Good Morning Fellow Bloggers,
I went to our new after hours clinic yesterday after work as I was having yet another asthma attack and had been coughing and wheezing for 4 days. I couldn't get in to see my regular doctor so his office suggested I go there or back to the E.R. My E..R. co-pay is $100.00 and usually a very long wait. I was pleased with the Alpha Care Center. As soon as the nurse walked past and seen me trying to speak to the receptionist she said "Having trouble breathing?". I shook my head yes and and suddenly she was standing next to me and took my arm and said come with me. Without even being checked in she checked my oxygen saturation (low) and my pulse (high). That little thingy they put on your finger to check these stats is pretty neat. I was able to get the coughing under control enough to let her know I have Asthma and had been seen this would be the fourth month in a row. She came back with a cute little nebulizer machine and hooked me up with a breathing treatment. She told me I'd spend the next 10 minutes just relaxing and breathing and then we'd see to the paperwork. I gave her my I.D. and Insurance card and she was pleased that she could give that to the receptionist. I actually heard the nurse apologize to her for snatching me away. 10 minutes later she checked in with me and it wasn't empty yet. It took almost 15 minutes for me to suck down the medication. It did help some but not as much as usual. It helped me to speak easier and I was able to go over meds with her that had been given to treat me the last times and of course weight/height etc. for the doctor. They let me stay in that little room and brought me a clip board to fill out all of the forms. That took about 20 minutes as I was shaking and I had to call my husband because I could not find my complete med list in my purse. Of course I remembered where it was later. Shortly after that the Doctor came in and checked me over. She may have hit on a good factor. I used to be on Advair and when my insurance stopped covering it I quit using it. My doctor knows this of course and why. This doctor said she felt I was a definite candidate to be on it especially in the spring. I was hurting so bad I told her I did not care what it cost, we'd manage it. I ended up leaving the clinic with 5 prescriptions. They will be sending a report to my regular doctor which is good as I will be seeing him on the 27th for something else and he'll be able to check my lungs then to see how I am doing. I am on prednisone again so needless to say I did not get much sleep last night. It wires me out. The stuff works for me though. It's just that the bronchitis keeps coming back. This doctor thinks the Advair will prevent that. Let's all pray it does as this is getting expensive and can't be good for my lungs.
I had two nice surprises though. The clinic fee was the same co-pay as a doctors visit which for me is $25.00 and last month my E.R. visit was a $100.00 co-pay . Now that I know about the clinic and where it is I will definitely use it for after hour not wuit emergency but just can't wait visits. Oh, and the Advair was covered so it only cost me $30.00 compared to $98.00 the last time I got it when they said the insurance denied it. So two nice surprises!
I made a wordle about my bronchial asthma attack. Click the small picture above to be taken to a larger view of this wordle. Wordle is fun to play with when you can't sleep at night. I found out about it from Anne Gaal of Gaal Creative. It's great for inspiration too when you want to figure out a desgn element/placement for a piece of art or a card.
It's raining here so I think I'll go start a crockpot stew. Sounds good to me...
Be Happy, Be HEALTHY, Be You,
Tess
