There is a small problem. There is no health insurance involved in this scenario.

And I’m pissed.

Why?

I’m pissed because I’ve been asking the doctor for 2 months if my man should be testing his blood sugar. I started asking when the warnings were, “You’re pre-diabetic.” I was told that it was not important – we should just watch what we’re eating.

Last month, he got the, “You’re diabetic but you can still control this with your diet,” speech. I asked again if we should be testing his blood sugar. We were told NO but that we should see a dietitian. The doctor also said, “Besides, without insurance that could be pretty costly to get you a monitor.” Gigantic lie #1.

Thankfully, Virtua has a wonderful Diabetes Education program and appointments were made to see both a nurse and a dietitian. This week we spent an hour with a wonderful nurse who explained everything you could want to know about diabetes with startling clarity. She was really awesome.

And guess what? Monitoring my man’s blood sugar levels is mega-important and we were pleasantly surprised when they supplied him with a glucose monitor and taught him how to use it. The box even had a “discount card” to help with the cost of testing supplies. I asked if we needed a prescription and the nurse said she didn’t think so but we’d need to check.

That day, we had to stop by the Walmart on the way home, so we took the box in and showed it to the pharmacy tech. She said, “Oh, no. You don’t need anything. You just get the supplies from the shelf over there.” We thought that was pretty cool until we got over to the shelf and saw the cost of supplies for a FreeStyle Lite glucose monitor. Almost $70 for 50 testing strips? Almost $120 for 100 testing strips?  We consoled ourselves by remembering that the nurse said the discount card was probably worth about 50% of the price. We thought this was normal. We thought perhaps they had given us a quality monitor, hence the cost of supplies.

Which brings us back to today.

I walked into the Walmart and marched to the diabetic supply aisle. I picked up a box of 50 and a box of 100 and marched to the counter. I asked the tech to tell me the discounted price of each, to be sure it was actually 50% or more (I was hoping, anyway). First she said she couldn’t tell me the price until it was rung up, so I asked her to ring up the larger box to verify the price, thinking I could just cancel out the order. And then she did it. She asked the question that totally ticked me off.

“Do you have a prescription?”

Uhm. No. I had just picked the stuff off the shelf, like I was told I could do during the week. She patiently explained that we could purchase supplies over the counter but that we could not use the discount card without a written doctor’s prescription. I patiently explained that I had been in the week before and shown someone the kit and had not been told that. She said she couldn’t help.

Now, I know it would not have hurt anyone to skip a day of testing while I waited until Monday to call the doctor for a prescription, but the situation was really irritating me and I didn’t feel right. I sat down on the bench in the pharmacy area to think, then went back to the supply aisle.

Let’s do some math, shall we?

Let’s just assume the discount off a box of 50 testing strips for the FreeStyle Lite monitor would have actually been 50% off of the $70-ish price tag. I would have paid about $35 for new strips, plus $10 for a fresh box of lancets. Those two items were on my shopping list.

I stared and stared at the shelf and then it finally hit me. The Reliance glucose meter is $8.98. A box of 50 testing strips is $20 (and for the record, a box of 100 is only $36). A box of lancets is $3.74. Grand total? $32.70. I switched him to an entirely different monitoring system for the price of a box of testing strips on the other system.

The pharmacy tech had been watching me after her crowd cleared out. I took the stuff to the counter and she said, “You’d like these instead?” I looked her dead in the eye and said, “Well, it costs less to switch systems, even after the discount, so why mess around?” She smiled and agreed. She told me they all work just as well. Thing is, it seemed like she simply couldn’t have told me that before. She couldn’t offer me that solution.

I wonder if she’s not allowed?

The health care system, in my opinion, is completely screwed up. The doctor told me a $10 meter would be too expensive (though in his defense, that’s why he sent my man to a diabetic nurse to start with – to a specialist). The education system gave us a meter attached to a relatively expensive line of testing products (even discounted). The pharmacy didn’t point me in the right direction when I was exasperated at the cost.

