Yeah No

I know, I watched one episode myself and had similar thoughts. I don't know who is running FN these days but they've gotten rid of a lot of their regulars especially the women over a certain age. I was surprised to see Anne Burrell on this because she was not on "Worst Cooks in America" last season and I don't think anywhere else on FN right now. Rachael Ray is gone - she went over to A&E where she has not 2 but 3 shows, and they canned Valerie Bertinelli from not only her own cooking show but from hosting the baking championships. Giada is gone too. She said she left FN because she was "bored and burnt out". I don't know why because she was underutilized after a while anyway. I also wonder about Alex G's. show "Supermarket Stakeout". They aired 10 episodes last season although more were filmed but not aired. And she wasn't on "The Kitchen" for a while either although she might have come back recently. That show doesn't even air regular episodes anymore. A lot of former Top Chef alum are featured on all of FN's cooking competitions but it's the same group over and over again and it's getting stale and boring by now. The network has not come up with any good ideas and seems intent on beating the same note over and over again to death. I can't imagine it's a winning formula.

You're lucky. I just braved calling them and actually got through to a live representative. I told her how the site wasn't letting me book an appointment but was shunting me over to applying online. She acted clueless about that but I tried it several times even this morning and got the same result. So she told me she would "make a one time exception" and book it for me over the phone. So I gave her a list of 3 DMVs to look at and the earliest appointment for this purpose was April 30th. I decided that doing it online was the best alternative. It took me only a few minutes of scanning and uploading the document, then paying. I can only hope it is as fast as they're saying it is - one week to ten days to get it. I have to tell you that lately I am not at all happy with certain things about CT and this is one of them.

LOL, no problem, I don't even remember. I've just been through so much in the past couple of weeks. Yesterday and today feel like I'm playing "hooky" from school and I want to make the most of it. I just vacuumed and put away everything I can't put back on high shelves when I'm wearing those bandages. Today I might go to Kohl's to try on some pants. Freedom....So far my legs are staying slim in the compression hose which is good. My therapist is 32 and single so she has no children, only a cat. I feel for her - she moved here 2 years ago from Ohio for this job all by herself. We've connected on a lot of things including not being from the area and feeling the same about how difficult it is to meet friends around here. She shared some of her online dating nightmares. I sympathized. I've also been to Ohio several times as my husband and I had good friends who lived in this area but retired to Ohio. They were our organist and choir director in our church years ago (they were older than us and have since passed on). They loved this area because it looked so much like Columbus. There is an interesting relationship between Ohio and CT historically and even culturally speaking except Midwesterners actually share more in common with New Yorkers in a lot of ways. People from this area tend to be insular and not so open to making new friends. New Yorkers are actually more open and friendly than they are given credit for by the popular culture. And I've had similar conversations about this with other Midwesterners I've met at work so as far as I'm concerned it's really a thing. (See Connecticut Western Reserve, a piece of land off Lake Erie once claimed by CT in early American times). I still haven't braved the DMV website. Soon. 😉 What was your question again? 😉😅

I just posted on that in the Media thread last week: https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/6561-top-chef-in-the-media/page/27/#findComment-8612280 Thank you. This article from "Reality Blurred" discusses that and Shirley's recent progress. It also discusses a "new" to us episode of GGG with Shirley as judge, also filmed before her diagnosis: https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2025/01/shirley-chung-guys-grocery-games-all-star-all-swap/ Here is her most recent post on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chfshirleychung/p/DDsjEVvp-w9/?hl=en&img_index=1

Yeah, I recognized Zoe Perry right away. That was a nice touch, seeing her and her mom together. And I agree that for a change Dan's hesitance to do something was well done and more realistic than what they have shown from him in in the past on this series. Maybe this episode is a sign that greater care was taken with the writing for the 6 episode send-off. Thank goodness because it deserves that. I'm just irked that they couldn't have done it before. And speaking of the department needing "fresh blood", is it even possible to rejoin a police force at Jackie's age? I wouldn't think so but we don't expect that much realism from this show. I hope they go through with and win the case. Not to at this point would be a big letdown. Let this family finally have a WIN! It was nice to see Ben's face. I don't like beards on men with fat faces. Shallow me, lol.

