You younger readers will need a senior who can explain the topic. Good luck finding one. Briefly, the “donut hole” is not a cute, new, gay “pin the tail on the donkey” game. It is a serious and unwelcome place to be and means you have to pay full price for your medicines for the rest of the year.
This happened to me last year. I suddenly learned one of my tiny 25mg dailies was a tier 3 (ask a senior) and would cost me $399.99 just for December. Dithering and complaining, I just coughed it up (the money I mean).
Recently I realized I will soon be in the same position for several months and that little pill would seriously affect my budget. By chance, a friend casually mentioned he was taking the same drug in a 50mg form. I had a brain-storm. I already cut my aspirin tablet for my daily dose and if the prices were very different, maybe I could save a little by cutting the bigger one in half.
Of course I questioned my doctor who said for that particular medication it would be no problem. So I called Rite Aid and learned: the 25mg cost $399.99, the 50mg cost $399.99 and the 100 mg cost $399.99! What a pleasant shock. My doctor gladly changed my prescription to 1/4 of the 100mg and I now receive 22 pills for 88 days. What a relief.
So for me when I say I’m cutting my pills, I don’t mean cutting down on my pills, I really mean cutting my pills. This simple solution to a significant financial crisis may work for you. Check with your doctor and then call your pharmacy for the price comparison. I hope this message has been informative and helpful not just for the donut-holers, but for all pill-takers, young and old.
Hot flashes
Mother and some female friends were discussing hot flashes and when I appeared, they quickly changed to August being hot. The strange tone of their voices told me something was amiss. The same abrupt change occurred when I interrupted a “spotting” discussion. What could it mean?
My school friends, invariably the artistic type, could offer no solution any more than they could tell me what a double D bra was. Although, I suspect later, after leaving town, as “confirmed bachelors,” one or two might have found out.
It was years before I learned when a girl missed school because her aunt was visiting didn’t mean her aunt was visiting. I have often wondered if back then, did these mysteries of the opposite sex carry over in the other direction? On a minus 15 degree day, did the connection to a brass monkey mean anything to our female classmates?
Did they giggle and blush at the mention of sheets stiff as cardboard – or was that a sock? Did they have any idea what damage and pain can be caused by a zipper? Marriage cleared up a lot of things, but for us, the never-married, large gaps in our sex education still exist. And no wonder; feminine products and prostate exams are far down the mixed group topics list.
Men and women have unique attributes, but not all encourage detailed disclosure even when the problem is shared. i.e. leakage among seniors, especially when laughing, is a mutually common occurrence, but studiously avoided. Why? Because both sides deserve their privacy. However if a topic seriously puzzles you, ask, but request that the answer be short. Just the essentials please no diaphragms necessary. I mean diagrams.
