Another Hearing Test . . .

I had yet another hearing test Wednesday for the VA.  This was a separate and independent test conducted at the request of the VA for evaluation of a service connected disability.

I got there early, never know what traffic is going to be like on I-30 going through the middle of Fort Worth.  The hearing place was on the eastern edge of Fort Worth.  The test is conducted by a contractor for the VA.  There was no traffic delays and I arrived early and sat and waited my turn.

It is ironic but the people that do the service connected evaluations do not trust my ENT doctor nor their own VA Audiologist doctor at their own clinic in Fort Worth.  That is just the way the system works.  The compensation people are independent of the normal medical care folks of the VA.  So I guess you can say they do not even trust their own people.  But it rules out any favoritism or any shenanigans by evaluators.  The raters get verified and good data to base their evaluations upon.

Any way the hearing examiner did her job and said, "Congratulations, you have failed the hearing test a third time."  She was just making light of the situation as we both knew the earlier results would only be confirmed.  She was very nice about it all.

Now all the information will go back to Waco, TX where the Regional Office (RO) resides.  There the evaluator will write up the findings and give me a rating.  Of course, they may not give me a rating for the disability.  I suspect they will give me a 10% rating for Tinnitus.  There is no easy way to test for Tinnitus as the more common version is generated by the brain.  I am sure the RO will do their evaluation, it will get scrubbed down, checked and finally issued.  Since Tinnitus is nerve damage of some sort, it is probably in my case be related to Diabetes Type II.  So it will be a secondary to Diabetes.

Anyway that is the way I filed the claim as a secondary condition due to Diabetes.  No question that I have Diabetes and it is verified Service Connected disability (actually it is a combat related disability).  Means little to the general public, just something to us with VA disabilities.

Some I opine that the Tinnitus is the result of damage to the Cochlear Nerves that convert sound into whatever the brain needs to "hear."  Diabetes attacks all nerves one way or the other.  More recently, some brain experts say it has nothing to do with the ear but an area inside the brain.  It really does not matter as it can not be cured, it can only be kind of drummed out of the way.  Some hearing aids generate white noise that drowns out the Tinnitus.

I hear Tinnitus all the time except when I am in a very high noise condition like a sports bar or a noisy restaurant.  And then, of course, all hearing is impaired to the extent of how loud the surrounding sound is.

Anyway the test is completed and I installed my hearing aids and went home.

Now I have to wait.

Wax Traps . . .

My hearing aids have wax traps.  Wax traps are tiny little white colored caps or ends that fit into the ends of the receivers (receivers are the nomenclature for the tiny little speakers that go into the ear canal).  I was instructed that the wax traps would eventually fill up and close off the receivers effectively stopping the hearing aids from working.

Our ears as you well know produce wax.  And if the wax is not cleaned it can block your ear drums.  This happened to Chris once out in California and I had to get a doctor to clean out his ears.  Since then he has had no problems.  All of us tend to clean our ears one way or the other, most of us use a cotton swab and that seems to work for me.

So I kept waiting for the hearing aids to shut down indicating I needed to replace the traps.  They said it would be about a month of usage.  I had gone two months and things were still working fine for me.  So I decided to replace the wax traps anyway.

I do notice after replacement of the traps, the hearing aids seem to be a bit more sensitive, so I guess the traps were gradually getting blocked by wax.  When I removed the traps I used the little brush that comes with the hearing aids to clean up the receivers.  There was wax, albeit, dried and sort of flaky here and there on the receivers.  I brushed them off carefully after install the wax traps.

There are small rubbery open cones that press on the ends of the receivers that go into the ear canal (ergo the title of Receivers in the Canal or RIC).  The cones effectively hold the receivers in place in the ear canal and yet because of the open spaces allows low frequencies to enter the ear too.  They are soft and thus fit into any ear canal shape.  I have a batch of those cones  too but I did not need to replace them.  There are two little plastic filaments that go over the receivers and are used to remove the receiver from the ear canal.  I discovered there is a right way and a wrong way to install them but eventually go it correct.  They did not give me any replacements for those filaments.