Thanks. I like the "do both" idea but there's a catch with that. I'll explain in a minute. I guess escalating this to management worked because this afternoon I had a message in "MyChart" that the doctor had signed the form and it was waiting for me at the reception desk. It turns out that she was out of office last week but is back this week. Whatever. I was getting ready to go out anyway since my therapist had canceled today so I went right over there and got it. It was the actual DMV form with the doctor's signature on it. So that's why the doctors have the forms. They fill it out for you and sign it. Later on when I went home after grocery shopping (I took advantage of not being bandaged) I got online and tried to make an appointment with the DMV. It looked pretty straightforward so I went through the steps of answering questions about what I wanted to do and instead of bringing me to a page where I could schedule a time and date it shunted me over to an online form to submit with a scanned copy of the signed DMV form, a scan of my driver's license and online payment for the fee. I was very hungry at that point and didn't feel like scanning so I figured I'd eat and then do it, but I fell asleep on the couch in front of "The Connors" and here I am now. So I'll do it first thing in the morning. I might just show up at the DMV if I feel like it. It's not even that local either. It's about 13 miles away if you can believe that. There's another one about 15 miles away but it's always a fiasco and people in the know avoid it if at all possible. And guess what? My therapist called in again and won't be in tomorrow (Thursday) either. When I asked if she was OK they said she was and would be in on Friday. Yeah, well they told me she'd be in on Thursday yesterday so we'll see about that. I asked if the missed appointments would be rescheduled and they told me my therapist would work that out with me. Anyway the REALLY good news is that my primary doctor gave me 1 year on the temporary handicapped placard. And given that my therapist is likely ill my therapy is going to go on longer than expected so that works out. I'm OK with it now. Whatever. I just can't get over how getting anything accomplished now requires busting your gut. And the DMV is like the Wizard of Oz now. We can thank the pandemic for this. It was never like that before.

Interesting, I'd think about it if I could afford it, but would you believe my husband just tallied up what we spent out of pocket for medical coverage and expenses last year for our tax preparer and it came to something insane like $12,000 a year for the both of us? Of course that includes about $3,000 in dental work my husband had done that insurance didn't pay for (we do have stand alone dental insurance through Cigna). So you can take that down to $9,000. That includes premiums, deductibles, medical procedures and medications not covered by Medicare and our supplemental plan premiums. Of course my husband's boss pays our premiums but it's still a shocking amount. It makes me wonder if going on one of those Advantage plans is a better idea if and when we have to pay our own premiums. Based on what friends have told us they are not so good in this area so we have hesitated. And speaking of my husband's boss, he and his family have a doctor on salary at their disposal 24/7. Just like my husband is on salary as their chauffer. We think they are secret billionaires. Their name doesn't show up on the list of billionaires in the state but we think their assets are cleverly split up among different family members and countries. But speaking of concierge services, I see a lot of elderly and disabled people showing up at this physical therapy facility with either private/insurance paid nurses who advocate for them or social workers as the case may be. I hear them on the phone on benches outside the facility talking to their bosses or agencies.

Well I hate to say it but the website is up to date as I called and their message says the same thing. I spoke to two people this morning at the doctor's office at the hospital and supposedly it is now being escalating this to management. The problem is no matter what I send them in MyChart it's not going to get them to DO it. The assistants just write back that the doctor will have to see it and has 3 days to get back to me. Then no one gets back to me. They have the forms, it's just a matter of the doctor filling them out and she isn't doing it. Even after I spoke with the first person this morning I got a response in MyChart that the doctor will have to fill out the form and they will let me know when I can pick it up. BUT she made sure to tell me that "per their policy" they have 2 weeks to fill out the form!!! That's when I blew my stack and called back. The nice person on the end of the phone promised to have this escalated and will have "management" call me back. I thanked them profusely. I don't know what else I can do at this point. By the way, the form to apply for a handicapped permit also states that it must be returned with doctor's approval in person BY APPOINTMENT. Then when I call the number on the form it says that either they're assisting other customers or I'm calling outside of business hours and then it tells me to "visit them online" or call back and hangs up. Unbelievable. Editing again: According to the DMV website the best way to apply is to submit a scanned copy of the filled out form online and pay the 5 dollar fee. But then it takes a week for them to process it! Otherwise if you go in to the office they will accept your application but I don't know if that means they'll give you the placard on the spot. It might but you still have to make an appointment and that can be days in the future anyway.

