THE WEISS CHRONICLES

We received a statement and billing from Johns Hopkins. It was for Cardiolological exams in April 2024 and the Suburban Hospital (part of Johns Hopkins, hence JH) work September and November 2024. All this was for Ann. It included all the charges, the Medicare reimbursement, the co pays, the Blue Cross Blue Shield adjustments and reimbursement and the remainder that we need to pay. The total charges were about $31k. Apparently, Medicare waits until after Blue Cross makes the adjustments before they reimburse. Some of these adjustments were significant. For example, FH charged about $900 for MRIs in September. Blue Cross adjusted that down to about $100. There is no total of the adjustments but looking at the various pages (there are 8 pages), it seems to be about $8k. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... In addition to the various co pays we have already had we owe JH about another $1k. Its pretty complicated but then so is the entire system and it does seem to work.

We had a fluffy snow event. It began late night on Sunday 5 January and ended a bit before midnight on 6 January. Probaby about 6" at our house. Reagan National Airport had 7.2", Dulles International had 5.1, Baltimore-Washington Marshall had 6.6". Prince Frederick county had some totals over 11". The totals at Dulles and BWI were calendar day records. Since was cold all thru the storm, the snow was pretty fluffy. It was also one of the best forecast storms lately, with the NWS predicting 6-10 inches starting Tuesday last week. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. The first image is in DC at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Kevin Ambrose took the photo). The second image is from Annapolis showing docks near the Severn River as the sun rose on the day after the storm. The third image of the Washington Monument from a park nearby (Robin on flicker)

Had some coughing and a runny nose. Decreased appetite. Low grade fever. So I tested myself for Covid using one of the home tests. I had a kit with two tests but spilled one of the vials. I was more careful with the second test. The test was positive with one blue line and one pink line. ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I'll call my doctor in the am to get an anti viral. Jan 7 update - my fever is almost gone. Yesterday, I was 101F, today 99F. May not need an anti viral. Jan 8 no fever. Ann also tested positive but with no fever. They tested everyone on her floor at the Hebrew Home (where she was for rehab) and she was the only one who tested positive which points to me as the infecting agent.

Back on 12 September, Ann was weak and disoriented. I called 911 and after some discussion they recommended hospitalization. I agreed and she went to Suburban Hospital (part of the Johns Hopkins Network of Health Care). It was quickly diagnosed as a Urinary Tract Infection. She was discharged on 16 September but was too weak to make it into the house. She was readmitted at Suburban, then discharged to rehab at Montcare of Potomac (a place right near the Washington Country Club Golf Course) on 17 September. She was discharged on 10 October to our house. On 18 November, she had the weakness and disorientation symptoms with tremors as an additional symptom. I called 911 again and they took her to Suburban again and she was diagnosed with UTI again (diagnosis took a while and it wasn't until later in the afternoon on 18 November that she was diagnosed). On both occasions they did an MRI to see if there was a stroke and decided that it wasn't. We planned another rehab. Ann was admitted to the rehab section of the Hebrew Home on Friday Nov 22. It came as a surprise to me as I was told that same morning to plan for her to be at Suburban a few more days. The transfer went OK and we got some supplementary assistance for the nights of the 22nd, 23rd and 24th. She had her first rehab session on Monday 25 November. Irwin visited her on the 25th and I met him there at the Hebrew Home .............. ......................... ............................................................................ The disorientation can be somewhat scary. I would have been very frightened if I hadn't looked up 'causes of delirium' on Mayoclinic.org and saw that infections cause this and followed that up with additional searches. Interestingly, at one time during the first UTI she thought she was in Canada and one time during the second, she thought she was in France. We had an appointment on 30 December to see a specialist in preventing UTIs but they canceled, calling us just an hour or so before the appointment when I was already getting to Ann's room to pick her up for the trip. Rescheduled to 13 January. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Discharge from the Hebrew Home was 8 January. It was a confusing morning but she did make it home and we began home care. Today it was 4 hours of a semi skilled care giver. Tomorrow 8 hours are scheduled. The home care person provides assistance as needed, e.g., rest room, shower, medicine.

