Mid-week

In mid-week news: I learned that my student loan income-based repayment arrangement has been extended for another year, Stephanie learned the name of her mother’s/stepfather’s lawyer (from Bob) as we prepare for our Ohio visit this weekend, and I learned that my nephew starts 5th grade this morning. The school (pictured above) is a K-5 school, and so Jacob will be a senior!

Tuesday I narrowly averted catastrophe when I turned out my key had NOT broken off into the ignition, requiring rebuilding the ignition. Instead, the key had just broken off apparently onto the ground and all I needed was to have a copy of Stephanie’s key to my car made. We’re holding our breath because I think my transmission is going, but it’s possible we’re going to wind up with Nancy’s car, perhaps depending on what’s going to happen this weekend.

-- Perry

Surprises

Two surprising things Mom’s financial advisor told us the week before Christmas:

- Mom might be able to pay $300 a month to secure long-term care insurance.

- The way tax brackets work is not that, when your income goes up from let’s say $10,000 to $20,000, you jump up from the 10 percent tax bracket to the 20 percent tax bracket. Instead, you pay federal taxes at 10 percent on the first $10,000 (or whatever) and then at 20 percent at just the rest of the year’s income.

The realtor also called us back to tell us that getting a house on the market by April before the $8,000 tax break for first-time homeowners expires would be good, but she hasn’t talked with that many clients who used this. In Louisville, many house for-sale signs include an extra sign about the tax credit; we’ve yet to see such a sign in Tallahassee (even though on a short dog walk earlier this week Frisco and I saw NINE houses and one lot for sale!).

For more information on Mom’s financial advisor, see: https://my.hdvest.com/clements
Her office is located in the shadow of the old Tallahassee Community Hospital (pictured above), where Mom nearly died 14 years ago.

-- Perry

Sunday AM update

Today (on Sunday) we're slated to say good-bye to Grandpa, check in with our replacement, visit with Stephanie's friend Melissa and one of her kids at the Columbus zoo (pictured above), pick Vincent up from his father's (wherever that happens to be), and return home to Louisville. Monday I'll go back to work and Stephanie will pick up the dog from the veterinarian's. We'll also need to wash all of the no doubt smoke-filled clothes (now from his own smoke too) Vincent has brought back from his father's, check in to see how our turtle-sitter (Vincent's former prom date) did, mow the lawn (after 10 days away), and pick up our accumulated mail. It's always possible that Vincent won't come with us - In a sense, we're still his guardians as the court charged us de facto with supervising until he - hopefully - gets the charges wiped off his juvenile record in a year - and he's got more medication at home, as well as counseling, psychiatrist, dental, and orthodontist appointments. But - when we've been in a bad mood about his lack of work - we've said perhaps he might as well just stay with his father (wherever that might be - Ohio? Florida? no permanent home right now) since Stephanie has threatened to exit him from our house if he doesn't finish the two on-line classes he's currently enrolled in by August 1 (and that's this coming Saturday). I doubt he's gotten much done on those in the past 12 days.) He could just decide to cut his losses and stay. (And - except perhaps for the legal problems - at 18 this would be entirely up to him.) Last night both Stephanie and I had odd dreams - her about work and mine about student loan repayment. Armed with Jack McCoy (Sam Watterson's character in "Law and Order") in a meeting in my dreams, I learned on the Web - after waking up - about a brand-new (as of July 1) program (that I assume the Democratic Congress helped create) that may allow me to cap my monthly student loan repayments at $450-600 and ultimately to forgive some loan principal (along with Stephanie trying to get Indiana and perhaps the federal government to forgive some of her loan principal (which we've already strated to pay back) for teaching in a Title I (working-class) school). I'll have to make some phone calls about this this week, as otherwise much larger payments loom in September. We've done a decent job of starting to catch up on sleep in Ohio after an exhausting Las Vegas trip and days, weeks, and months before that. However, Monday Stephanie may also go to the doctor's office because she fears she has blood clots again - in her MN ruptured-calf leg, not her blood clot leg from her November Guatemala trip - with the 4-hour red-eye flight, feeling sick and tired and so sleeping for 4 hours in the Atlanta airport - instead of walking around. It may be that Stephanie can't take these long flights or we have to figure how to send her on these only if we can make sure she is well (and definitely not red-eye flights). In Ohio family news: the condition of Stephanie's stepbrother Bobby continues to deteriorate, contractors start to tear up and then rebuilding Stephanie's mother and stepfather's house's first floor this week, and one of Stephanie's aunt and uncle threaten to split up after being married for 32 years.

-- Perry

Health news

My Mother spent most of the morning at the same orthopedic practice where she’s been a couple of times, this time partly with a spine doctor who also specializes in medication. Apparently the scans Mom has done showed something that was readily apparent to everyone before: definite osteoporosis in a bone that connects the hip with the spine and some vertebrae collapse around there.

What will be up next is an attempt to persuade Mom’s insurance company, Florida Blue Cross Blue Shield, to pay for use of an until recently experimental drug that not only – like some of the “miracle drug” she’s been taking – reduces some of the pain and symptoms associated with this bone decay, etc. – but also builds the bone back up (teriparatide - a synthetic hormone that the manufacturer calls Forteo). Ironically, the maker of this new medication – which has been marketing thie medication for about eight years – is Lily, whose foundation paid my salary and benefits for 4 ½ years. Ironically, I also got the news from my Mom minutes after making more calls over in Southern Indiana in support of President Obama’s health care reform.

The news is serious no matter what happens: First, Mom has some serious osteoporosis that puts her more at risk for something like breaking her hip (and recall that our friend Mary Hardison was never able to complete a hip replacement and is bed-bound at Westminster Oaks). Second, even if the insurance company approves coverage of the new medication, it involves use of a complex delivery system akin to diabetes, where Mom would have to inject herself with the medication every day. Third, if the insurance company nixes it, Mom might have to forego this potentially life-saving medication or get a lawyer to advocate for her with the insurance company or dip more heavily into her savings and change some other financial patterns.

We’ll see what happens. Mom doesn’t like needles but she seemed to accommodate herself to this possibility. Mom also didn’t seem very inclined to push it if the insurance company says No.

-- Perry