Do your homework, folks. Price shop. Don’t let anyone force you into purchasing products or medications that aren’t within your means – especially if other options are out there.

More on our journey through the health care system another time, I’m sure…

I’ve had quite a few people ask me how to use Pinterest. It’s really easy. Tristan from Bloggin Bookshelf made a short tutorial on YouTube, and he seems to cover the basics well. Check it out for yourself!

Free WordPress Themes (Sort Of)

Some people will tell you that you absolutely must invest in a premium theme that you’ve paid good money for (good money can be anything from $20 to $250) – and that’s just to use a pre-designed theme. 

Truth? There are plenty of FREE WordPress themes out there to choose from. Some are not as easy to use as others, but if you find a theme is difficult to use you’ll either learn what you need to learn or move on to a different one.

The problem (and the reason for this post) is that some free themes are not as free as they look. I downloaded some wonderful themes a few days ago. What I did not initially realize was that they all had anchor text and links embedded into the footer at the very bottom of the page, down by the copyright information. The themes all had a $20 upgrade option – just to remove those links from the footer.

Now, this may not initially seem like a problem, but it can be. Years ago I downloaded a theme full of nasty gambling links. These weren’t so bad (for the most part), but one was slightly questionable and the rest just had nothing to do with my blog themes. I thought leaving them there looked bad. Thankfully, those themes were only $20.

Paid WordPress Themes

You can, of course, skip the free themes and jump right to the paid theme options. Like I mentioned before, there are plenty of predesigned themes out there. Some need little customization and others need quite a bit. You’re going to have to decide what you want based on your needs and, of course, your technical abilities.  Most of the themes you have to pay for have very, very easy-to-use interfaces in the dashboard – something that was very rare just a few years ago.

Last but not least, those of you who don’t like pre-made themes can have your own designed. Be prepared to really pay for a nice theme, though.

That’s basically it for today. I wanted to send out my warning. Free themes are great but you have to use a careful eye when picking them out or you may get more than you originally anticipated!

The Idea of Social Media

The idea that this communication acceleration is facilitating a new definition of community, in which members of a community may live thousands of miles apart and even never have seen each other in person, is obvious and has been expressed many times. To some extent the truth of it is undeniable. If two people have Internet access and at least one language in common, it’s possible for them to associate with each other no matter where they live. But at the same time, just as the concept of community is morphing into something new, something not defined by territory, is it possible that so is the concept of conflict between communities? Are we growing into a species without territorial conflict, which would in the long run mean a species without war? Or are we, instead, morphing conflict and war themselves into something without borders or territories, something more chaotic and multi-vector than they have been in the past?

Social Media Conflicts

Conflict, like cooperation, is a basic of human nature. So is the tendency for communities to define themselves not only in terms of what they have in common, but also in terms of the conflicts they have with those other guys. From primitive times on until quite recently, those other guys were often defined geographically: the tribe over the hill or across the water, or those awful Spartans, Athenians, Romans, Carthaginians, French, British, Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Americans – etcetera. But even in times of old, the enemy was sometimes defined instead by an idea: what language he spoke, his religion, his political philosophy.

Social Media: The Open Border

In a world where borders and nations are increasingly becoming passé, conflicts defined by ideas are likely to become more the norm; and conflicts over territory more the exception. Do we already see this happening? How about political protest movements and, in extreme cases, revolutionary movements? Social media played an important role in the “Arab Spring” movements that toppled the governments of Libya, Tunisia and Egypt and have created unrest in many others, as well as the protest movements in the United States and Europe aimed at the corruption in governments. Besides this: how about the phenomenon of international terrorism? Communication technology seems benign at first glance, but there is nothing more potentially dangerous than an idea.

It’s very possible that the Internet is bringing us a world without nation-states. But it could be that the idea this will mean a world without war is naïve.

Do you want to get back in touch with your friends but prefer to avoid social media sites? People search is a great option for you because it lets you find your friends in seconds so that you can get back in touch with them in real life.

