A quick aside before I jump into the update - I LOVE Friday the 13th. They've never been unlucky for me and in fact have been the opposite in some ways. I normally recognize them coming up and plan for them, but I didn't notice it this time. But hey... HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13th!!!
Health
I had a follow up visit with my new endocrinologist. I have to give him time, but I don't like him. I had to wait a long time for him to come into the room after the MA took my vitals and asked me all the relevant questions. This was after waiting in the waiting area until 10 minutes after my scheduled appointment. Anyway, he comes in and asks if this is the first time I've seen him. Uhh... what? I can almost understand not having a patient's full record committed to memory before walking into a room with them but couldn't you at least look at my record? He didn't even know he was seeing me for diabetes even though his MA took a blood sample for a A1C test.
Unsurprisingly, as it was the holiday season, my A1C went up from 6.3 to 7.4. Not horrible but not good. Dr. R was on the same page as me in that we didn't want to change anything. The A1C SHOULD go down a bit without any changes, though I'm not sure it will go all the way back down to 6.3.
I had to mention to him that I needed new prescriptions for all the meds he prescribed since I'd changed insurance and couldn't use the online pharmacy anymore. His first reaction was to check the records and see that his prescriptions were still good for six months... sigh... so I had to repeat what I'd just told him, that I couldn't get a refill as I could no longer use that pharmacy. He finally got it and sent all the prescriptions to my new local pharmacy.
I finally ran out of my Qulipta. Remember, that is the migraine medication that worked. Without it I'm afraid the migraines will return and that couldn't be at a worse possible time as I'm just starting the job that will get me insurance that WILL pay for it. I contacted my neurologist about it and his office said they'd put in for another prior authorization and that in the meantime I could come up to their office and get some samples of Qulipta to tide me over. When I got up to their office it became clear what the problem was. They could NOT get a prior authorization from basic Medicaid (something the woman AT medicaid said wouldn't happen). I needed my insurance paperwork that I'd been waiting on for over a month. I knew I had the insurance, but was thinking that the paperwork had just gotten lost in the mail at this point.
I thanked them for the samples and told them I'd get the information they needed asap even if I had to call up medicaid. When I got home I got two bursts of good news. The first was looking at the samples. I hadn't looked at them at the office as I didn't want to be tempted to complain. I mean, if they only gave me like 4 pills, there's no way it would be enough. BUT how could I complain about that when it was so fucking expensive and they were doing it for free (not even charging me for a visit!). Well, it turns out they gave me 20 pills! Surely I'd get this taken care of within three weeks. The second bit of good news was that my insurance card was delivered in the mail that very same day. I was able to get all the information the neurologist's office needed. Two days later I got a call from the insurance provider asking me some info about the authorization since the doc's office put this in as an emergency (LOVE this office!). The next day I was told the authorization went through. The next day I called the pharmacy and asked them to run the prescription. The next day I picked up the prescription.
A quick word about medicaid. It's obviously designed for low income people. It saves as much money as possible and charges as little as possible. Copays on almost all of my meds are $0.00. My low does naltrexone was one of the exceptions as a three month supply of that was still $99. So naturally I expected to pay at least some kind of copay on Ozempic, Farxiga, and of course Qulipta. $5, $10, $30. But nope. I got a three month supply of Ozempic and Farxiga for $0. I got a one month supply of Qulipta for the same price.
I feel guilty about it. Even if I hadn't got a job yet, I'm able to pay my copays. All three of those meds were costing me $30 a month before. My Emgality or Ajovy cost me the same. Most of my other meds came between $5 and $20 for a three month supply. But now, they're free. Or rather, the taxpayer is paying for them. And here I am, driving up in my brand new Lincoln (Tatiana is still 'brand new' until I've had it for a year!), wearing a smart watch so I can 'tap to pay' with just my watch and take the money out of my checking account where I have over $6,000.
Our whole healthcare system is broke.
Last thing health wise is that I saw my Psych NP. It was a good visit, though I don't know if my improvement in mood was due to the increase in Paxil or the fact that I got a job. She offered to reduce the Paxil back down to the 20mg I was taking before, but I balked with the thought that I didn't want to risk starting the job only to find out that my mood was corrected by the med change and not the job itself. That would be a bad time to slip back into depression. So, there were no changes and I scheduled another visit with her in about 8 weeks. It'd normally be 4 weeks, but we both figured it would be good to see her after I was more settled into my new job.
Finances
At some point, I'm going to amend my budgeting spreadsheet with the assumption of pay. But for now, there is no change. I have enough money in my bank account to hold me over until my first paycheck comes in. GOD it feels so good to say that... my first paycheck!
Family/Friends
B's anxiety is better but now he's dealing with more than just the 'dead' feeling. Some emotions are bursting through and not in a good way. It's gotten bad enough that he finally decided to take a leave of absence from work. They've offered that to him as an option for a couple months. I'm glad he's taking that step as it will give him at least a month to focus on getting better instead of worrying almost every day if he's good enough to go to work and then feeling guilty about it for a day when he's not.
No other changes good or bad with other friends or family.
