophthalmologist on Friday, April 7, 2017. I do not need it repeated seven times. Once is good enough, especially when this call is being recorded. Repeating this date so many times does not add value to our conversation. Perhaps your demographic is geared towards older folks, but it is patronizing and is not helping me relax when you won't tell me what information you need from me or exactly why you are contacting me right off the bat.

I flat out told her that I am going through enough stress that I don't need some woman to beat around the bush. Get to the point, so that I can get on with my life and you can get the information you need to continue processing my coverage.

This call, which would have taken ten minutes, ended up being 25 minutes. I vented. I told her that no patient should deal with such customer service. I am going through enough. I don't need added frustration from a woman who is reading from a script. 

I even told her to stop talking over me. This call is being recorded? Good. Let's hope that someone is monitoring it and she actually does indeed provide my feedback to her supervisor. I have worked in a call centre in my past. Often, it falls by the wayside.

She assured me that she would forward my feedback to her supervisor and apologized again. Well, thanks for delaying my drive home, making my blood pressure boil, and wasting so much time when all of this aggravation could have been avoided.

Frankly, I am at this stage where I don't care much about the 10% cost. Being stressed out isn't worth this company paying for it. I am perfectly fine with not dealing with the stress and paying for the 10%. I should be covered, but we'll see what would cause me not to be accepted in this program. My tearing a strip off her? If that happens, I'll be back again to file more grievances, even though I should focus on my health and not dealing with annoying small potatoes like this woman.

My favourite line was this woman repeating her name at the end. I told her that I already got it when she first introduced herself on the phone and when she did the same to the woman at my insurance company. Frankly, I want to forget your first name. I don't want to deal with you after this ordeal. Let's hope that I do not need to call and speak to you again. Ever.

I stands for injections #AtoZchallenge

My blog post's title sound eerie and perhaps negative, but I don't feel this way. It's all good.

On Friday, I went to see my ophthalmologist. The clinic looks like a place where you would go select your frames for a spiffy pair of eyeglasses. It's in a fairly modern, new building. I actually had to ask if I had the correct unit number, for it wasn't displayed at the front.

The receptionist wasn't exactly the most friendly person to deal with. Everything coming out of her mouth felt like a rapid interrogation:

• May I help you?
• Can I get your health card?
• Can you confirm your birthdate?
• What's your family doctor's name? Do you know her first name? Address?

After she had all the answers that she needed, I sat in the waiting area. There must have been thirty people sitting there at 10:00 am. Naturally, you can't get too comfortable.

Moments later, you hear one technician call out your name. The problem is that you don't know which room the woman is in. For some reason, she chooses to sit in the room and yell out names. So, I followed the voice and had some scans done on both eyes.

I went back into the waiting room. Another technician yelled out my name. This time, if felt like a maze. I had to ask where she was. I followed her voice again. It's an odd setup.

I had more vision tests done. My eyes were dilated. I am getting used to this procedure where everything close up ends up being fuzzy.

During my second hour there, I got to meet my ophthalmologist. He has a calm tone to his voice. I felt reassured and in good hands.

He took a look at my eyes. He confirmed what my optometrist has concluded the other week. This time, I got a better diagnosis and a thorough explanation. I had a stroke in my right eye, which caused a vessel to explode. The blood is blocking my central vision. It explains why some of my vision is blurred.

He recommended injecting a drug in my eye, which will provide oxygen and nutrients. The idea is to break the blood clot and see how much of my vision can be restored. The uncertainty doesn't shock me. My mom had a serious stroke that has left her right side of her body rather weak. However, she has made good progress under the circumstances.

I realize that making a full recovery is difficult. However, if I can get most of my vision back in my right eye, I'll be happy. 

So, I have six injections with this drug. I had the first one on Friday. I am thankful that I have a decent drug plan. Otherwise, I would have to pay $2000 for all six injections out of my own pocket.

I go monthly for each injection. We'll see how things go.

My manager pinged me on our instant messaging application a few hours after my appointment. He told me of some news that made me happy. I will save that for a future blog post.

He asked me about my appointment, so I told him. He told me never to get injections in my eye. My mood changed. I could feel some stress moving in.

My ophthalmologist advised that injections are safe. I risk infection, but the odds are slim. As long as I don't rub my right eye or have water seep into it during the first 24 hours, I'm good. I did get a bottle of sterile artificial tears, which made a world of difference.

In my case, using drops containing medicine in my eye won't get down to the blood clot. My manager is a worry wart. He has an eye condition and is adamant to not have anyone pry into his eye. In his case, he has a pupil that will not close. He simply puts prescription eye drops in his affected eye.

I frankly think that our eye problems aren't similar. He wants a face-to-face discussion about my eye situation. I really don't.

I changed the topic and said that I need my workload reduced. He tried to be jokey, but it turned out worse. He first suggested to get Portuguese egg tarts, which I love. However, he wasn't willing to buy any. Instead, he suggested that I do and that he would eat them. Again, I didn't find it funny.

I basically told him that our instant messaging tool causes me stress. I get distracted when folks want information from me immediately. I told him for a long time that I have been thinking about not logging on to it. My mentioning it on Friday wasn't a first. 

I told him that his remark about never having injections doesn't make me feel good, as I have already had one. He apologized. I also said that I was logging off the instant messaging application. We were done.

I have no regrets. My health is more important than hearing nonsense that was making my blood boil. Again, I need to reduce my stress and this online conversation did not help.

My ophthalmologist has asked that I see my family doctor. So, I have an appointment on Tuesday. I need to talk to her about whether I need to be on high blood pressure medication or if there are techniques that I can employ to destress. 

I am trying meditation. I exercise daily. I need something else.