Thank you. I wish I could walk into a DMV but here in CT we can't do that. We have to make an appointment online first and it can take a while to get one. I was just reading their website and it says that we still need to provide medical certification to get handicapped parking even if we apply online. So it looks like until I can get that certification I'm out of luck and my therapist is not a doctor so she can't do it. I suppose I can call the office again but I've already done that twice! I will do it though. Speaking of my therapist, she called out of office today and of course I was already half way through unwrapping myself when I found out so I am now completely unwrapped and putting on compression hose. I am wondering if she's just as burned out as she seems to be or whether she like me has a touch of diarrhea. We both have been wearing masks in our sessions so I'm just speculating. I will make sure that an extra session is added at the end of my month. BTW I think my issue is probably from eating some leftovers that might have been in the fridge a day or so too long. As you can imagine I haven't been up to cooking like I normally do and have been ordering in, making sandwiches and frozen dinners and making some compromises. My husband could have eaten what I ate with no trouble so maybe it's just me or a virus but I don't feel so bad so I have no idea. It is very rare for me to have any stomach issues like that. Anyway my stellar luck continues. I just hope my therapist is OK. I've grown to like her a lot. Any advice right now is very much appreciated.

It's not at all cozy and not like breaking a limb. I had a rather bad arm break about 9 years ago and had to wear a cast. This is not like that. The point of this leg therapy is wrapping you very tightly to force your body not to let fluid pool in your lower legs. It's not comfortable at all, in fact it can be painful and itchy. It's hard to bend your legs. You have foam pads keeping you rigid which make you feel very hot. When you are unwrapped your legs feel tender and sensitive. My therapist warned me about it. It takes a toll on you. I'm pretty active and have good balance so I don't need to walk with a cane but my therapist told me a lot of people do.

Oh I get weekends off only because the therapist only works 5 days a week. And the way they're working her she really needs it. This is a very physically intensive and time consuming therapy. And she's booked back to back all day with one hour appointments. That's because there are so few therapists doing this kind of therapy. They are in very short supply, probably because it's such hard work and doesn't pay enough. She says not enough is done to encourage people to go into this therapy despite the demand for it. She is fully aware that the two days off are not ideal but we don't have much choice as she's already exhausted by the end of the week as it is. She has me wearing tight compression hose on the weekends which actually helped on a maintenance basis so it didn't set me back any. It will just mean the therapy will take a little longer. I read an interesting article a while back on walking (I don't remember how to find it now unfortunately) that said that there's a difference between "steps in a day" and the quality of those steps. Real aerobic walking for more than 30 minutes at a time is the kind of movement that can help with weight loss, but just walking on a lesser basis not as helpful. I do know that the walking I did on the cruises was real aerobic walking for more than 30 minutes at a time - a lot more. But in my case that kind of exercise only makes me retain more fluid and actually makes me gain weight. It fully explains for me why this has been happening to me. I don't have an eating problem. My body has a problem with processing and eliminating fluid. I have addressed my dietary issues and even on the cruises I was very careful about what and how much I ate. It's ironic and frustrating that the thing that's supposed to help me with weight loss (exercise) is actually working against me. And without the positive effects of that exercise at my age, forget about losing weight. My mother was stuck in the same "Catch 22" as she used to call it. I am still not going to give up, though. I keep looking for solutions. Maybe they'll come out with a weight loss drug that won't make me sick. I can only hope. I usually get between 5,000 and 7,000 steps a day. I won't stop walking because it's good for my heart and body in many ways even if I don't lose weight with it. BTW, here's a shot of me the therapist took after wrapping me for the day. My legs are like 2-3 times their normal size with all the foam padding, gauze and ACE bandages. It's as uncomfortable and painful as it looks. And it's hard to get around, which is why I was trying to get a temporary handicapped card for my car (with no success at getting through to anyone after a week of trying). It's a busy parking lot and hard to get a decent space. Of course I wear wide leg black pajama pants over these legs and that only makes me feel hotter!