So major step two is completed.  I guess I am now a pro at using the hearing aids.  The final step will be to order a batch of batteries.  I get those to as part of the service.  I note that a couple of dozen of the batteries cost about $6 or so dollars.  A couple of dozen batteries will probably last about two months.  The VA gives me six months of batteries in one batch and says reorder at the end of three months.  So I am figuring the VA depot does not rapidly respond, ergo an ample supply is provided.

The batteries are interesting in that they come in packages of six.  You press them to open up each battery.  The back of the battery is on a sticky sealed surface.  When you remove the battery, the air activates it, so in its plastic package it will last a very long time.  I have found a battery lasts about a week of use.  One or the other units beeps when a battery starts to go bad.  It will run for about 20 or so minutes before it totally runs out of juice.  So when a battery dies, I replace both of them.  Works for me.

Alas the hearing aids do not do anything for my Tinnitus.  It is not totally unpleasant in the background all the time but it is there. It is only drowned out by loud noises, like a restaurant or sports bar during an LSU ballgame.  As I type here, I hear the Tinnitus.  I hear it even if the TV is own, it is not loud enough to drown it out.

Tinnitus will be with me until I die.  The hearing aids can generate white noise to sort of drown out  the Tinnitus but as of yet I have not had that feature activated.  When it worse, and it will, I will do just that.

VA Compensation Examination . . .

I received a telephone call out of the blue from someone saying I would receive a package in the mail shortly.  But he was doing the ground work for a Veterans Administration (VA) Compensation examination.  I expected to get such an examination any time since I received a letter from the VA saying they were working on my package.  This is normal procedure.

But what got me was the fellow wanted to know my "Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM" availability in the next three weeks.  I said, well send me your appointment time and if I can not fit it in, I will call the furnished 877 number and reschedule.  He was not all happy about that, he wanted me to be available for his services when and where he wanted them to be.  It does not work that way, he works for me so to speak not me working for him.  So I await the package and scheduled appointment and location thereof.

So I will wait for the package and see what we have.  He said I would be examined somewhere close to Weatherford, TX.  That's fine but I note it is only 16 or so miles to the Fort Worth VA clinic which has excellent audiology facilities.  I know because I have been there and noted that they are not overwhelmed by patients.  But we will see what transpires.  I am sure it will be no where near a VA facility.

You never know what the VA will do or why they do it that way.  I do have faith in them as I do know they are in good faith protectors of the veteran.  It is just that they often do not do it with any logic or do not care how they spend the governments dime.  They will be chintzy on medications (if the medication is not in their formulary, you are not gonna get it) and lavish on hearing aids.  Go figure?  The give Type TII diabetics exactly 50 blood test strips per month (I get via TRICARE a 90 day supply or about 300 test strips every 90 days).  Test strips, I know, are expensive but my PCP ( means a Personal Care Physician) says Test, Test and Test.

In general since I am military retiree, I do not use the VA facilities and services if I can avoid them.  First of all they are to far away, my local PCP is only three or four miles away.  And since I am over 65 thus I am on Medicare and my TRICARE, my military medical coverage, is secondary to the Medicare.  Basically, I do not have to pay anything for my and my wife's general medical coverage (other than what is deducted from our social security payments).  Our PCP, we use the same PCP, and specialists all accept our Medicare/TRICARE coverage.  We are comfortable and satisfied with our medical coverage.

Some how the VA thinks I should use them.  Of course, I know why.  The VA gets reimbursed from Medicare and they want the extra money.  That's okay.  But since I do not have to do it and receive in my estimation better than the communistic like service (you never know just what physician you will get at the VA or if a Doctor at all) from the VA.

In order to see an VA audiologist, I was supposed to see a VA doctor to get a referral  I did not mind that so much as that they insisted that to see a VA doctor I must have a blood test.  Not that is a gross waste of government resources as I do not know of any particular disease of the ears that requires a blood test.   Now I understand the desire for the blood screening as that can lead to innumerable situations requiring a doctor.  They were drumming up business.

