🍁A Most Unreliable Narrator ☕️ Issue #198 Sugar Spiking
This week: healthcare in America is a joke, teaching classes, running up that hill
Dear Internet,
My therapist rescheduled our next session to Saturday morning, and it was such a relief to talk to him since it’s been a few weeks, and a lot has been going on. I’m in maintenance mode which means I only see him once a month. When I was in crisis earlier this year, it was once a week. As time has ticked on, and my brain has settled into an innocuous beat, I don’t need to see him as much.
Plus, it’s cheaper. Overall, for a therapist, he’s cheap. I’ve paid as much as $300/hr without insurance. Mental care in the US is a fucking joke and I’m so grateful I’m in a space where I have a good team behind me. I try not to think about the “what ifs” of this scenario. OK, I lied. My medicating RN is only licensed in KY and when we move up to MI permanently, I’ll need to find another place to manage my meds. This in and of itself isn’t a huge issue, but my KY medicating RN uses Mark Cuban’s CostPlus for my drugs, and I get Latuda, without insurance, for maybe pennies per pill. I’m talking three months’ supply with my other two psych meds comes out to $60 or so every 90 days. Even with insurance, Latuda alone is $100 or so a month. Alone before the other meds. So, that is obviously a concern.
Mr. Lisa is entering the foray himself into seeing a therapist. He’s caught in the tangle of finding someone who can practice in KY and MI. He’s looking at various online options, suggested by our insurance company, and I’m hoping he can find someone. Mr. Lisa did GeneSite, the genetic test to see what psych drugs work and don’t work for him. Turns out the meds he’s been on in the past were in his yellow and red lists which is why they weren’t working. He’s trying something new, but he’s been off it since his hospitalization. We’re hoping he gets back on one soon.
Update on Mr. Lisa’s Health
This week was a ringer for the Mr. and Ms. Lisa household.
Mr. Lisa was on 20 mg of prednisone, a steroid, to help with his kidney function since it got demolished when he was in the hospital due to an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. Docs warned Mr. Lisa the steroid would push his sugars up to close to 300 (your sugars should roughly be between 80 – 120) but despite eating the way he should be eating, sleeping like he can sleep, his sugars were raging between 300 to 350. There were a couple of scary times when it spiked to nearly 400.
On this day it spiked to nearly 400, we called the diabetes management center at the hospital to get his insulin adjusted. They were closed. We called urgent care, they don’t monitor insulin. We called our local GP office but since Mr. Lisa hadn’t seen them in over 3 years, he’d be listed as a new patient, and they couldn’t get him in for another 10 days. Look, I said to the scheduler, we need help now, not in 10 days. They kept apologizing over and over again. Our last resort was ER which Mr. Lisa wanted to stay away from. He was beyond frustrated that they cut his insulin more than ½ and sent him on his way. He did the research on insulin adjustment and coupled with what he was getting in the hospital before they dropped it to 1/2, he did the adjusting himself.
He’s feeling a lot better.
Health care in America is beyond awful.
He saw the kidney doctor and wound surgeon this week. His kidneys are bouncing back, and the wound surgeon was beyond pleased with the process. The kidney doctor cut Mr. Lisa’s prednisone in half for the next few days and then half again until Mr. Lisa sees him in a few weeks.
It is a relief he’s not dead, but we are both angry and frustrated with health care in America. Mr. Lisa shouldn’t have provided his own care but here we are.
Nerd Girl Industries
I released the first issue of NGI Presents this past week to my whopping six subscribers. I’m pleased as punch there are six because I never advertised. Hopefully that will change.
Anyway, it was just a brief update on the upcoming video series I plan on doing which is delayed since Mr. Lisa and I are in KY for a few more weeks.
The other update I dropped is I’m teaching a class for an online writer’s group on social media and online presence for non-profits, creatives, small businesses, and freelancers. The goal of the class is for someone who can’t necessarily afford to hire me but want to keep current with their online presence. Stats, free or cheap tools, guides, etc. The class is set to go live in July 2025. I started reaching out to other writer’s groups with the proposition and so far, people are loving it. What’s expected of your online presence changes every damned day and I keep up on the industry, so the class will be as current as possible.
Mr. Lisa suggested why don’t I sell the class on Udemy. I thought, “Self. That is a damned good idea!” I hadn’t been to Udemy in a while, so I signed up and checked out a few classes on social media. From what I’ve seen, the content is outdated (TikTok was not mentioned in at least one class), no stats, no handouts, it’s just a shit show. I’m appalled these classes have thousands of students. I’m in a class right now that compliments my idea and I’m taking notes. I don’t know when my class will go live. I’m hoping by the end of the year.
A friend who is also in my industry with complimentary work recommended I get on Fiverr. Yes, Fiverr can be hard to hustle but after doing research on what’s available, I feel I have a pretty good shot starting to get work since I go beyond social media services. The services are sold piece meal, so I’ve been building out on that. Another thing I hope to have done by the end of the year.
Lastly, selling the course directly from my site. This is also an option and honestly, the best since it guarantees updates for students for life whereas not the same with Udemy. Also, something I hope to have done by the end of the year.
I’m still adjusting my pricing structure. It’s been a pain in the ass.
One of my existing clients wants to go on Pinterest so I created a business account over there and I have started posting. I signed up for a free marketing event they are having in a few weeks. Their intro guide to passive income on Pinterest was really interesting and for my existing client, something we can totally get into.
I’m also cross-posting over to LinkedIn because “it’s all about networking.” I’m trying hard to balance my personality and that of a douche. I despise high pressure tactics, inflated prices, and bravado as a selling point. I have an idea, I want to execute that idea, and I want to do it in a non-smarmy way.
Michigan Arrival Finalized
We were able to schedule Mr. Lisa’s follow ups before the end of the month which gives us leave to head back up to MI early October. I have a specific date to be there as I have an author reading, the gas stove needs to get installed, and so do the blinds. We’ve been pushing everything out to accommodate our current schedule.
If things go well, we won’t be coming back to KY until next spring. We’re going to transfer Mr. Lisa’s care up north since we do have a GP we’re using as well as get a kidney doc and wound care specialist.
I can’t wait! I’ve got plans to snowshoe this winter!
My dear pal Sloth (yes, his legal name) volunteers for Code for Good, a free tech event where tech people and non-profits get together to do some good once a year. Mr. Lisa and I are volunteering our skills and time so I’m pretty pumped to go. It’ll be helpful for both of us to network and make new friends. We can always make new friends!
Sometimes
…I say a lot without saying anything at all. (It feels often like this is true.)
Wonderful Thing
Running Up that Hill by Kate Bush covered by Meg Myers
I’m going to lose my Gen X street cred here, but I really like the cover by Meg. Kate’s great and all but this version speaks to my soul. PLUS! It’s hand colored by over 2100 kids! How cool is that?
The behind the scenes video is also super neat!
Let's exchange the experience,
lisa x
I know that hospital release pain. My BF was in for about 10 with pancreatitis. He was on pain meds and steroids while in the hospital and then released and was faced with dealing with withdrawal from both that first week out. He said he could completely understand why people develop an opioid addiction, the withdrawal is no joke. I'm glad Mr. Lisa is feeling better.