Thanks. I'm still in a gray area but my best friend of 50 years seems to think we had all our shots back in the day and that I most likely had the measles anyway. I'm pretty sure I did because I always remembered that the one childhood disease I didn't get as a child was the chicken pox. I had that when I was 22! I would discuss this with my primary doctor but she has become next to impossible to reach these days and I can't even get anywhere with any assistants or nurses. I don't know what the problem is but my physical therapist thinks they're probably overwhelmed like "most of the medical community these days" (her words). I have been trying to get a temporary handicapped card for my car because of my lymphedema therapy with no success at reaching anyone. And I have called twice and sent messages 3 times!! When I call I get a nice assistant that tells me she will prioritize my request as it is time sensitive and have someone call me back, but no one ever does. And this is going on for over a week now. A week and a half to be exact.

I watched Golden Girls and made banana bread. I thought it was just me until I found out everyone else was doing it too.

At long last I'm FINALLY getting the compression therapy I was talking about last October. That's how long it took me to finally get on the calendar with a therapist. I was told that such therapists are in short supply and some states don't even have them. I remember when I checked into it 15 years ago I was told there were only 2 in the state and they were far away and impossible to schedule. I am very lucky to have one only a few miles from me now. This is very intensive, time consuming, tiring and uncomfortable. The therapist wraps you up every day like a mummy from top of thigh to your toes on both legs with ACE bandages, gauze and foam pads. It's crazy and you feel hot and very constricted. It's difficult to walk. You wear these awful "moon sandals" like people with broken leg casts, only your legs and feet are much fatter than that. They are uncomfortable and hard to manage. It's hard to bend your legs and when you do it's painful. You have to sleep in them and then in the morning unwrap yourself completely and re-wrap every single bandage so that the therapist can re-wrap you in them. This process takes about an hour and a half if you rush and don't have help. When my husband can he helps and that makes it take about an hour if we rush. Then I jump in the shower, get dressed in wide leg stretchy pants (I'm wearing pajama bottoms but you can't tell they are). They have to be wide enough to fit your legs in fully wrapped. Then at your appointment the therapist massages and re-wraps you and you do it all over again. I have 5 appointments a week for 2 weeks Monday to Friday then after that 3 days a week. I've already completed my first week and am on my second. On weekends I don't get wrapped. I take the wrappings off and wash them in the machine on gentle with scent free detergent. I stuff them in garment bags so they don't get tangled, then put the bags in the dryer. I put them in with towels so the machines don't bang and jiggle. On the third week I start on a 3 day a week schedule. On days off I can either wear the bandages or take them off and wear compression garments. After 5 weeks since the start of therapy she may decide to add another week depending on my progress but she thinks I'm doing really well so far. I will have to go back for monthly checkups and one maintenance re-wrapping for a while. We have discussed the types of available compression hose and garments and I will be getting 3 free pairs like @altopower mentioned last October. Unfortunately it looks like she hasn't posted on the site since December. I'd like to hear what she has to say about this. One thing I learned is that exercise can actually make you swell more when you have this condition and make you gain weight! I knew that was happening but no one ever confirmed it until my therapist told me. I could not believe that when I was on 2 cruises and doing 16,000 steps a day and watching what I ate I actually gained 4 lbs. on each cruise which I have not lost since. This is why I don't judge people who have weight issues. I know a lot of my weight is fluid retention. Hopefully this treatment will help get rid of some of it in my legs. But I still have excess being stored in my midsection. Unfortunately there's no therapy for that. And it's not that easy to lose because it wasn't gained from eating. Note that the photo below is after being wrapped with 4.5 lbs. of foam, bandages and gauze. My legs and feet look at least 2-3 times the size!

I love that he didn't refrain from using the F word! He said he knew of people that lost their lives due to intelligence failures. At a time like this my parents would have recited the old WWII saying, "Loose Lips Sink Ships"