I tried to argue it out with the local Fort Worth VA Executive and it was "my way or the highway" with him.  I warned him that I would write Congresswoman, the VA IG and the Disabled American Veterans (I am a life member there of).  I got a response from the DAV saying that there was little the could do but would I please keep them informed of my results.  I did not hear from the VA Inspector General nor did I hear from my Congresswoman (I wrote her to simply inform her of what was going on and did not ask her to do anything).  Lo and behold, out of the blue I got an appointment with the Fort Worth Clinic Audiology for a hearing examination.

As a result of the examination I got hearing aids from the VA.  I did not see a VA doctor nor did I have a referral from a VA doctor.  So I do not know if the locals got me the appointment, or if the local Regional Office of the VA got me an appointment or if it was the VA IG that got me an appointment.  It does not matter, I got the service I was seeking without going through a lot of hullabaloo.  Somebody somewhere saw the light.

Now I am sure I am on somebody's list for doing it my way but that's life.

And the beat goes on.

Means Testing . . .

We are over 65 years of age so we are now under Medicare.  The premium is deducted from our Social Security income.   It has not as yet been impacted by Obamacare but we know it is coming as they have advertised almost a 100% increase in premium next year (probably to cover the money the Obamacare act stole from the Medicare accounts).

But we have secondary coverage earned from my military years, it is TRICARE for Life.  Congress and passed administrations cover retire military personnel's medical care.  If you are below 65 years of age it is a basic 80/20 medical insurance plan.  Some large insurance company administers the program by bid.  So we get the lowest bidder and all the accompanying low bidder shenanigans that go with it.

When you reach age 65 TRICARE becomes the secondary coverage and all Medicare bills are automatically passed on to TRICARE for coverage.  So far so good.  Now comes the "but."  The but is that Department of Defense (DoD) wants to begin charging a small amount and it is scaled my means testing.  That is to say, higher grade personnel pay more that lower grade personnel.  Sounds good but if you do 20 or more years of service the lowest grade is going to be Technical Sargent in the USAF or grade E-6.  There may be a few E-5s but in general the vast majority will be well above E-6. 

We already have deductibles, life time limits, etc. like most insurance plans.  They are proposing an annual fee for coverage.  Of course, there is no refusal, as they will deduct the fees from your retirement pay directly.  They gotcha coming and going.

This is also true of officers.   A Second Lieutenant is an O-1, a First Lieutenant is an O-2 and so on.  There are a few Captains, O-3 that retire but the vast majority or either Majors or Lieutenant Colonels and up.  There are very few four star generals who are at the top, their grade is O-10.

What means is that the DoD is raising the rates as fast as they can.  Now, Federal retirees do not get means tested nor do regular citizens get means tested regarding their insurance though that is probably coming with the likes of Obamacare.  So stand by for ram, when you get older, ya gonna pay more.  And as Obamacare matures, in a year or two, so with average Joe public.  And the Democrats will bask in the light of "we gave it to you."

We had a pretty good deal on prescriptions.  Regular generic drugs were $3.00 for a 90 day supply.  Non-generic drugs that were on the approved Formulary were $9.00 for a 90 day supply.  That has changed.  Generic drugs are free but non-generic drugs cost $25.00 or more for a 90 day supply.  Others at the base rate of $9.00 for 90 day supply all based on Formulary drugs and their costs.  Some cancer drugs can cost hundreds of dollars now on our TRICARE system.

This is going to be next applied to the Veterans Administration drug program.  It is or was similar to the TRICARE drug prescription system but may also change.  It will then be applied to the general public via Obamacare.

H. Ross Perot once called NAFTA a "money sucking program."  He ain't seen nothing yet.  Obamacare is going to far out strip NAFTA many times over in sucking money out of your pockets.   Are you feeling good about paying for those losers that do not pay anything?

DoD was hoping we retirees would get shoved under Obamacare blanket but Congress quickly exempted the military from Obamacare.   So DoD is still stuck with funding DoD military retirees health care.   Albeit, those over 65 are not quite as costly as those below 65 since DoD is only picking up what Medicare will not pay or 20% of the allowed amount vice 80% for those under 65 years of age.

