People and Their Pets
Next month my Mom will have been widowed 5 years. My youngest brother and sister live in the area, my brother maybe a 5-minute drive away. I have 2 sisters who live in the suburbs of Dallas (well, one of them about an hour drive away). Of course, Texas is pretty spread out; Dallas is about 330 miles from San Antonio, and Houston is 180 or so miles east of San Antonio. My brother's two oldest live in Houston, and the two youngest are in the local area. The next two oldest siblings live in Ohio and Kansas respectfully. The brother is building his retirement home in New Braunfels, although he's probably at least 5 years away. It's weird that big brother will probably retire later than both of them. My sister has already qualified for a civil service pension, and I think my brother had already qualified for one as an engineer for Exxon-Mobil and will be retiring after jumping in mid-career to a privately-owned energy conglomerate.My siblings had always wanted a dog growing up and when Dad retired from the military near a San Antonio AFB, the folks finally gave in. The family has a preference (but not an exclusive one) to the Miniature Schnauzer breed, including the first family dog (the name we gave her was derived from a street name, based on a famous cartoon series). I myself never owned one, mostly because I spent a log of time as a road warrior, not to mention unlike my siblings, I've never owned a house, and pets are a problem at most apartment complexes in terms of leases, maintenance work in the apartment, etc.
My Mom is fiercely independent. Personally, I think she would have been better off to sell the house and move to a condo or apartment and not to have to deal with the numerous headaches of home ownership, like lawn maintenance. I think the folks were encouraging Mom's retired brother priest (who died almost a year back) to stay in one of their bedrooms, but my uncle really didn't want to leave his priest friends and former parishioners and contacts over 50-odd years as a priest.
Mom suddenly was living alone after a long, successful marriage at the age of 18. The folks never replaced our original dog. The poor thing had issues with incontinence, etc., near the end of her natural life. My baby sister (a young adult) begged them not to have her put to sleep during the holiday season, but my folks were fuming over having to deal with the dog's more frequent accidents around the house; I backed my sister, but we ultimately lost the argument.
I myself had relished living on my own after growing up with two younger brothers in a single bedroom. But one of the reasons my Mom wanted a large family is that she had sometimes felt lonely in her small family of 4 and she wanted her own kids not to live through that experience. Now an empty nest-or, whose own 50-odd year marriage ended by Dad's death, my outgoing Mom suddenly was going home to an empty house.
I don't think that the new dog was Mom's idea. Each of the siblings owns at least one dog, and I think a majority have two. I think one of the siblings gifted her a miniature schnauzer. (These are beautiful, sweet-tempered dogs.) Now Mom is in excellent health and is an avid walker through her neighborhood; she puts on a pace that beats mine (of course, she weighs half as much). So one of the highlights of her day was walking her dog.
So a couple of years back, a couple of dogs escaped their owner's property and killed Mom's puppy on their walk. As you can imagine, Mom went through a mourning period.
Long story short, my East Texas sister replaced Mom's dog with a beautiful, sweet black miniature schnauzer. (The prior puppy was salt-and-pepper.) Mom once again had a faithful companion for her walks. And then a few weeks back, almost deja vu. A big dog savagely bit the puppy. Mom says that the mace she bought from Walmart was defective and wouldn't discharge. At least she is still living, but her wound is taking a while to heal.
Two nearly fatal or fatal attacks in just over a year? What is wrong with owners? It's not just the dogs but the idea they also posed a threat to my Mom.
The Health Insurance Bureaucracy
My primary physician is finally concerned about a sticky high reading that doesn't seem to be controlled by a common prescription that he wants me to see a specialist. Of course, I have to find one in my insurer's local network. I didn't see one close by in what he was pulling up (which is odd given what I later pulled up). It seemed like most of the ones he pulled up were in Baltimore or its outlying collar county. I finally pointed out one in Towson. (My nearest Trader Joe's is in Towson, maybe 27 miles away.) The odd thing is the specified phone number never had an option for a live receptionist or whatever. I had to have left at least 3 unanswered phone calls over several days.Finally, over the past week or so, I started getting calls back. I was told that the doctor in question was no longer in the practice. The clinic said others accepted my insurance, but I knew I would have to check with my insurance. Another returned call indicated said doctor left their practice 10 years ago. Okay, how valid are my insurance company's records?
So I call up the insurer and finally get a list of about 5 specialists within 12 miles. What I couldn't understand is why my doctor didn't seen to find such specialists nearby. Then another issue: the first customer agent promised to email me the list. I never got the email. I call back the insurer. Once again, no email. I call back a third time, and this time I get an email while he stays on the line. Why did it take 3 times to get a simple email to me?
So then I call the closest location, and once again I'm facing unreturned voicemails. What is the deal with this? Because my work schedule changes next week, I was hoping to get something scheduled this week. That probably wasn't realistic; for example it took about 3 weeks for me to see a retina specialist recently.