A donation request letter came for Ann's mother, Kathleen Byers Lindsey, who died in February 2012. The letter contained address labels and a notepad. So we get letters meant for my mother and father, Ann's mother and assorted people who I've never met. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... None of them have lived here (except for my mother who stayed with us for a few weeks in 1999).

. I was at the Blood Donaton Center today to give plasma. However the plasma machine was out of order and they asked if I would give whole blood and I agreed to do it. I was called to the interview. They asked me my weight but didn't ask me to get on the scale (they have previously asked me to do that). I asked why they weren't weighing me. The interviewer said, we calibrate the spin machine when you are giving platelets or plasma and we want to be sure of your weight. However no spin machine is used for taking whole blood (First thing I learned). After the first part of the interview, the interviewer took my pulse (66 bpm). He said it had too many missed beats (they need it to be fewer than 10 per minute -- this was the Second Thing I Learned). I never had anyone tell me I had missed beats (perhaps because they were fewer than 10/minute). He took my pulse again and again I had more than 10 missed beats He apologized, suggested I come in again as maybe I was under stress. I agreed. Then he asked me if I would like one of the free shirts they were giving to donors that week. So even agreeing to donate gets you the shirt. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ That was the third thing I learned. Shirt pattern is in the first image. Missed beat cardiograph is in the second image.

I dreamt that I was at a political convention. Food was being served (I might have been there as a mashgiach but that's a might, not for sure). Everyone was having a great time. There was lots of beer being served and being consumed. There was sign that said, "Beer Party" (I think as opposed to Democratic or Republican Party). In the middle of it all was a dog with a party hat (party hat not shown on the image). ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... It was Spuds MacKenzie who was featured in Budweiser advertising in the 1980s. Good years for Bud Light which overtook Miller Light in the 1990s in total sales.

I was on my way to the mincha/maariv minyon at Beth Sholom. The atrium was decorated for what I think was a wedding. It was really nice with all kinds of nice lighting and music. But I was particularly impressed with the very large tree that was brought in for the event .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... The tree even had southern moss hanging off the branches. Wow.

During a mashgiach shift, the outgoing mashgiach was bringing recently checked vegetables to the meat and parve refrigerator. He notice that on one of the large carts (they are about 6 feet high and hold up to 15 trays on which food is placed) there was both meat products and dairy products. After some discussion we came to the conclusion that the cart only held items lefts over from two events (the left over food was brought back to the cooking area). One of the food trays had left over baklava from a dairy event. The outgoing mashgiach said he was shocked that the clean up crew could make that mistake. The baking specialist said she thought the clean up crew was probably badly behind time and had to rush. They asked me what I thought.... ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I said I was shocked that there could be such a thing as 'left over baklava'.

..For about a week or so I haven't been able to make or receive facebook messenger video calls. Today I got an email saying someone tried to call me and couldn't leave a message because my voicemail was full. I deleted many voicemails. Some time after the email deletion, I got a facebook messenger video call and it worked well. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ I looked on the internet to see if deleting voice mail is supposed to fix anything. I couldn't find any information to that issue.

I had a dream that there was an earthquake that affected where I was living. It didn't seem to be my current neighborhood because the style of housing was differnt (roof was more pointy). For some reason I decided the best thing to do during the earthquake was get on the roof. Why? Perhaps to hold it together - just a dream. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I was pretty happy to wake up and realize there wasn't an earthquake. It did show pretty poor judgement on my part however.

We keep some houseplants in our sunroom. It isn't heated so when the forecast is for minimum temperature in the low 20s the temperature in the sunroom gets below freezing. At the coldest, it get about 10F above the outside. I brought in the houseplants today. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Last year, if I recall correctly, I didn't bring them in until January. PS. As it turned out we had below 32F minimum temperatures each day from Nov 30 to Dec 6.