Pretty soon there will be no doctors that will accept Medicare patients.  We are lucky, our private physician started with us when I worked for Lockheed and has continued to take care us.  He is now part of a Health care system, an HMO if you will, that accepts Medicare.  That systems has already tried to double bill us but backed out when TRICARE kicked in.

We are in fair position, the general public is not.  Obamacare is a monster that will continue to grow unless curtailed.  Self destruction would be a good thing and put us back on track.

No Word from the Insurance Executives. . .

Nobody is talking much.  I suspect the insurance executives are not going to do much about  renewals of old policies.  President Obama's fiat ruling does not over ride the law and they are at a quandary.  Obey the law or obey the fiat.  The fiat can go away but if the insurance companies get sued in court, they would lose.  So mum's the word.

I note a couple of state insurance commissioners seem to think the can not put the genie back in the bottle either.  And if they do and the insurance companies acquiesce, the Obamacare is libel to take a big hit actuarialy, not enough new insurers to prop up the system.

Yet to be heard from are the young people.  Are they going to go for the insurance they believe they do not need?  Who knows but I surmise that they will go the least expensive route, pay the fine if the IRS can find them to access the fine.  Big companies and unions get to skate this year but not next year.

So year two could start in the hole and more people will get pissed since they too will lose their insurance.  Only giant outfits like Lockheed, GM, Ford, Boeing who cover their employees will survive.  And they will access the situation.  If they get fined or blamed, they too will drop their self insurance programs.  It will be like the old retirement plans, disappear into something new not at the expense of the company but at the expense of the individual.

Read today where thousands of doctors have been let go from HMOs and the like who no longer can cover their patients.  So if there coverage, there is no need for doctors.  And some will not ever return to the mix after this, they will just retire.  Those that are already retired and do voluntary work will continue for a time but if they do not get adequate compensation, they to will hang it up.

If Obamacare is successful, the medical industry as we know it will cease to exist.  In spite of itself, there will be fewer doctors to take care of more indigent patients.  And that will cause an increase in taxes and a concurrent decrease in GNP.  The economy will slow down again and stay there until Obamacare gets fixed some kind of way.  I do not mean repealed though that is a valid fix, I mean until the government is out of the medical business.  I hope that happens before the industry as we know is destroyed by do gooders, socialists and liberals.  They do not seem to able to see beyond a few inches from their faces.

Hope springs eternal, and that is about all we got.

So Sorry, My Bad . . .

Yes, that is what President Obama said about the Obamacare unveiling.  Now he is finally scrambling to do something but it appears the something is an attempt to set up the insurance industry as the scape goat.  So far the insurance industry is not buying it.  Certain state insurance commissioners are not buying it either.  He is successfully digging the hole deeper.

Now the word is he has called the insurance executives to the White House to talk to them.  I am sure they will listen and maybe a few will tell him the truth.  We shall see on the evening news.

People are not stupid especially when it comes to their money and what they get for it.  I sense they are not buying into the Obamacare scheme of things.  They may elect to (a) lie and get on Medicare or (b) pay the fine and do nothing.  Both are essentially damaging to the Obamacare Scheme of things where the more fortunate healthy people are supposed to pay for the less fortunate unhealthy people.  The healthy people feel bad about the unhealthy people but do not want to pay their bills for them, just not in human nature. They are seeing first hand this sharing of wealth and they are not happy about it.

So what is to be done.  Why more taxes to pay for the insurance of course.  But fate has intervened, the House of Representatives is controlled by the opposing party and they, the Republicans, are not gonna raise any taxes for anything much less the hated Obamacare.  They, the House may take snips and pieces of the Obamacare off the table by refusing to tax.  Obama can do a lot of things by fiat but he can not enforce new taxes by fiat, he would get laughed out of office.  They are his bills to pay and he has to figure out a way to do that.  It ain't gonna be easy.

I hope the Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is in a snit.  He could have stopped this nonsense years ago but did not.  Now he will along with Obama be pointed out as a loser and be blamed for the damage being done to our nation.  Of course, he does not care as he is above it all.  But he has got to see what has transpired and what he failed to do.  He can not stand by being self righteous for he is part of the problem now. 

