A big hearty Hey Y’all! I hope you’re having a good morning/evening in your neck of the woods today. It’s a lovely morning in mine. I took the time to finish my cup of hot tea after caring for our four legged family members neither which have been skunked in months, so it seems we got passed the skunks breeding season at any rate. We’ve watched the deer drinking from the little natural spring that comes out at the neighbors property. Nina diligently ran at them when they crossed her fence heading towards the road so back to the river they went. The last house our friends across the street had chickens and when they’d get too close to the road, she’d bark her full head off until they went back to what she deemed a safe place. Amazingly, those chickens did learn in quite a short time and kept away from the road.
An Internet friend and I have been chatting about the potential and problematic issues going on at the Strait and how it can and has had an effect on countries using MRIs which of course in turn can effect our lives. I never thought of what an MRI machine uses other than magnets of course. Did you know they use liquid helium to cool everything down? Apparently there are companies who are developing new machines that can use less. You should look it up if you’re as interested in it as we are. It also led me down a rabbit hole to what it takes to dismantle an older machine MRI Disposal: Essential Steps and Considerations | Okon Recycling which led to this Superconductive magnet design - Questions and Answers in MRI. I do apologize for not putting links in for the potential issues, apparently when I had to update my devices, it has blocked all those. Which is why you’ll need to do your own homework this time. But it may answer some questions for some of our folks as to why it’s taking so long to get images. They expect prices to go up on getting one. I think they have for me when I had one recently done on my wrist. The cost to me for it was as much as my last set of MRIs. Still, I am happy to have insurance and my supplemental. My parents taught us the importance of adding a supplemental to my Medicare and BH got a supplemental upon retirement. Next month I’ll get my brain imaged so we’ll see how much I’ll be charged for it. Fortunately its just the MRI, the neurosurgeon doesn’t need the MRA nor the pituitary MRI.
Years ago we had an older neighbor who changed her Medicare to the lowest she could do upon the advice of her daughter and against the advice of the insurance salesman that went over to her home. The neighbor asked for my input and I suggested she listen to the salesman as he had more experience. Of course the daughter was livid and convinced her mom to listen to her. Our neighbor was not wealthy by any means, had not put any savings whilst working at the sock factory for retirement and things were tight for her financially. Her children never helped her, she fed their families every Sunday and they didn’t think of the cost it was for the food. Come the end of the year, our elderly neighbor developed skin cancer and had to pay everything out of pocket. Her daughter was upset that her mom hadn’t paid for the higher cost of insurance and was a bit rude to her mom about it. Let’s just say it was a good thing I hadn’t ruptured yet or I would not have chosen my words as carefully as I did.
The moral of the story is get the best insurance you can afford and most definitely save for retirement. As we age, everything gets more expensive and I do mean everything. If you own your home, you have maintenance that needs to be done and repairs made. Your medical appointments may increase (between BH and I we had 17 appointments just this month!), need for medicine may creep into your life. Daily living expenses like food, utilities and gasoline will increase. I can remember as a child gas was 27 cents USD a gallon. By the time I was old enough to drive, there was a shortage and it went to $1.27 USD a gallon. Diesel was the least expensive and people started buying vehicles that used diesel which drove the cost of diesel up over the years. Folks used to talk about having a nest egg for when we got married and wanted to raise a family. I don’t remember anyone talking about having a much larger nest egg for when we retired and started aging. It certainly, most definitely needs to be done. My first vehicle was a used '71 Camaro and it cost $1,500 USD. My brothers taught me how to do more than just maintenance which my Dad had taught. They’d be working on their own vehicles or laying on the floor watching television. I’d make the sound the car was making and they’d tell me how to fix it. The younger of my two brothers would often come out eventually to see if I was doing the repair correctly. I even learned to do the bit of body work by talking to a friend of my Dad’s who had a friend that collected Camaros, over the phone no less. Thus the name for the car became “Bondo”. 1985 I purchase a new Dodge D-50 for around $6,000 USD The Subaru we just bought cost as much as our first home! Sticker shock to say the least. I cannot work on it myself due to the complicated electronics so it, like our last couple of vehicles will need to go to a shop for repairs.