Entertainment
Yeah, I didn't move on to Welcome to Derry yet. Instead I got interested in For All Mankind. I'd watched up until about half way through season three and then just dropped it for some reason. Well, it's been long enough that I'm re-watching it from the beginning. I finished season 1 and am a couple episodes into season 2. It really is a wonderful series!
New Tech
I got a new keyboard. I'll write it up in its own section below. Other than that, no new tech.
Writing
I FINALLY got a chapter of You're Not The Boss Of Me out. It took like four sperate writing sessions to get it done, but I still got it out. I haven't been able to focus long enough to write up more than a few paragraphs of the next chapter, but hopefully I'll get back to that today. I'm feeling creative and got up REALLY early.
I also put out a cap. I'm still going to go for the whole 'at least one cap per month' goal.
Michigan Football
Nothing new football wise. Can't wait for the new season to start! Next up is the NFL draft, but no Michigan player is expected to go all that high, so I'm not too excited about it.
Job Search Work
Obviously since I accepted a position, I will no longer have a 'Job Search' area in these updates. I'll instead replace it with a 'Work' section. As I had it before, it will follow the 'Family/Friends' section.
I actually have an update for this area though. I got an email earlier this week asking if I'd like to start early. It'll be 12-hour day shifts, 7 AM to 7 PM, with no patient contact until I go through orientation. Orientation will still start March 2nd, so since I'm starting February 16th, I'll get two weeks in before that. That should mean that immediately after orientation, I can move to the night shift and start training there as I'll have the basics down. MAYBE I'll stay on days for a bit longer so I can finish training WITH patient contact.
Needless to say, I was very excited to get started earlier than expected. The only problem is that part of controlling my own anxiety is pushing things off that I don't need to worry about. I didn't need to worry about uniforms since I'd be starting with orientation. I figured I'd go to orientation wearing business casual (shirt and tie). Now I needed to not only accelerate getting everything else ready for work, I needed to get my uniform situation under control.
I have three sets of scrubs. I'd purchased them for when I was a manager in the prison during COVID and was picking up a lot of floor shifts. So, first thing was trying them on. The pants fit just fine. The t-shirt is too big, and frankly a little ratty. And the scrub top was snug... except for the belly. There it was just the other side of tight. That tracks as I weighed less back in 2021/2022. I'm not a LOT heavier, but evidently I'm carrying it all in my belly.
With that in mind, I went to Amazon to get new scrub tops. I'd already checked them out and knew that they still carried the Cherokee brand that got before. Before, I got 2XL Tall size, so I just needed to get 3XL Tall. They had them in stock for my black and pewter colored tops, but not my olive colored top. And I LOVE that olive color. So, I ordered the two tops from Amazon then went to Cherokee's website where they had the olive in stock... at $8 more than Amazon PLUS $10 in shipping. 4 to 6 business day shipping. Amazon was getting me the other scrubs in two days.
As long as I was ordering scrubs, I figured I'd add in some other colors. Technically I should only need three sets of scrubs as I'll only be working three days a week but better safe than sorry. So I picked out a set in each of galaxy blue and wine. Now I could truly mix and match.
Shoe wise, I was hurting. I'd long ago retired the last set of nursing shoes I used. That was 2018. So I looked around for something comfortable, something preferably durable, and something that was slip on (I hate laces). I actually found my old nursing shoes after a brief search as I'd just transfered them to my 'around the house outside' shoes. Just a set that I could quickly slip on and check the mail in, or even make a quick drive when I didn't need to get out of the vehicle. They were in good condition but looked REALLY worn in. As they'd lasted for three or four years of being worn nearly every single day for years, then an additional EIGHT years of being worn for quick jaunts several times a week, I figured a couple pair like them would last just as long. Maybe even longer.
I'd heard that giving a pair of shoes a day to 'rest' would help them stay in good condition longer (more than just wearing them for half the time would seem). I still like my variety though, so I bought a pair of Merrell Brown Leather Jungle Mocs and a pair of Merrell Juniper Jungle Mocs. I figured the leather ones would look good with anything while the juniper ones would look good with the olive, black, and pewter scrubs. They'd clash with the blue and wine scrubs. Lemme tell you though, after the Juniper Mocs were delivered, the color is even stranger than the photo. It's a VERY odd green/teal. But it's fun at least.
Finally, where I had 3XL Tall t-shirts before, I bought six 2XL Tall t-shirts. Black, dark grey, and light grey. No white this time as my white t-shirts are the ones that look the most ragged. Probably because I don't have any other whites and they're constantly washed with colors and no bleach.
Anywho, I was feeling pretty good about my uniforms. I could even wear my brown and black socks that I'd worn with my manager uniforms. The problem came when I asked the HR rep I was communicating with if there were any uniform requirements. I thought it'd just be a formality as I'd seen nurses there in various colored scrubs. So, it came as a surprise when she told me that the Arrivals RNs worse either Hunter Green scrubs or business casual.
I mean, on the one hand I could wear my shirt and ties, but I was actually looking forward to wearing scrubs. On the bad side... fuck, I didn't have ANY Hunter Green scrubs. So, back to the drawing board. Amazon had the Hunter Green scrubs in stock so I bought 4 sets. All the other scrubs will be returned. I'd normally keep them just for the heck of it, but having five pair of scrubs that I may never wear before I grow or shrink out of them is just a financially stupid idea, especially when they go for $50 a set.