Right now I am working on tweaking this new theme a bit.  There used to be a slideshow of default images at the top of the page, but I removed it for the time being. I need to get rid of some of these strange ad slots (or advertise their availability).

I plan on using the blog to talk about life and my experiences with all the things I do. That was always the intent, anyway. I’m also going to create a weekly showcase of stuff I’ve written for my other sites around the web. I hope that will give you a better insight into what I do as well.

I do believe I’m going to open the site back up for guest posting as well. Why not share some space in the web world, right?

Please bear with me a bit. Obviously, the site is now under construction!

That said, I’ve created a few Squidoo Lenses that I’m putting up for sale. These three lenses are very different from each other but all focus on hot niche topics – yoga (health/wellness), computer security, and higher end women’s clothing.

Check out the lenses here and let me know if you are interested. They’re all new lenses currently priced at $100 USD:

• Pranayama Yoga – Breathing for Life
• How to Find the Best Women’s Jeans
• Choosing an Antivirus System for Windows

All of these lenses are optimized for Amazon sales and the Yoga lens has at least one Clickbank link as well. You can change anything you’d like about these lenses, and I’ll give you instructions for updating the links with your own affiliate identification codes as well.

All of the images contained within these pages are from iStockPhoto so you will never have any copyright issues with the images.

Contact deborah at writeontheedge dot com if you’re interested in any of these lenses or if you’d like me to build you a custom lens!

2011 is going to be different. I’ve got a clearer picture of my business model in my head. I know I’m not going to waste as much on stuff I don’t need, and I know what I can do realistically as opposed to what I only wish I could do.

There are very few internet marketing “gurus” I really trust. When I first started to build my freelance business, I subscribed to the lists of more people than I can count. I soon realized I had joined a bunch of marketing lists. These people didn’t really care about me. They simply wanted to make money.

There is one marketer I do trust, though. Her name is Tiffany Dow and while she does sell products to her list, I’ve never gotten an email from her that didn’t contain valuable, helpful information. Tiffany seems to understand just how large the web really is and she isn’t afraid to help others find their little piece of internet real estate. I learn something from every single message Tiffany sends. I’ve purchased her products, I’ve read her eReports, and I learn from her. She even answers my emails!

I can’t say that about most of the others I have encountered.

Needless to say, I’m feeling a bit inspired this morning. I’m working through my to-do list for the week and I’m just about where I should be. I’m keeping my eyes on my goals and am working towards developing the next part of my internet empire. This year is going to be my year for success!

Thumbnail image for this post licensed for commercial use, from talented Flickr user royblumenthal.

Imagine my surprise, then, when one of my clients – after weeks of quick payment – suddenly paid me via eCheck. The implications are rather far reaching. To make a long story short, eChecks have a 6-8 business day hold for clearance. This meant I would be at least 1 – 1 1/2 weeks behind financially and would be unable to pay the “team” working with me on this project.

My client was kind enough to replace the payment immediately but I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something I could do to avoid being forced to accept this less-than-desirable method of payment.

Fortunately, a fellow writer and Facebook friend quickly came to the rescue and gave me instructions on how to change my PayPal settings. So here’s what you need to do:

• Log into your PayPal account
• Go to your Profile
• Click on Seller Preferences
• Click on Payment Receiving Preferences

From here you’ll be presented with a whole list of settings you can update, including wehther or not you will accept eChecks (you can block eChecks for everything except for eBay).

It may be worth logging in and taking a look around, even if this is not a problem for you. You never know if or when you will have a payment issue.

A nurse.

The nurse thing always gets me thinking. At one point I did believe I wanted to be a nurse, but as I worked through my high school programs at Camden County Technical School I realized that I did not.

It wasn’t until a few months ago that I began to really take a hard look at the work nurses do. As I spent the last 3 months of my great aunt’s life getting to know her hospice nurses I couldn’t help but wonder how they manage to get out of bed every day and go to work.

The outcome, for a hospice nurse, is the same – for every single patient.

