Hot run + water = hot hydrated run

Today I got a late start but it still felt reasonably cool out. Still I remembered my promise last post to bring water and I knew it was going to be hot soon. I kept to my regimen of slow hydration by sipping through the whole run. Well not quite continuously but I made sure I didn't go too far before I took some more drinks. It went well enough to inspire me to extend it out to seven and a half miles with some good hills thrown in. I thought about heading to Mount Tabor, but I think I will save that for next week, maybe Monday.

I met my friend Jennifer yesterday, a fellow mser, for the first. She contacted me through the blog months ago about my fun with finding a way to afford rebif. It was good to give her the update and chat about our lives with and away from ms.

Time for water

No, not right now, well now too. I am speaking of the heat and the fact that I need to bring water with me once again. The mornings are cool enough when I start out, but by the time I finish up my run both me and the day have warmed up considerably. I have really started to slow down towards the end of the run. So I am pretty sure I would benefit from having that water, duh...

The best water strategy I have found in the past is to take small drinks along the way right from the start. This seems to keep me hydrated well enough. It is tough to resist taking the big drink at times and it is hard to get into the habit of the constant hydration, but it is worth it.

The other thing to get used to is carrying a water belt. I use a single 16oz (I think, though it might be 12) water bottle rather than the fancier small bottles which for me seem to be overkill and a hassle (though they do distribute the weight better. The single bottle belt I have fits in the base of my back and angles up to spread the weight a bit better. My belt also has a handy little pocket with enough room to carry some money and has just enough room to take my iphone with me as well though not really enough room to plug in the headphones without putting too much pressure on the jack (the cause of many of my electronic device's failure over the years.) So at first it seems a bit uncomfortable to have the extra weight and even though it is more comfortable to wear it over my shirt my vanity kicks in and I favor a little belly pinching over the dorky over the shirt look. My old running shorts were great as they were long enough that I could pull them up high on my stomach (like an old fart) and wear the belt over the shorts. Then my short could drape over and hide any goofiness.

The run today was good despite the lack of water. I went pretty slowly: 9:30. I was a little tired from a somewhat restless rebif night's sleep.

World MS Day

If you are just hearing about this, you are not alone.I just found out yesterday when I was asked by the MS Society if I wanted to publicize my World MS Day event on their site. We msers make be quick on our feet, but we're not that quick.

I decided to go out on a limb for WMSD and I went for a run. It was a really good run too, felt very smooth throughout. A good workout but I didn't kill myself. I also had a beautiful morning to enjoy on my run as well.

I just had a rebif blunder and wasted a shot. Being that I had to pay for this month (actually not, more on that later) the cost of each injection (nearly $200) was really apparent. I had popped off the cap on my self-injector. This is supposed to pull of the cap on the needle, but it didn't. So after my dull poke I tried to pull the cap off and squirted it all over the bathroom. I jammed it in, but I don't think I got any in. So I had to grab a cold one (and not a good "cold one") and inject that which sucks as it is a bit painful (compared to when it is room temp). But I am all juiced up and ready to watch basketball.

So, apparently the pharmacy was unable to bill my debit card for the full $2300 for the month I had to do outside of my coverage. OMIP was going to reimburse me, but I wasn't looking forward to the hassle. Anyway, since they couldn't charge me they had to bill me. And now that my OMIP has started up, they were able to just send it through. Hurray!

Strong run this morning

I missed writing for my last run. It was a good moderately paced longish run, I took most of my extender routes. The weather was a tad cool, but great for a run. Today (took a rest day yesterday) was gorgeous as well. Just cool enough to make running in the sun the perfect warm up, but not cold enough in the shade to be uncomfortable at all.

Today I felt a tad sluggish when I woke up but once I got going I felt really strong on my run for like 95% of it. I didn't push it too quickly and maybe that is why it felt good throughout. I ended up with a 9:30 pace for the 6.3 miles I put in. Not great but not bad and about what I have been doing my base runs at lately. My base run distance seems to be increasing. I don't know if I am just encouraging myself to go a bit further or what, but the 5.5 base runs I was doing previously are all getting extended. I am still feeling fine throughout them.

On an ms note, I have cut back with my dilantin to three a day (from alternating 4/5). My hope is to eventually stop taking these anti-seizure meds as this sort of symptom I was having with the periodic seizures is one that has gone away over time for people. So I am going to try weening myself again and see what happens. I have been doing this for a week or so and I am noticing that when I am over heated from runs that they seem to come back a bit. But only one small one as I am cooling down, almost as if it were a quick head rush. I do my kitty-kitty-kitty speaking test and I am having trouble though, so I think it is the seizure thing. I am going to see how it goes for a couple of weeks before giving up though. I think I will try to stabilize at three a day.

