Memory Machine

Medicaid doesn't allow more than one therapy each day, don't ask me why.

I wrote that two days ago. It's actually more complicated, and frustrating, as I found yesterday. With Medicaid, they will only pay for ONE VISIT PER DAY. That means one out of everything: my regular doctor, my neurologist, my psychiatrist, my speech therapist, my occupational therapist, my physical therapist: only one per day. Never mind that this plays hell with my schedule, and basically means I can't work in an office: I can't get the help I need. I need three days (minimum) of speech, four or five days physical, at least two days of occupational, one day of psychiatrist, and the doctor and neurologist every two weeks. I could do everything happily if Medicaid didn't put that cap on. As it is, I take two days speech, one day occupational, and two days physical one week or one day physical and one day doctor/neurologist the other week. I haven't figured out when to fit the psychiatrist in. It's not enough, anyway; not nearly. I suppose I should be grateful that Medicaid covers anything in America; of course I can't get any normal coverage, with my Preexisting Condition. And at least Medicaid is straightforward; they pay in full or they don't, and you don't need to argue with a insurance man determined to screw you.

What a day.

We put in -- with Patrick's help -- air conditioning, last night. Yay! Unfortunately, I noticed in the morning that it leaked. It was now a medium-sized puddle in the rug, about two feet wide and four feet long. Ack. Angela, my home care assistant, helped me to lift the a.c. and insert two small paperbacks, solving the immediate problem, though the puddle would have to wait, because my speech therapy was imminent. We barely made it to my Access-A-Ride bus.

Unfortunately, the woman who scheduled my speech therapy last week apparently forgot another person's schedule (and the woman who scheduled me wasn't around to ask, because she was taking a vacation). More than two hours later, John showed up, very apologetic, and saw me for an extra half hour to make up for it. And he's good; he described a way to defeat (or get around) aphasia, talked about aphasia (and my suffering) intelligently, and when I asked about reading materials, including the way they teach me (or ones like me), he promised to bring in literature.

Unfortunately -- I'm getting tired of that word -- Angela said, on the way home, that she's leaving next week: because she doesn't like so much walking as I do. Now, I like walking. But I can't walk too much; I'm, well, crippled. I told her that I'll miss her (though truthfully, I can't understand her accent 75% of the time), but I'm not cutting down on my walking; first, it's not an unreasonable amount of walking; second, I need to be walking to keep in shape.

I thought, at the beginning of the day, I had the week more or less organized. Now at the end of Monday, I'm waiting for a call tomorrow that will reschedule me for speech (and I can't reschedule for Tuesday or Thursday, because those are my days for physical therapy and occupational therapy, and Medicaid doesn't allow more than one therapy each day, don't ask me why), and I've got to replace another home assistant, and the rug's still wet.

Every day is a challenge.

(quoted by Nate Silver:)

"How to get 63% of Americans to support gay marriage. (Maybe.)

"Back when I used to do high school debate, there were all sorts of esoteric arguments related to the notion of positive and negative rights. The distinction, to simplify the matter greatly, is that a positive right is something that permits you to act a certain way -- something granted to you -- whereas a negative right is a claim to noninterference -- something that precludes action from being taken against you, either by government or by other people. [...]

"Take for example the issue of gay marriage. When gay marriage is polled, it is almost always framed as a positive right, as in: "should the government permit Adam and Steve to get married?" [...] But there is a different way to frame the question that is no less fair, and flips the issue on its head. Namely: "should the government be allowed to prohibit Adam and Steve from getting married?". This is closer to the logic embodied by the court decisions in Iowa, California, Massachusetts, and other states. [...]

"And it turns out that if you frame a polling question in this particular way, as Gallup and USA Today did recently, you get a very different set of responses. [...] When USA Today asks whether gay marriage is a private decision, or rather whether government has the right to pass laws which regulate it, 63 percent say it's a private decision. [...]

"[L]ook at what Equality California said on its website at the time:

Every Californian should have the choice to marry the person they love. It’s a personal and fundamental freedom guaranteed by the California Constitution.

[...]
"What if Equality California had instead said this:

California's government should not have the right to interfere with the decision of two loving adults to get married. It’s a personal and fundamental freedom protected by the California Constitution.

"You see the distinction? Equality California was still stuck in the positive rights paradigm."

(there's more)

I'm home, after eight months of hospitalization and rehabilitation. I'm out, I'm free, I'm terrified. Now I've got to figure out how, well, everything by my myself. Of course, Velma is here, mornings and evenings and weekends, and I've got a home care attendant every day. But I want to do it by myself.

Good news and bad news: I got social security disability, but it's not enough. I figure I can work again in about six months; at least, I hope so. In the meantime, I am asking for charity.

Thank you. I really wish to not have to do this anymore.

"Water-boarding is torture... It's drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It is no good, because you -- I'll put it to you this way; you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."

-- Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, an ex-Seal who endured water-boarding as part of his training

[posted to the Well by Joe Flower]

Lauren -- my social worker -- says we're asking for SSI, not SSD. She's called, and they assured her that I am still eligible. In fact, Lauren has the papers that Buddavarapu (my doctor) is supposed to sign, and that's it. She's confident, in fact. So: again, we wait.

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