Only 2 more days in the month of June. It has sure been a busy month!
A compass in the sidewalk outside our local history museum surprised me, that State St. in Black Mountain flows North-east to South-west...rather than just E to W. Well, it does have a few bends that are almost unnoticeable.
And it tell us the elevation is 2,499.1 feet above sea level. I'm going to move to Durango CO at the end of July, and it's 6, 532 feet in elevation. Not sure exactly what part of town it is, since there's a big hill behind my soon-to-be-apartment building, with Fort Lewis College located up there.
But the message to me is it's 2-1/2 times higher than where I now live. Thus all my trips up to the mountains nearby on the Blue Ridge Parkway. (You thought I just loved them, which is actually true.) What will I do when I have really high mountains to climb? OK, I'm not planning those trips until I can acclimate to the altitude where I'll be sleeping! Pulmonologists are saying I may acclimate in a few weeks. I still get to sleep with oxygen and my CPAP. And I have portable oxygen for possible need as well.
The other day I talked to scheduling in Durango and made my first doctor's appointment. A primary care provider. I'm learning to talk to the people on the ground, so to speak. The insurance folks thought another doc was taking new patients, so I called there for an appointment the month after my move. Nah, when I got the scheduler at the hospital where all the doctors are part of a network, she said that doc wasn't taking new patients, and what kind of doc did I want, an internist or general practitioner.
I honestly didn't know the difference. But I told her my major needs and she said a GP would do well. Of course he'll probably be 25 years old, and I may have to drive through awful traffic to get to him, where the first choice was 2 blocks from my soon-to-be apartment.
There have been times in my life when I was unemployed and had no health insurance. We stayed healthier then, I think.
Wouldn't it be nice to have good healthcare that is free and no longer dependent upon profit making insurance companies?
How is it that this country has gotten into this mess?
My soon-to-be apartment building on the left, but my apartment will be on the other (west) side of the building.
I can't wait to see this boulevard covered in snow! Of course I may eat these words!
---------------------
For climate change interest:
See the new site as described in this NPR article for up to date info that's no longer available from NOAA due to the government cutbacks. climate.us
That's a big move! Do you have family in the area or do you just want a new adventure? Good luck. Moving is always a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to move closer to one of my sons and his wife. And cat and dog!! I also need to keep breathing and hope the dry air will help my lung condition.
DeleteI'm glad you're planning ahead about medical care, good thinking. There's no such thing as free healthcare. We pay either in high taxes or in insurance premiums. I'm endlessly thankful to LBJ for Medicare.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the "free lunch" situation...and also am ever so grateful to not be in the 1920s for medical care...I'd probably not have lived this long otherwise.
DeleteWe have the health care but sometimes a shortage of doctors. Glad I am not one of those without a family doctor. However, nothing is perfect.
ReplyDeleteI guess the grass is always greener, as the saying goes. I missed a new posting from you around 7 when I started reading blogs. Perhaps by now...
DeleteI remember when I was attending University of Denver and was doing some volunteer first-aid assistance at concerts and it was not unusual at all for performers, especially vocalists, to need O2 backstage due to the high elevation. Bands would come and go so quickly on tour that they did not have any time to acclimate. It's a very real thing.
ReplyDeleteWell, you've lived a mile high yourself! Thanks for sharing about the band performers needing O2 to acclimate to the high elevation! when I visited last year, I bought a little bottle of it, and tried it when coughing a lot and trying to walk around very much. I honestly didn't notice much difference, but then again I'd had pneumonia just weeks before that trip...so wasn't in the best of conditions in the first place, so that doesn't make a good example.
DeleteHello Barb,
ReplyDeleteI hope your move is smooth and you find some great doctors there. I like the look of your apartments and street. Take care, enjoy your day and the week ahead.
Thanks for your good wishes Eileen. Me too for being hopeful on smooth move and good medical care.
DeleteI know I am looking forward to your move! I sincerely hope the dry air helps your breathing. And glad to hear you are set up with a doctor. My ortho looks like he is 12, but he is the best in the business. Everyone recommends him and he puts you back together perfectly like he is playing with legos. He knows all the new stuff. I was randomly assigned to him by the ER and bless my lucky stars.
ReplyDeleteThat's great to hear about your ortho Dr. I have seen a photo of my Dougie Houser new doc...fingers crossed that he's been to the same schools!
DeleteHaving grown up in elevation of 6,834- living at sea level was great! Cakes baked faster, water boiled faast and i could run faster! Climbing mountains here was easier than ever. Going the opposite way is not fun. When i visit home I can not breathe for days - naps are frequent, Give yourself about two months to acclimate!
ReplyDeleteFriends who live in Colorado seem to have better luck with physicians than I have up here in the north.
Oh my goodness gracious...I will certainly be on the list of nap takers then! But that's good news for my potential physicians. Sorry you're now dealing with less luck on that score...but baking and boiling water does sound productive. I hadn't even thought of that!!
Delete...6, 532' is about 1,000' higher than the highest peak in New York State. We live at about 325'!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you're not any higher. I still have my ears pop going up two thousand more on the parkway usually. But they're doing construction now, so driving is likely to include some dump trucks blocking traffic. Oh well...I still am going to Mt. Mitchell before leaving the southeast.
DeleteYou are wise to be making all these arrangements now.
ReplyDeleteWith less than a month, I started my backwards calendar today. OMG, I don't know how on earth this apartment will be cleared out of 11 years worth of stuff accumulated! And the poor people in SW Colorado have wild fires and the smoke to deal with now. That gives me pause in my expectations of dry clear air!
DeleteBarbara, moving is always a challenge and I wish you all the best on your upcoming relocation. I know you will miss your former home and friends, but moving closer to family and hopefully improved breathing conditions are great incentives. Stuff does have a nasty habit of ing quicker than imaged.
ReplyDeleteYou sound optimistic for you move. Hooray.
ReplyDeleteI just can't fathom what is happening with politics and the billionaires.