The green scrubs should arrive today and tomorrow. The t-shirts arrived, as well as most of the other scrubs, yesterday. I tried on the t-shirts and they fit fine. I'm waiting to get the green scrubs in to try the new tops on as I don't want to even open the packaging of the soon to be returned scrubs. The brown shoes will be here tomorrow. On a whim, I added five pair of Hunter Green socks. Hell, if I can't look spiffy in different colored scrubs, I can at least have some fun with the socks! Assuming the new tops fit, which they should, that finishes my uniforms.
I still have some more to get ready for work, but it's mainly small things. Get my pen and pad together. Get my clipboard and stethoscope together. Get my lunch bag and ice packs together. Get my lunch stuff ready. I think that's it. I should be ready to start on Monday!
Keyboard
I tried changing out the keycaps and found that it helped. But that's actually bad news as it says it might have been my problem all along. Like, me changing out the keycaps might have introduced some dust or hair to the switch and embedded it deep enough that there was going to be a constant problem.
I really really really REALLY wanted to just get a keyboard and go with it. Have it for years without changing it out for a new model or because of some problem. And reading about this issue online it seems that these switches from Logitech commonly show this sensitivity to dust and hair and are all but impossible to fix. Logitech did fast replacements under warranty for awhile, but the replacement boards often came with the same problem (they were probably refurbs of ones with that problem since it's so intermittent).
So, I decided real quick that since changing the keycaps didn't work, I'd just go ahead and get a new keyboard. And instead of a low profile keyboard, I'd go normal profile. That would open me up to a lot of keyboards and enticingly enough, a lot of keycap options.
My rough criteria was:
- Ten Keyless (TKL) layout (I'd still keep my Keychron keypad as having that has worked out great!)
- RGB that shines through the keys
- Wireless (with hopefully a decent battery)
- NOT from Logitech, Razer, or Corsair
- Preferably hot swappable switches so that if a single key starts having trouble, I can just get a replacement switch instead of a new keyboard.
- Small footprint since I no longer need the media keys (another reason to keep the numpad)
- Good sound (Thocky, creamy, or silent).
- High build quality (metal top plate and frame)
Then while reading up on different keyboards, I found out that Cherry not only makes keyboards, they bought a gamer company and make 'gamer keyboards'. It's their sub-brand Cherry XTRFY. Looking at their website I though the Cherry XTRFY MX 8.2 TKL looked pretty good. TKL layout, small form factor (barely anything on it besides keys), metal top plate and frame (plastic bottom), RGB, evidently fairly thocky but not the best (Cherry switches just aren't known for their sound profile compared to newer switch manufacturers). My only concern about it was the battery. It was one of the smallest I'd seen in a keyboard with RGB lighting built in.
That's when I came across the Cherry XTRFY MX 8.2 PRO TMR TKL. The important part there was the 'TMR'. TMR is the newest magnetic style switches. For as long as I've been talking about keyboards here, I've been talking about Mechanical keyboards. Even the low profile keyboards had to be mechanical. Well, a few years back they came out with Hall Effect (or HE) keyboards. These use a technology that reads a magnetic field. That means they are infinitely programable. Say a key has a 2mm throw from resting to bottoming out. A normal mechanical switch will have a set point where it actuates, say 1mm. But with HE switches, that actuation point is programable. It can be 0.2mm or 1.8mm. It's so good that it can even have one action at one actuation point and another action at a deeper actuation point. Imagine pressing W for moving forward. It's common for a lot of games. But HE switches could program W with 'walk forward' at 0.5mm and 'run forward' at 1.5mm. So a light touch makes you walk while a deeper touch makes you run, both on the same key!
It's seriously cool. The only problem with HE switches is that they take a LOT of power. Enough power that most of them don't even bother with wireless. The battery just wouldn't last long at all with HE switches.
Enter TMR. I think the first one was introduced last year. TMR is a new magnetic switch with all the benefits of HE switches but more sensitivity (HE switches go in 0.2mm increments, TMR goes in 0.1mm increments) and FAR less power. So this new Cherry keyboard uses their new TMR switches. Not only that, it's hot swappable. There have been hot swappable HE keyboards before, but only with other HE switches. The Cherry XTRFY MX 8.2 PRO TMR TKL is hot swappable with TMR, HE, and Mechanical switches. In other words, if I don't like the TMR switches, I could change them out later for very thocky mechanical switches. Or creamy ones. Or silent ones.
It wouldn't be me if it wasn't expensive, so naturally it costs $249.99. And yes, I'm typing on it right now. I'll give another post later where I review it and talk about customizing it. But one last thing, I found out all about this keyboard on the night of February 8th. I saw it available on Amazon that same night and then purchased it the morning of the 9th with it being delivered on the 10th. Nothing special about that except that this keyboard was introduced at CES this year. Just a few weeks ago. It was only available as of February 8th! I literally couldn't have purchased the keyboard a day earlier.
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