Its almost 80

Wow, my first hot (and humid) run of the year. I knew it was going to be tough, but I wanted to get it in before the day ended. I was going on two days in a row of not running and looking like three. Plus I was all fired up from finally writing my diatribe against healthnet and their lack of individual coverage of rebif for people with ms. It almost appears as if the disease is not recognized. I wonder what other fake diseases are out there? Ok, sorry, back to running.

The run went well for the first part. I managed to find some shade for most of it. Still I felt pooped pretty quickly despite eating a great vegan energy bar from Organic Food Bar. I'm gonna have to get more of these. I did bring water and I forced myself to go with the sipping routine to keep hydrated. The problem was I sipped too much and my water was gone before I was half-way through with the run. At about four miles I still hadn't stopped running to walk, but when I hit the canyon the humidity of the rain forest was in full gear. I decided a walk through the canyon would be about all I could do, and barely that. It was oppressive but once I got out of the canyon the humidity tapered back a bit.

Once I was back up on our plateau and only facing a flat run, I decided to run the rest of the way home which worked out just fine. I actually had a little bit of water left, just enough to see me through. Phew! What a run. Now I need to mow the lawn.

healthnet and multiple sclerosis

Well, well, well. I had been a subscriber of healthnet (relegated to the lowercase convention I use for things that I refuse to let affect me) insurance for over a year, previously I used them to supply health insurance for my business. I am happy to report that I have once again kicked them to the curb, much like they have already done to me. In their case they are no longer getting $300 a month from me for my individual coverage (I use the term coverage very lightly, as if it were a helium balloon). In my case I am no longer wasting my money on this so-called coverage and have no become a poster child for the scam that is health insurance in our country.

So let's start when I was diagnosed with ms. My first dealings with healthnet and ms occurred when they tried to claim it was a pre-existing condition even though my plan started before I was diagnosed. A nice roadblock to experience right after finding out I had ms. Once I managed to get them to look a a calender we were able to straighten that out. Next up, rebif! Hurray I get to inject myself on a regular basis, well at least the monthly $2500 expense is covered by healthnet. Whoops roadblock #2, I have find out from the pharmacy I have a $4000 deductible. So I call healthnet and find out that was actually incorrect. I have no deductible for what they consider specialty medication ("specialty"? you mean like viagra or botox?) Turns out they designate rebif "specialty" because it is injectible, WTF? I have a CAP! So they will only cover $4000 a year (pretty close to what I actually pay in fees BTW) and I would be on the hook for the remaining $21000. Um, what? Now I am freaking out.

So the calls begin and I discover that I can actually get on an assistance plan with the pharmaceutical company Serano for the first year where they will pay for my meds and then offer further assistance once the year is up basically relegating the meds to a co-pay. Oh man did I feel the relief! I almost considered dropping healthnet then, but decided I had batter keep insurance in case. There plan is called Access Made Simple and I have to say it was extremely simple and they actually have a nurse drop by the house to train you and help out with any problems.

So fast forward a year and 156 injections later. With my plan ending I apply for further assistance for which I am denied. I simply made too much money apparently though a $25K hit to our income was not even possible. I was told by one representative that the figure for income was about $40k (sure anybody could live on 15K a year, with a mortgage that would leave me $3K to live on, sure, I could do that!) No one else at msLifelines would confirm this figure and they all encouraged me to appeal the decision. They were very nice but it was pretty apparent that I was going to be denied.

So the scramble begins. I called a ton of prescription assistance programs that are out there, When I mentioned my problems qualifying with msLifelines and the $40K figure they all said that they had a similar income cap. Crap, strike, strike and strike (still not out though). I kept searching. Being a freelancer and having an individual policy with healthnet I tried to see if I could get into a pool plan with the Freelancers Union. Turned out they offer no plans in Oregon. I called an insurance broker who offered no help but warned me about things like Freelancers Union. I do think they are legitimate and I really wish they had something for me, I love the concept.

Ok, so back to the scramble. I kept hearing try msLifelines from these programs, well that wasn't going to work out. I called my neurologist and explained the situation, they also recommended msLifelines. Ugh. I have to say they did do some research for me but also hit the same stumbling blocks. The somewhere along the way I found out about the Oregon Medical Insurance Pool. This plan covers Oregonians who are denied coverage for a variety of reasons, ms being one of them. So I immediately called them. OMIP is managed by Providence but is a state program. All customer service goes through Providence which was difficult as they weren't totally up on the program. But I got good help and the person I talked to told me that I "should" qualify and that she didn't see any roadblocks to getting the rebif, after all why would there be it's a medicine I need? Make sense, right healthnet? SO I am still a little nervous, but feeling like I have a pretty good alternative to going to apitherapy or guzzling more flax oil that I already do.

