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      Tuesday, July 01, 2008


catstuff
10:03 PM - 07/01/2008

The topic: New camera!

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Well, it’s not altogether new, but it has its own page now.

I started up the dinnercam again last month and today, I gave it its own webpage.  So, when the occasional cam is down for the night, the dinnercam will be up for a couple of hours. 

The background, button and bar graphics are from a picture of kibble I took this past weekend.  It was fun doing graphics again.

http://dinner.catcam.us


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tales from the parkside
02:31 PM - 07/01/2008

The topic: Bills

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My mom was a Kaiser member.  Three days before she was admitted to Chase (the nursing facility), every single one of her prescriptions was refilled at Kaiser, because we didn’t know what exactly she had at home.

Now, Chase had me bring in her prescriptions because they didn’t have enough to give her until they got her pills from their own source (she couldn’t take her Kaiser prescriptions with her).  The month after she died, I started getting forwarded mail from Chase.  The billings for the meds she took while at Chase.  They were from a company by the name of Modern Health Pharmacy.  I paid the first one on March 15, for $124.54.  Then there came another one. I can’t find a copy of it, but I believe it was $220.00, or thereabouts.

I didn’t want to pay it.  So, I didn’t.  Then we got another one.  Now, keep in mind, these are all forwarded from Chase, none are coming directly to us.

So, I call Kaiser. They tell me to send them a copy of the bills along with mom’s Kaiser information and a message.  I did so.  I get a letter back from them, saying they need more information (in the letter I gave them the name of mom’s facility along with the name of her Kaiser physician while at Chase).  Then I get another bill from Modern Health Pharmacy that has how much was billed to Kaiser and with a balance of twenty-nine dollars and change.  I don’t pay it.

Well, last week I got another (forwarded, mind you) bill.  With a dollar finance charge.  I growl.  I complained to Brian.  He said “just pay it and be done with it”.  But, but, but….it’s the principle of the matter!  So, today I sit here paying bills and think “I’m going to call”.  I’d already written out a check, but decided to call before they got a check with “blood suckers” written in the memo area (which I really did).

I had to leave a message and they called back.  We discussed the bill.  “Oh, it’s the co-pay amount that’s due”.  Okay, then why does the statement dated 5-8, the one that shows what was billed to Kaiser, have the same items on it (albeit a different, lower amount due on them) listed, when those were paid for? “Let me talk to the billing department and call you back.”  Okay.

She calls back.  Tells me, again, it’s the co-pay.  It still doesn’t make sense to me.  I ask her exactly what did they bill Kaiser for? Remember, there was the first bill of $124.54, then $220.00.  This statement says they billed Kaiser $268.99. 

Something isn’t computing.  I tell her to please fax me a copy of the February statement (dated March 8) and a copy of what they billed Kaiser. So I can compare the two.  I hear the adding maching going in the background. She tells me again “let me talk to the billing department and call you back”.  I said “you can just write this money off and we’ll call it square, I just want to be done with it”.  Nope, she’s going to get it straightened out.  I think she thought that I owed money and she wanted to be able to explain it to me.  I’m thinking that there was a double billing for the first month.  The amount I paid was billed to Kaiser, too, once Kaiser contacted them for information. 

So, the phone rings.  I’m getting a check for twenty-six dollars and change.

I win!  Mom would be so proud.


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catstuff
10:30 AM - 07/01/2008

The topic: To the vet!

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Oliver has been flatulent the past month.  He’s just not looked like he was on his game.  So, last Wednesday I called to make an appointment for him. The office was closed Friday and yesterday was the soonest I could get him in.

Ollie had lost three pounds since his last visit, but other than that, the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with him.  The vet complained and kept blowing in Ollie’s face when he tried to listen to Ollie’s heart.  He couldn’t hear it over the purring.  *lol* He said Oliver was doing well for a cat his age.  18!  I had no idea he was that old, but remember, I got him from the ex-petsitter who got him from her father-in-law.  The vet told met that there might have been a little bowel problem that made Ollie pass gas.

He suggested Ollie have blood tests to find out the reason for the weight loss and he’d call me later. 

Ollie didn’t fight the blood draw and they kept telling me what a great cat he is.  And I couldn’t help but think of what the ex-sitter said when she told me he needed a home.  “That he had problems with people and if we didn’t take him, she’d have him put to sleep because she didn’t trust him around people.”  Yeah, right.

So, the vet calls yesterday afternoon, around 4:30.  Ollie’s kidney values aren’t the best they could be, he’s in stage two kidney failure.  Which isn’t that bad, it goes up to stage five.  He told me of a drug, Calcitriol, that will help extend Ollie’s life.  He’ll get it on a daily basis, just a small amount.  The vet would call in the prescription to a compounding pharmacy in Arizona and they’d call me today to get billing information. And when I need it refilled, I can call them direct.

The vet said this should make Ollie feel much better.  I sure hope so. He deserves a good life.


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catstuff
10:12 AM - 07/01/2008

The topic: It’s TUMMY TUESDAY #97!

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And today, we have Benny back in the spotlight!


click for a larger pic

I’ve been thinking Ben might be a candidate for a vet visit in the near future.  He’s been terribly obnoxious about jumping on Bart and trying to do the dirty. And Bart is too arthritic to really do much about it.  It’s mostly just posturing on Ben’s part, I’m sure, because he never gets past the biting the back of the neck or the upper back.  I’ve never seen any mounting.

But.

I’m thinking Bart is not the only cat who’s being bothered by Ben.  Yesterday, I was watching television and reading through the paper when I heard a cat fight out back.  I put down my coffee and walk out yelling.  And I see Jackie has Benny cornered by one of the cathouses in the back yard.  I see a huge area of grey fluffy fur on the ground under the laundry room window.  I tell Jack to just walk away, leave him alone.  I make sure we’ve got eye contact.  It took four or five messages to him to back off until he did.  Then I went over and pulled Benny out of the house, growling at me the entire time.  I brought him inside and rubbed my hands down his sides.  I found a tooth.  A lower canine.

*sigh*

Then I notice Georgie seems pretty upset, puffy and breathing hard, up on the kitchen counter.  I look at him and see much grey fur in his back claws.  And I start to understand what happened.

Benny most likely decided he was going to show George who was boss, just like he does Bart. But Georgie is not decrepit like Bart and he fights back.  Now, I don’t know if any of you are familiar with cat fights in a multi cat home, but it’s like a schoolyard fight.  There’s an audience and it’s a safe bet that when one participant backs off, another is willing to step in and continue the scuffle.  And I think George got away and Jackie stepped in. 

I checked George’s mouth and he has all of his canines.  The tooth has to belong to Jackie. There’s not much to do at this point.  I’m not overly worried about it, I’ve noticed that a couple of the oldsters have lost teeth.  Mickey, Bart, Kirby, just three that I’m sure of. 

Anyway, I started Ben on amoxicillan yesterday morning, just in case.  He was pretty sore yesterday afternoon, couldn’t jump up onto the counter and had a hard time jumping from the coffee table to the sofa.  Last night while we watched television, he curled up next to me, and I cradled my arm around him and he seemed pretty content. 

But I think in the near future, Benny will be making a little trip down to the corner and visit with the fine people at the vet’s office.

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If you’ve got a Tummy Tuesday blog entry, feel free to post the link in the comment section or trackback to this entry. And if you put a link back to this page, then more kitties will get to show off their tummies!

 


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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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