Since my hip surgery on 9 September I've been waiting to get a final bill from Medstar, the hospital in which the surgery took place. Today, instead of a bill I got a check for %500+. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. I had prepaid several thousand dollors before the surgery date so I guess I shouldn't be completely surprised. Update: I got another check in late December 2024 for about $150.

Tamar and Oz live in a built up area of Ramat Gan. There isn't much empty space. But that hasn't stopped Oz from being able to 'camp out' because Tamar got him a tent he can sleep in and set it up in the living room. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... A heard a joke on the radio that Jews hate camping because there so much to complain about and no one to complain to.

I've been impressed by the way caterers can make art out of food. I saw this today while on duty. This is two types of lentils with Rosemary sticking out of it. Probably about $4 of ingredients... ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... And the lentils will basically last for many years without getting moldy unless they get wet.

A delivery was made today while I was on Mashgiach duty. One of the items had an odd symbol where the usual kosher symbol usually is. I took a picture and sent it to the Star K HQ. I asked what that symbol was. They responded "That is a Vegan hecksher". I approved it as part of the delivery. Then later that day I realized I should have asked a different question. I sent in "Is it kosher?". The answer was "no". ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. The company that delivered it took it back during the next delivery.

Sunday Nov 10, my car wouldn't start. I got a jump from a subcontractor to my USAA membership. The car worked all day and I got it to Autozone to get a new battery. However, by that time it was raining and Autozone doesn't install new batteries in the rain. So I went home. The car still was able to start 11 November Monday a.m. and I went to Siena for mashgiach work. I was hoping it would still start and I could go to Autozone next but it wouldn't start so I had to call for another jump. This ended the bad part of the week. When I got to Autozone it only took about 15 minutes to buy and have them install the battery. I had some more time in the p.m. and decided to go to Jiffylube for an oil change. It took only about 30 minutes there. ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... also got a $20 discount at Autozone and $45 discount at Jiffylube for Veteran's Day. Also Jiffylube gave me a blank one of their stickers so I could record the date I will need another car battery.

Image is from the internet (I would never use Okra intentionally in anything). I had thought to make crockpot chicken and rice with some mushrooms, carrots and lentils. Unfortunately, I am not good at anticipating how long things will really cook and I set the timer before the sabbath. I allowed plenty of 'crock pot ON' time. Too much. The rice became gumbo and the carrots were very soft also. Suprisingly, the mushrooms stayed identifiable in the gumbo but everything else was very gumbo - basically pretty pasty. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... It tasted pretty good though as I had some extra sauce from another dish as well as some chicken flavoring. I put the left overs in the refridge and I think I'll use it with a beef dish I made. The beef dish had a too-high meat.vegetable ratio so this may work.

I couldn't find a good image to illustrate the title of this post. Thus I used the Sistine chapel Michelangelo painting of Noah offering a sacrifice post flood. Near the beginning of the Noah story (6:9) is a phrase usually translated "... Noah walked with God." I used a somewhat more literal translation in the title of the post. Anyway the Noah reference is because today I walked to synagogue on Sabbath for the first time in several months (a bit under half a mile each way). I'm not claiming divine approval or authority however. BTW, there is another later famous 'walking' verse in Genesis, 17:1 (where God tells Abraham to walk before him) and I could have waited for that one. Also last week there was a walking with God verse 5:9 but after Enoch does this he is gone (dead or up to heaven). It wasn't a real comfortable walk because on the way my sock seemed to get caught in one of my toenails and it wore me out a bit. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ I got there before even the blessings of the dawn ברכות השחר, had started but left after the silent Mussaf amidah. Left the house about 840, home about 1150. It was a relatively long service since it was also Rosh Hodesh so we had Hallel and a few other odds and ends.

We had fewer than two dozen trick or treaters. However, one of the first groups (girls only) was dressed in super hero(ine) costumes. As in the image (which I got from the internet), some were Marvel, some were DC Comics. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... All well behaved.