We continued to talk and decided I should tap my $4000 cap with healthnet for my "specialty" medication before I turned to OMIP which was $100 a month more. Ok, phew, now I am feeling like I have an actual plan (not an imaginary one.)

Ok, time to take a small step back in time. At the start of this year healthnet discontinued my plan. They told me that I would need to move to a comparable plan if I wanted to remain covered. Surprise, surprise it was more expensive (but not that much more). They made it sound like it was basically the exact plan I had before with some "minor" differences. I was encouraged to read through the giant booklet they sent me (is that the new phone book?) to see the specifics of the plan. I was also told that I had "one of the best individual plans healthnet has to offer." What choice do I have? Can't switch providers as that would mean ms is a pre-existing condition. I love our health system in the US where I have a choice! Come on Barak, don't let us down. On a side note, IMHO a "plan" to reduce the yearly increase in costs is not a "plan".

Ok, back to my final days of Access Made Simple. The pharmacies always shipped the rebif next-day air as it needed to be kept cool. I would always call for a refill when I had a week or so left of syringes. So with four injections remaining (yeah I played it safe and gave myself an extra dose!) I called the pharmacy to make arrangements for the grand plan. I told them I had healthnet and I needed to get two months worth before I would shift to OMIP. They said great and that they would call to verify my coverage and then call me back. So when the call back comes they ask me how I wanted to arrange to make payment for what I assumed was the co-pay. I say lets put it on my debit card. The asked if I could put the entire cost on it. Weird. I asked them sure, what is it like $100 (figuring for 2 co-pays of $50) + whatever is above the $4K cap. They say no, and calmly state I have a 100% co-pay. [sound of car breaks screeching.] I tell them about the $4k cap and they ok lets us verify that.

After a nervous wait for a return call, the phone rings and the pharmacy informs me that yes I do have a 100% co-pay. So I am freaking now. I call healthnet and they confirm that I don't have a $4k cap at all, the reality of my "plan" is that they won't cover rebif at all. I say thank you and call again to verify with another call center worker. They tell me the same thing. Crap, now what to do?

With OMIP being my only option I call them and ask for advice. Fortunately it is three days before the start of the month. If I get my application in before the 1st, and I am approved then I they will back-date my coverage to the first! Phew! Except I now need to get approved for sure. Nobody at Providence can tell me for sure whether or not I will qualify, they only manage the plan they don't underwrite it. So I take my app down to hand submit it and to make sure I am not missing anything. My app is complete with the exception of a Certificate of Coverage from healthnet to show I had previous coverage (a part of OMIP's determination that I would not be denied for a previous condition). The problem was, I had to drop healthnet before I could get this letter. I didn't want to not have coverage if OMIP denied me for some reason. Crap, but what choice did I have. The Providence customer service person assured me that I could send that Certificate of Coverage in after I applied. Again, what else could I do but hope the system grinds me up properly. Ugh.

So I apply, then go home and cancel my policy with healthnet (a nice feeling I have to say, though sort of anti-climactic, nobody cared there or asked me why. In my mind they just clicked delete.)

So back to rebif, I know have one dose left and no approved coverage. My only option (sort of a theme eh? Country of choice my ass) is to pay for the rebif out of pocket and then submit the bill to OMIP after they approve me (if they do.) I order up and make a $2300 charge to my debit card (the pharm does give me a discount for paying out of pocket which lowered the cost to the same as drugstore.com.) The next day the meds arrive and I am able to stay on track with the rebif.

Next I get a letter from OMIP. I think hurray, its my approval. Nope, it is a letter saying I need to get them the Certificate from healthnet about prior coverage before my policy will be approved and if they don't get it they will send my app to the shredder. Crap, I haven't be able to get that yet. To there credit, healthnet was able to send me an electronic copy very quickly that I was able to submit to OMIP. Phew! Another crisis resolved. Still I wasn't approved yet and I was still unsure if I would get the $2300 reimbursed. Just last week I got another letter from OMIP welcoming me to their plan. Phew! But they still hadn't processed the Certificate from healthnet, so I still have the pre-exisitng condition deal to worry about. But I am 95% sure that it won't be an issue. Of course who the hell know?

