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Guest, Definitely not the same aunt. Different side of the family. I was amazed at my aunt. She flew from Dallas to Maine with 2 changes along the way in Atlanta and Philadelphia. She had no problems. Her hearing, sight and mind are perfect. Her mobility is good. My brother and I are happy to have her stay with us until her children get new housing arrangements made for themselves and for her. They left shelters this am and are headed to Dallas to look for housing. They don't want to stay near the coast.
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I finished-finished the receipts. Finished-finished means I wrote the letter that will hopefully answer most questions before they are asked, and streamline the reimbursement process. I was heading out to take them in and had to verify the address, and retiring-Friday Trust Officer said to bring them to him tomorrow.

I finally have my doctor's appointment tomorrow for nose and throat stuff, though, and they are notoriously extremely slow and could take all day to see me.

I've decided that I'll go to doc appt in the morning, and if I'm not seen by 1.5 hours after my appointment time, I'm leaving and will take the receipts to Trust Officer.

I have some nervous feelings about handing them over because I wrote a letter that includes some not favorable facts about Trust Officer's handling of my grandmother's case. I didn't recount that stuff just for fun. It plays into WHY I spent what I did, WHY it seemed necessary to me at the time.

The whole thing just sucks. I cannot wait until it's all over. Soon, very soon.
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You know what... I'm glad I have another night to sleep on this letter I wrote. I may end up revising it some. I don't want to be antagonistic. It's over and it's done, there's no undoing things now. I want to move on, but I want the Trust to be in a position where any logical employee can read this letter and then look through the receipts and say -- give this lady her money.

Sigh. :-) It will all be ok. I'm just a bit worked up over it.
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Just got a text from my mom, who took my dad to appointment at VA today. He has more skin cancer on his nose. Hopefully it's just a simple outpatient procedure to remove it. He already had a bad tumor in that area and they had to cut away his upper lip and all of his nose and do facial reconstruction. I don't know if he has any extra skin left if they have to cut more. :-(
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Oh Lordie, Ali

Can't imagine how painful that was
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Ali, my mother had basal cell carcinoma on her nose and had radiation treatments. The bad thing about those were there were 12 treatments and she had to be bolted down so she didn't move. The good thing was there was little tissue damage and little scarring. I don't know if the VA does radiation for skin cancers. It's pretty simple if someone doesn't fear being bolted onto a table. (I'm afraid I'd have to take a heavy dose of sedative first or I'd panic.)
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Ali, Sorry to hear about your Dad. My Mom had numerous basal cell carcinomas on her face. She also had malignant melanoma. There are more treatment options than ever. I hope things go well for him.

I always write letters, get them ready to mail and then decide that I need to delete stuff or add something and rewrite.
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Jessie, they're going to cut it away, I know that much. It's through dermatology department at the Indianapolis VA facility. They know he had a previous facial tumor, so they must think this surgery on 9/15 won't be too invasive. My dad's a big baby when it comes to anything medical. I've never seen someone who's so tender and doesn't like any procedure and has no tolerance for pain. I don't know what kind of skin cancer it is. My mom asked me what the previous kind was, but I didn't know that info, either.

