2004-05 Journal Entry #4 - Don't Know What We're Going To Do

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(Click on the Thumbnails for full pictures)

I have not done well keeping the journal up this year. There was so much of the same old - same old. Sharon says I go through this every summer when we come back but every year it feels different. This year, I just haven't had the motivation to keep in touch or even keep record of what we've been doing.

Travel Medical Insurance

This whole year has been a lesson in travel medical insurance, medical services and the heath care systems. Because, in three years, we had not claimed anything from the medical travel insurance, we decided to take $1000.00 deductible.

With Fred's trip to Emergency, his infection, chiropractic services, meds, etc., when we finally got all the reimbursements back from Alberta Health Care and Blue Cross, we found out that it costs us about $600.00 more than it would have even if we had bought the insurance with $99.00 deductible and about $75.00 more than if we had no travel medical insurance at all - but then, would we want to travel without any travel medical insurance? Once we got home and all the claims came in - it looked like this. This was the first eye opener.

Item Cost Reimburse

Chiropractor

Difference $195.23

Hospital-Emergency & Emergency-Doctor

Difference $467.79

Doctor - Mexico

Difference $20.13

Drugs Difference-$29.78

Total medical expenses - $811.93

WITH NO MEDICAL TRAVEL INSURANCE

Medical Travel Insurance @ $1000.00 deductible

$666.00 + $811.93 = $1477.93

Medical Travel Insurance @ $99.00 deductible

$788.00 + $99.00 = $887.00

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And so on to our Summer, 2005

We have been in no rush to do anything this year, so our journey to Kelowna was deliberately slow and we stopped a lot. Our first stop was at a place called the Cedar Grove at Grey Creek. We spent a few days on the east side of the Kootenay Lake parked in a cedar grove next to the river. Wonderful smells and sounds of the rushing water (the water was really rushing as it seldom stopped raining) and different wildflowers that I had never seen before - like this "mountain lily".

The area (especially Crawford Bay) hosts a number of very unique artists. We had a great visit with a weaver working on a gigantic double loom, a blacksmith, a fellow making brooms and one very talented gal blowing glass.

Then we stopped at Midway, BC (half way between the ocean and the Rocky Mountains) at our favourite little campground and one morning watched a red-headed woodpecker attack the tree right next to the trailer.

Onto Kelowna and three very successful presentations. We even got our 5 seconds of fame when the local TV station came and video'd part of our session for the 5 o'clock news. We were there for almost a week and then onto Revelstoke, B.C. where we met a friend and went up to see the dam, went out to the hot springs and caught a cold.

We did manage to stop at Craigellachie where the last spike of the trans-continental Railway was laid. It was quite a feat and many lives were lost - a tribute to the thousands of workers!!

The "Other" Last Spike

But the most extreme working conditions, perhaps in the world at that time, were in the mountain ranges of British Columbia. Men were mangled or killed by falling rock, by slides, by avalanches, by runaway horses and above all by the incessant blasting. Huge rocks hurtled out of tunnels like cannon balls. In 1881-82 at least 6000 workers ... were shipped ... from Hong Kong . The railway would not have been built without them. Death was far more frequent among the Chinese than the other groups. The litany of death reads “crushed by a log,” “killed by falling rock,” “drowned,” “smothered by cave-in” and of course death by explosion. Scores also died of scurvy, 200 in the first year alone. They received little notice or medical care.

After the dignitaries left on that gloomy November morning, the workmen persuaded the photographer to insert another plate and they posed for their own version of the “Last Spike.” They knew who really built the great railway to the Pacific.

A trip to Glacier National Park to meet the friends who took care of us in Yuma and a few days out around Pincher Creek with other friends rounded out our summer adventures.

Like I said, I've not taken many pictures but here are a few I think are special.

I'm into Writing . . . You Know!

With all the rain and such, I was able to finish Chapters 3 and 4 of my "Tails" book. My association with other writers has helped me get out of my funk. I realized that my process is to start out gung ho on a project - then realized how horrendously BIG it is . . . slink off somewhere to lick my wounds and encounter a "Eureka". This is when I do what I call REC the writing - that is revise, eliminate and consolidate. I'm starting to feel a lot more in control now. I'm now onto Chapter 7.

Back to the Medical Crap

Much of our summer has been taken up with "what's going on with Fred's hip/leg? " With all the complaints we've heard, I was surprised at how responsive the Health Care system has been . . . BUT . . . (and there is always a but, isn't there?) - they are so territory-sensitive - you end up going from one to the other because GP are restricted from ordering the tests - that's the territory of ONLY the specialist - the physio therapist couldn't refer us to the specialist so we had to go back to the GP to get the referral to the specialist - and they wonder why medical costs are so high! Anyway an MRI did not shed any light on what was causing the pain. Try physio . . . therapist says he didn't think it has anything to do with muscles or nerves and got his hand on one instrument to test Fred's circulation - he thinks it might have something to do with the circulation. Back to the GP because the physio cannot refer Fred for an MRA (angiogram). So back to the GP. He can't order an MRA either so onto a referral to an internal medicine specialist. Uh-huh, he says, as he exams Fred . . . and he orders the MRA. That takes a few weeks to organize and the appointment is set for October 5th and then back to get the results a week later. The doctor told Fred, if it is circulation, there is a procedure in Lethbridge, but Calgary offers a far less invasive procedure, (if it is a circulation block). If that is the case, who knows how long it will take to get it done in Calgary - if that is what it is.

So now we are looking at maybe the first of the year before he can "get fixed"-once we figure out what it is. Then the Travel Insurance folks want him to be stable for at least 3 months.

Long story short - we have cancelled our travel insurance and have no idea what we are going to do or when. Other than that, we are both fine!

Stay tuned for the next episode in the saga of Fred's pain!!