We are being laughed at by the entire world.  Such incompetence in the White House.

I think it is going to be a very cold winter.  Even if the ill fated Government web page gets to working people are still going to shun the program.  There will be no easy solution, it is a colossal mess.  Even the Democratic rank and file now see the folly and some may lose their positions of power in the Government, like getting kicked out of office.

What a waste . . .

Bruuuuuuur, the Arctic Express is Here!!!!!

The Arctic cold front arrived during the night.  It is mostly winds at the moment but a hard freeze is predicted tonight.  I plugged in the strip heater on the water well, it winds around the PVC pipes coming out of the ground and works its way to where the pips go back into the ground.  I also hand some old pieces of area carpet over the pipes to protect them from UV rays and add a bit of cold protection.

When I installed the strip heater, I then cover it with standard outdoor pipe insulation.  Trying to hold the heat in as close as I can to the pipes to retard any freezing.  The PVC is schedule 40 and is supposed to handle up to 200 PSI pressure, but one does not want to press the issue.  No leak is far better than any leak.

I have said before and say again, irrigation systems are constant maintenance.  One has to keep up with them, change sprinkler heads, clean sprinkler heads and sprinkler vales (though I took care of the sprinkler valves by going to "dirty water" valves that are self cleaning), occasional electrical opens (the valves are toggled open and closed by a solenoid, a simple on and off system but does require power from the sprinkler control box to do the job.  It is a low voltage system, not dangerous, just sometimes cantankerous).  That is my reasons for saying irrigation systems are constant maintenance.

The water well provides water that is down about 200 feet.  It comes out of the Pawluxy aquifer and is said to be "sandy."  It is hard water to be sure and does have microscopic grit or sand in it.  We used a sand separator until I got the dirty control valves all installed.  We got rid of the sand separator, it developed a leak, corroded hole in the side of the separator.  Welded it up once but it appeared again and it was a losing battle.  So I took it off and discarded it.  The pump is submerged down at the bottom of the well.  The on/off and regulation system is on top along with a pressure tank.

We have simple spray heads in the front yard.  Out in the back were have turbo heads that move the nozzle around.  It uses water pressure inside to generate mechanical power to move the head around.  The sand eats those up.  A slow process but one can count on the turbo heads to wear out, thus have to be replaced.  The simple spray heads get clogged up, they have a crude filter to prevent large chunks from getting in to things but little snails like the water and ensconce themselves in the top of the sprinkler disrupting, or distorting the spray.  So one has to clean those out too.

I have found tree roots that seek out the sprinkler heads, that is where the water is.  I have had to cut roots out to restore the pop up feature of the sprinklers.  And soil moves about ever so slowly and one finds sprinkler heads buried deep in the soil.  Yes, they pop up, but in time their height is not sufficient.  I have a stock of "risers" that I can cut to length.  I have to periodically raise sprinkler heads.  Another maintenance task.

Well I be on the watch of cold related irrigation problems.  There will be some and I will fix them during warm spells.

The beat goes on.

Frost on the Pumpkin . . .

It was crunchy this AM.  I went for my walk just before sunrise and saw frost all over the place.  The dew froze up.  However, I do not think the temperature got below maybe 35 or 36 degrees Fahrenheit.

But there were great swaths of white color across the open yards.  I did not see any deer about which is another sign of being cold.  On the other hand, I walked in my LSU hoodie and with gloves on (I hate cold hands).  I was very comfortable and hustled around the area pretty quick.  I did not see anybody else at that time.  I sometimes see Dr. Huggins in an early AM walk but not today, perhaps I was a little late for him.   He goes around about 6:00, sometimes I am up that early but more often now days, I do not rise so early.

No freeze.  Just a cold snap.  Back into the low to mid 70s by Saturday.  But Mother Nature is sending her signals out.  Early warning.  Too bad all that global warning crap is not working.  I could use a nice warm winter.  That ain't gonna happen.