Upset, it's good to have some time to get away from the emotion of what I had to remember about and write about in the letter, and hopefully in the morning it will be a matter of condensing to "just the facts" and I'll feel better about it.  I don't want to be emotional about it at all.  I do want to make my case for a quick and painless reimbursement.  
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Ali, I'm sure you'll set the right tone. I hope the reimbursement is quick and painless. It would be terrible if you had to go back over a bad chapter that you want to move past. Good luck at getting it settled quickly.
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Texas is insane right now. Gas has jumped 70 cents a gallon here in North Texas when you can find it and every station for 20 miles around me is now out of gas. I guess I could post on whine, but I know you guys understand. Now we have to cancel our trip to see my son at college. And the in-laws are calling wanting my husband to find gas for FIL's car so he can visit MIL daily...
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Guest, am I wrong, I thought in these types of emergency situations, raising prices or price gouging was illegal??
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It's because of the refineries shutting down and is universal, gas here in Ontario Canada has jumped 10 to 15 cents/litre yesterday with prices predicted to continue to rise.
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It is illegal - but you have to find someone to prosecute. And I literally watched a fistfight at a pump because people pulled up to same pump from different directions - one from line to go to pump and the other zoomed in from opposite direction...ugly. My boss just paid $4.49 per gallon for gas that was $2.39 yesterday. One of the line drivers at my husband's work says that stations are posting "OUT" all along I-35 from Dallas to San Antonio and one of his friends was paying about $8 per gallon US in Houston coming up I-45...crazy.
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That is so wrong. Ours went up .10 a gallon. But our gas is always higher than anywhere in US - especially during tourist season.
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I hope this is consoling - I just worked out that we routinely pay around about $5.50, and it's been much worse than that. Fingers crossed your prices will return to normal once everything's back under control, and it won't take too long.

Four feet of rain like that! I've been watching the coverage in disbelief.
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I'd report to news media. That may cause them to stop it.
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It has been - but it's widespread and so far no actions...:(
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Refining capacity is nilly right now which means crude goes down and gasoline goes up. Feds need to release reserves. That usually eases some of the panic and shortages.

I remember during Sandy, Hess was the only station around with generators to run their pumps. Gas is up 20 cents a gallon here in NYC.
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CM, wow that's worse than no. Maine. We're always over $4.00 and sometimes close to$5.00.
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Oh wow, CM and Upset!! We are $2.70 last I saw, it may be more now since Harvey.
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Part of the problem is that gasoline is being diverted (when available) from the normal transports for the rest of Texas back down to the coast for clean up and emergency operations. The rest of the country has not felt the lag in shipments....yet. The chemical plant problems this morning have first responders tied up in other areas; and the reservoirs are over-topping. And the shelters set up across the state outside Corpus and Houston are not full -- not because we don't have need but because the folks had trouble getting out. Areas that didn't flood in the storm are overwhelming now with the releases from the reservoirs from US Army Corp of Engineers. Even some of the big fancy houses in River Oaks in Houston are under.
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Big whine: I just came home from my doctor's appointment. I went there and they have a full waiting room and I know from past experience that it's going to be hours until I'm seen. And then, even when I am seen, I know from past experience that it's unlikely they'll be able to suggest anything to help me today.  I made the appointment expecting that my primary doc will refer me to an allergist and/or ENT doc.  It's a long shot, but I feel like I should keep trying to fix my chronic issues.  

I will probably make another appointment... but today I just do not have the patience to wait hours because I'm feeling extra poorly today.

I have been getting bad sleep all this week, not sure exactly why, but I've woken up a couple of nights with my throat being very irritated. Last night was the worst. I think the problem is that, as it's become cooler outside, I close the windows this week when I sleep. That seems to be directly related to my sore throats -- sleeping in this house with windows closed or A/C on.

The sore throat could be exacerbated by the sinus drip I have going on right now. The whole thing is just making me miserable. I made a good breakfast earlier and I'm having tea, trying to turn things around today. I know I have so much to do, and I want to do it, but I'm fighting this chronic sick. It's misery making. I'm going to rest a couple of hours and see if I can get myself together to go to Trust Officer.  Just so frustrated with this up and down with sleep and how I feel. :-( 

And thing is, it ALL could very well be that I have a chronic allergic reaction to this house due to mold. I'm moving out in a month. Can't I just make it another month after all this time? And I will make it, of course, I just hate this sick and miserable and tired feeling I have right now.