We had some friends who came to the US from England back in the '60’s with 2 children, 3 suitcases and $1,500 USD to their names. They passed away a few years ago but they were the ones who taught us how to save money, something neither of our parents did unfortunately. We had just bought our first home when we were in our mid 30’s and they came over to see it. They’d helped us get it by talking to the president of the local bank. I had no credit because my dad taught me that if I didn’t have the money to pay cash, I didn’t need it and the last thing that I had bought was the D-50 which I did take out a loan. BH had gotten into problems with bankruptcy because the company went bankrupt and owed BH quite a bit of money for all the traveling that was done. The bank manager said it was better that BH had a credit history even with the bankruptcy that was mostly paid off than I did not having any credit to my name.
Anyhow, this wonderful couple taught us to pay ourselves 20% of our bring home pay to put into savings. Then to pay for our needs, housing, utilities, petrol, insurance, clothing, food types of things. After the needs were paid, then to look at our wants. If we had nothing left, we wanted nothing. They also suggested getting a financial advisor which we did and have followed the advice which has served us very well. Every time a raise or bonus came our way, it went to the principal of our first home. We figured we weren’t used to it so into the house it went and we were able to pay off the 30 year loan in 13 years. Our friends and coworkers thought we should have bought a nicer home but we opted for one that either of us separately could pay the mortgage on in case one of us was without a job. Our friends who gave us the lesson on finances, passed away multi-millionaires, we will not but we should be comfortable as we keep aging. It was a bit hard those first 2-3 months, but we quickly got used to it and liked to see our savings grow which was a huge incentive. We also set an allowance for each of us. Allowances did increase over the decades so that was nice. BH bought lunches, I bought tools and made my lunch. I no longer get an allowance and I’m not happy about it even though I can just go get one needed. I can’t buy BH things without BH knowing how much I paid. BH does all the finances since I ruptured. I think my math skills went out of my brain with the blood lost to the Subarachnoid Space, at least that’s what I tell folks. I do hope y’all decide to do something similar so when you retire, you have a good nest egg as well. If you’re already retired, our advisor says it’s still helpful as they can help set up a budget. That’s the musings for this week and now on to our newest members!
@paola26 is in Texas. Paola shares they survived a brain aneurysm in 2005 so it makes me wonder if it ruptured. Since then Paola has dealt with memory problems and right side of body weakness making daily activities difficult. Paola has joined to connect with others who understand and learn from our experiences. Paola is also wondering where to get financial aid to continue education. Paola shares the like to spend time with family and help others. Currently in school for Business Administration. Enjoys learning new things and staying positive.
@NicoleM is in Tennessee. Nicole has been told a craniotomy for a MCA aneurysm is needed. She shares she’s a 38 year old disabled woman with a severe brachial plexus (Brachial plexus - Wikipedia) injury that’s left her dominate hand paralyzed and has chronic nerve pain. Nicole recently found out about her aneurysm and the surgeon is recommending clipping. Nicole says she has many fears since the diagnosis and wants to be prepared and strong as she can be going into surgery. She also shares she’s has the most wonderful pack of 3 Huskies and one kitty at home that helps her in so many ways. Outside of her fur family, she only has her elderly mother for support.
For our new members, please start a new topic under General, click o the + Add New Topic, fill in the parameters, let us know how we can help. We won’t know until you ask. If you run into any issues on the site, reach out to me @Moltroub or the kind folks that make up @ModSupport Be patient as we are not all in the same time zone. I get on in the mornings usually and rarely get back on as I do have chores and things to do. The kind folks who make up the ModSupport team are supporting all of the Ben’s Friends Rare Disease Groups which is quite a lot of them. All of us have health issues and sometimes we just can’t reply.
For our existing members who’ve taken time out of their day to respond to others, a great big hug and thank you! Thanks to everyone who updates their going ons with their aneurysm journey. It’s important to share so others can learn!
OF course I’m closing this with a reminder to hydrate appropriately, eat your protein, rest as needed and for goodness sake practice your relaxation breathing! Until next time, be safe, enjoy the weather and start seeing positives in each and every day.