So if you have made it this far in my post about my journey with multiple sclerosis and healthnet you are probably as tired as I am. I will stop in just a second. I am incredibly disappointed with healthnet and their non-existing coverage for multiple sclerosis. I consider their classification of "specialty" for the medicine I need to live with my disease to be a farce and shameful on their part. Changing my policy without regard to the very condition I was using their services for illustrates one of the largest problems with insurance in America: when people are relegated to a number and a button to press we lose our humanity. The shear number of people who need medicine to survive, the ever increasing costs of research and advertising for the pharmaceutical industry and the developments of more and more medicines that are more and more effective has driven the cost of "living" close to beyond the reality of our country. Something needs to change and as far as I am concerned, the very first thing to change should be healthnet. Stop being a place to process my checks and start being an insurance company that "insures" me that I will not be punished for the frayed neurons in my brain.

Lastly, I went to healthnet's website to see if I could find a slogon to make fun of. They apparently don't have one. They apparently can't even come up with an empty marketing promise.

Solid morning run

Yesterday I never did any running, even after I blogged before I ran. Oh well. I didn't feel so hot. I forgot to take my anti-seizure meds the night before. I felt a little sluggish too, but not seizury (word?) plus I have lost my gloves and it was cold. So I figured it was not a bad day to take off.

This morning I hit the roads after a good nights sleep and had a nice run. Nothing great happened, nothing bad. I got passed by one runner and passed another. The run through the canyon is getting nicer and nicer, there are a whole bunch of flowers getting ready to bloom and the greenery down there is just amazing. The geese honked at me when they saw me go by. Solid run, nothing more, nothing less.

I am thinking I need to go back to listening to music and giving up my sports radio. Now that the Blazers are out of the playoffs, it has been really boring. Plus the music gives me a boost too.

Funny Brooks running campaign

I'm trying something even newer today (newer than running in the afternoon). I am blogging about my run before I even do it. How's that for unique, fun and exciting? My reason for doing this was I ran across an extremely funny ad campaign put on by the Brooks shoe company. They have several short running films starring these two running goofballs, this is the one that caught my attention:


The full site is (http://www.runningsuperfans.com. You can click on the projector to see some of the other films (err commercials) in the series. The one about meeting the fellow runners in teh desert who are actually illegal aliens is funny too.

Possibly an end to my morning runs?

I was just thinking that the evenings are getting long enough that I could run after Ruthann gets home from work during weeks where she doesn't have night meetings. It has been a really long time since I have done an evening run, the last evening run I did that I can remember was last winter during basketball's regular season. I remember listening to Blazer games while running, but I also remember it being dark, so it must have been more winter than spring. Actually that may have been two years ago. Anyway, I think I will give it a try this week as once it gets too warm I'll need to go back to my mornings.

Today I did a longer run, about 7.5 miles. The big excitement was finding another bathroom at the Art Dept. at Reed. Well, sort of found one anyway. I ended up using the women's as the men's was gross (that's all I'll say about it). But it is a better fit with my route than going down to west campus. Whooo hoo! Soon the park's bathrooms will be open again and I won't have to worry about it. Plus I expect that once summer hits the locks will go up again.

I ran the canyon this morning and it was beautiful. The skunk cabbage are getting ready to bloom and the grasses are about 3-4 feet high which creates a canyon within the canyon for the path. Very cool to run in. So far I haven't noticed the humidity change down there, but soon it will get oppressive. One loop in the canyon and I can shed 10 pounds!

Piglet flu?

Today I ran for the first time, well, since the last time I wrote. Its been about eight days that I have been dealing with this allergy-esque lung infection. Even with all the swine flu talk in the news, I have been a reluctant to call it by that name. The only symptom I really had was heavily congested lungs and an ugly cough. So I don't think I managed to get media flu (err, swine flu), but I did manage to get really sick. I got a lot of rest and no running which seemed to help quite a bit. I can even imagine running with this crud, my breathing was really bad.

It was a nice run, though I went pretty slowly (which was fine by me) and took a couple of short walking breaks. Today was the first run this spring where I actually felt hot. Not just running hot, but outside temperature hot. The sun was really bright today. I should spend the day in the yard, but I am going to see Star Trek instead. Apparently I like to do my yard work in the rain...

So before I got sick I had just stopped taking another round of creatine. I like taking it, makes the muscles feel good, but I really seem to put on the pounds. I could feel the extra weight everywhere (maybe it also has to do with the pasta). I am at 193 right now and feel too heavy, time to lose some of this weight and definitely lay off the creatine (but not the pasta!)