Thanks for letting me whine. This is NOT how I wanted today to go.
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Last night, I woke up at 2:30am or so, and my throat is so irritated. I'm swallowing, swallowing, trying to soothe it. I drink some water. I cough and cough. It's just a bad chronic irritation and I don't know how to make it better. The worst is that it robs my sleep at night. Just so mad about it...
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Wow. I didn't notice any change in gas prices here in my neighborhood. They always fluctuate, but it's about 2.40 usd for a gallon of regular here currently. It's always a good bit higher in the city. That's... really unfortunate about the gas shortages. I haven't seen something like that in a long time.
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Have you tried an air purifier, Ali?
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quick check in before we check out

Unbelievable

The insurance co now says they have found duplicates on the spread sheets. There were no duplicates in what we submitted, but they keep using the mess the adjuster made of our SOLs. We asked for details of the duplicates and have had no answer nor another offer. Our ante is going up!

Going to see several LTCs today before we return. No word from the lady we saw who said she would send me info and given me her email address yet she wanted a list asap. Aarrgh!

Had a great day yesterday in Waterton Park and more. Tired today, If I get through all of this without a flare up I am doing well. I had to sit for a while in the carriage and buggy museum though it was wonderful.

Take care all. ((((((((hugs)))))))
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I have two Austin Air units, Barb. They used to help. They don't seem to anymore, but I still run one 24 hours a day in the bedroom I sleep in. I'm going to get the larger, lesser used one out of the basement and try that in my bedroom, see if it seems to help. Btw, Barb, thanks for being so generous as to offer support on my issues right now. I'm sure you're still in a bit of shock about your mom's passing...? Hope you're doing alright. (((((hugs)))))

Golden, I'm so, so sorry about these goofballs at your insurance company. Hang in there. What else can you do, I guess. Grr.

I re read my letter to Trust and... it's not bad. When I composed it and edited the first few times, I was a little worked up having to find the right words to say "You really screwed me, you guys, and I'm hoping that you'll just give me the money and let's move on," without, you know, actually saying THAT. lol

It will work. I've printed a final version and I'm getting ready to go visit Trust Officer. Deep breath, chin up, this is almost over. ;-)
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Gas here only up a dime to $2.27. Might get our exploration and development up and going again. That would be great for our economy. But, omg what is happening in Texas! Anyone heard how long to get the refineries up and going again?

Golden, three years and I am still waiting for final insurance settlement. Now I suspect so many adjusters in Texas it may take awhile. We keep hearing about the FEMA flood insurance expiring in September. It is 24 billion in debt, now 130 billion in damage and some actually, many do not have flood insurance. I start to wonder if flood insurance should be mandatory for everyone with a premium based on home value, so much per hundred thousand value. I have a friend that has carried flood insurance, thank goodness, for years. None of the houses were in designated floodplain, but three homes he has lived in have experienced floods. Some of these people that were not in floodplain and flooded terribly, and did not have insurance what happens with them?
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Golden, I can't believe the ins co changed their tune on your claim. I hope you get it worked out. Same with care facilities. It sounds like you and R have seen some interesting places. My aunt is doing well. Her fall caused no major problems. Today I'm taking her to the beauty parlor to get hair done - also mani-pedi. She's rested up from her evacuations and trip. Her children are in San Antonio looking for housing. Her son called and said they had found several senior apartments that would be suitable for her and her daughter - they don't want to back to Houston. They're hoping to be able to get back to her apartments and their homes to access damage next week. Their all lucky to be able to relocate. So many people don't have the financial resources to make that kind of move.

Caregiver groups are settling down. Some people have gone into individual counseling. We've helped a few get their elder family member into subsidized senior housing. The center is now completely cleaned. We have a men's group from the community who are painting. A local business furniture store has donated some office furnishings. A lot accomplidhed, but way more to do. I found some comfortable chairs for one of the group meeting rooms. We have some caregivers who are in very bad financial and social situations. Trying to work on some help for them. The extreme poverty in the area  makes caregiving more tedious than it already is. 

Ali, I hope you get some relief with your head and throat. I take a medication that causes dry throats and coughing. I use a spray before I honed. But I don't know if the problems are are similar.
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Ali- thanks so much! Have you replaced the filters in the units lately?

Goldenberg in the States we have a State Insurance Commision ER in each State. What's the equivalent in Canada? Is it time to fire off a CC to that office?
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