What is mid-life?

To my patients, most of which are in the 70 to 80 age bracket I still get called girl sometimes, giggle.  To the new nurses on the floor, some not old enough to legally drink,  am the senior old fart nurse.  What is middle age these days.  Years ago I would have been a senior as the life spans where so much shorter.  I would have looked it also as the health care was worse.  Now I still look pretty good but am feeling the senior aches and pains and Arthur Itis has become a frequent visitor.  In my family I am probably in my twilight years, maybe on my last leg but I don't feel like it.  So what does everyone think?  When does middle age start and end.  Am I an official old toot yet?

   Got my exercising out of the way early and am doing the type of cleaning I always leave to the last day.  Prograstination is my middle name.  I did get all my packages sent which is a good feeling.  It cost me an additional $40 just to mail them out.  Might have to do the gift certificates next year but that seems so impersonal. 

    I also got a bill from my Doctor for surgery.  Man that ticks me off.  Do you really ever reach your deductable anymore.  I go to the web site and it says my balance is zero, but I still get bills.  $300!  I used to think when a doctor agreed to accept your insurance that meant they accepted the payment from your insurance as payment in full.  Oh so trusting. 

    I pay around 600 a month for insurance, 2000.00 out of pocket per person, 600 for lab and other tests, 20 dollars for each visit.  Its official, I am now one of those people you hear about about who can't afford health care.  And it is going up Jan. 1st. 

   I am no longer going to the doctor after this year unless I am near death, and even then I will think really carefully about if my life is worth the cost!  I have refills on my meds good for a year with my asthma doc, can still get refills on phone for my fluid pills from my regular doctor and hopefully after next year the damage to my lungs from the chlorine will be better and I won't need the medicine anymore. 

   The only people who can afford to see a doctor these days are the seniors like my MIL because she has medicare plus a suplimental, the poor and illegal aliens, and the very rich.  Those of us who fall in the middle just don't go anymore.  I see more and more patients who don't take their meds because they can't afford to.  They are labeled noncomplient by the doctors but that isn't the reason, who can afford to keep up with the bills.  If I didn't have a pharmacy plan I wouldn't take my pills at $114.50 a month!  Ricks would be $200.00 a month.  What happens when I retire?  Off our meds we go.  Ho Ho Ho. 

   Remember the old days.  I had a great family doctor.  He had a small office uptown and it was staffed with the woman at the desk, a nurse and him.  Eventually he got a partner and they each had a nurse.  The total visit would be maybe $15.00 which in my case usually included stitches, did I mention I was a tom boy?  I always got a sucker. 

   Well I have to go,  my  son keeps calling.

   Just got off the phone with my son.  My granddaughter broke her elbow.  Ouch.  Yesterday she fell at daycare and put her arm out to break the fall, it broke alright.  They iced it all day and last night they called me to see what I thought.  She could move her fingers and everything but couldn't lift her arm up to scratch her tummy, she put the phone down to use the other arm.  I told them I though she might have broken it and just because she could move her fingers didn't really mean anything.  It could be just sprained though.  It is so hard to tell with kids but I thought it should be checked out.  Well my DIL's parents, probably her dad, didn't think it was necessary.  This morning she was still in pain so my DIL took her.  The elbow is fractured and she has to have surgery to get it fixed.  Poor baby.  There goes her dancing!

  I was just speaking of insurance.  How terrible is it that along with being worried about your child they now have to worry about paying a huge surgery bill.  Times are bad all over.