These women were special. They were incredibly friendly, had bubbly personalities, and were as professional as you could possibly imagine. And I truly believe that each and every one of the women on my aunt’s team grew to love her as they cared for her. They showed it. Aunt Dot loved them, too. She frequently told me how wonderful they were.

A few days before my aunt passed, the nurse who visited the house told me it was time to call the family to come and see her for the last time. We thought she wouldn’t make it through the night, let alone the weekend.

The nurse moved quickly. We changed her nightgown, gave her a sponge bath, combed her hair, and did all we could to make her feel pretty for her trip home. She called the chaplain, reiterated what I could expect, made sure all of my contact information was still accessible, and went on her way – almost sad she couldn’t stay with us. She told me on her way out the door that two of her other patients were in the exact same condition.

The house filled with people. The chaplain came and sat with us. Even the social worker stopped by – though she actually didn’t know what was going on. She just wanted to make sure we were all adjusting to my aunt’s move into the house earlier that week.

My aunt wasn’t ready to go. Friday turned into Monday and things were back to normal. I instructed everyone to go to work and do what they needed to do. Aunt Dot passed away sometime around 1pm, and I knew what to do. When I called Samaritan, they kindly and gently told me they’d page my nurse.

She called back within moments. She said she was on her way. She had a distance to travel. When Aunt Dot moved from the assisted living facility into our home she had technically moved out of the district her nurses handled. They refused to give her up as a patient.

Then I started going down the list of family members I needed to call. The rest of the afternoon was, for lack of a better word, very strange. There were tons of people in my apartment and then – suddenly – it was just me.

My aunt’s hospice team was from Samaritan. Samaritan provided my aunt with medication, medical supplies, equipment when she moved into my house, 2 nurses, a home health aid, a chaplain, a social worker, and a myriad of other services. They worked with her from a time where she was communicative and able-bodied until the very last day.

When Aunt Dot passed away, I told my mom, aunt, and grandmom that my request was for her obituary to suggest donations to Samaritan. While my aunt’s health insurance paid for her care, it is obvious that the organization goes above and beyond the call of duty every single day. And, if you don’t have insurance, they’ll still work with you.

Anyway. My point? It’s been over 3 months and every night I say a special prayer for the nurses and aids that visited my aunt every week. They have gigantic hearts. They must feel pain we’ll never know. They must question their paths constantly and they still do their jobs every day.

They deserve to be acknowledged.

Some people love a huge cup of coffee in the morning – others drink soda instead. Soda, unfortunately, is incredibly detrimental to your body and overall health. It can damage your bones and destroy your stomach, leaving you with a number of side effects that will leave you ruing the day you had your last glass. Most people don’t realize just how bad soda can be. Here are a few things to consider.

Soda is Definitely Addictive

Do you drink soda every single day? If so, try to go a day without it. You’ll probably feel tired, lethargic, headachy, and – if you’re particularly unlucky – anxious. The caffeine content is what makes it addictive and – yes- caffeine is very strong. Don’t try to quit cold-turkey if you consume a lot of soda daily. Wean yourself off to help avoid headaches and other complications.

Soda Consumption Leads to Dehydration

There are two main reasons for soda causing dehydration. First, the caffeine in your soda will act as a diuretic, leading you to use the bathroom more often. Second, soda contains sodium (aka salt), which will make you feel thirstier. Most people, when thirsty, will grab a second glass of soda instead of a glass of water, making the process even worse. Soda cannot replace water in terms of hydration. As a matter of fact, for each glass you drink, you need to ADD that much extra water to your daily intake.

Soda will Weaken Your Bones

You read that right. Caffeine and phosphoric acid, both major ingredients in soda, can leech calcium from your bones. Because caffeine causes you to urinate more frequently, your body won’t have as much time to process nutrients from your food before you eliminate it. Eventually, excess soda consumption may lead to the development of diseases caused by malnutrition, arthritis, osteoporosis, and other bone-weakening diseases.

Still not convinced? Check back next week  for 4 more reasons you need to cut soda from your diet. Trust me. It’s worth the effort.