CLUTTER - getting smart to get what we need

Is your New Year's resolution to build some new drawers or cabinets or even more ambitious storage to hold what you haven't yet thrown away or given away?    

AARP (of all places) has a quickie six-step tutorial about hiring a contractor.  Hopefully, it applies to all states.  It includes checking out the prospects, what to insist on, even how to negotiate!

Now all you need is to get somebody fifty-something to admit he or she's a member, and to lend you the Jan/Feb 2011 magazine.    Or you can pretend you're going to build a store room and just read their bit on Dancing with the Stars!

LAST MINUTE GIFTS

Even if Christmas is not your holiday, don't you sometimes feel a little spirit of giving creeping in at this time of year?  Would you like to give something to someone you care about--especially if it didn't involve crowds, traffic, and possible mayhem in stores?  Or maxing out your charge card. May I suggest:

Take a bowl of fresh raspberries to a neighbor you've met but never really got to know.

Send two (2) greetings to people whose birthday is at Christmas.

Buy a bunch of those tickets at check-out that contribute to meals for less fortunate families in the area.

Use your best letter paper or best season's greetings cards and send your favorite doctors a thank-you note for all those times they returned your call when they needed to go home to their families.

Give the mailman a break and mail things after the 25th. There are, after all, twelve days of Christmas.

Call somebody you haven't talked to in years.  Maybe they're waiting to hear from you, especially if there was a misunderstanding way too long ago.

Even if you're busy, call boring Aunt Sofronia and let her talk for a few minutes.  You can always set the oven timer for ten or fifteen and tell her something's burning.

Send some grown-up a toy or a cartoon he might like.

Apologize to somebody even if it's not your fault.  Even if they started it.  Doesn't count if you don't really mean it.

Give everyone you care about a gift by writing to tell them you want to spend more years with them, so you're giving up smoking, or you actually signed up for their gym and want to hitch a ride with them, or you walked a mile today.  Doesn't count if you don't really mean it.

Happy New Year!

BRAS Fitting room learning

Wanted to try a different size in the best bra I've found so far.   One clerk bombed out on me.  (Why do some of them march down the center isle without looking to left or right, which is where the customers are.)  Told them I found the size but didn't want another black bra.  One young clerk with glasses went into the back room and found 1 beige, one white.  Then did I get a surprise!

Tried on the black and the beige:  they didn't work as well as the size I had at home. 

Then I tried on the same bra, same size, in white!  It was completely different and gives me a great, becoming fit!  In this case, the fact that the manufacturer could have had more quality control was good for me.

Meanwhile the clerk who actually helped me disappeared, but I stayed around  until she came back.  I wanted her to have the sale, because it's rare to get someone who really helps.

Moral: from now on I try on several even though they look alike.

SCARY MAMMOGRAM PHONE CALL -- MORE

I finally tracked down a woman from patient relations at St. Joseph Med. Ctr., Burbank. It took a lot of detective work, since I found no phone number on the web site. Twice now I accidentally wrote customer relations. Actually, that’s perfectly reasonable since a friend taught me that in medical matters, I am the customer. Just look at the bills for my insurance.

The call turned out to be wonderfully validating and comforting. The woman listened better than I usually do. She admitted (how refreshing) that the scary call and the rest should not have happened. At the end, she assured me that she would pass the entire scenario to the head of the mammography center. When I told her I had blogged about this, she asked to read HENBACKTALK.

I reminded her that I want to reward the tech I met at the return visit. That person explained about older women’s breast tissue and why more films were needed. She would be a great person to train whoever calls women for follow up.

This was a big step for me. I am not good on the phone when it’s something personal, or something medical. I forget part of what I need to say.

Days later: a woman from the mammography unit did call me. She said she had taken action with the person who does telephone callbacks and with the radiologist. She reminded me that they also send a letter to my primary physician. She said patients could ask to talk to another person during the initial phone call. I assured her that on hearing the words “they found” a patient can basically go into shock and forget to talk to more people.

We did not enjoy each other’s tones of voice on this call. I felt that I was hearing justification. Finally she did assure me that no one would receive any more calls like I one that scared me, and she ended the call.

If you can possibly find it, I recommend How to Cope with Your Doctor. Bernard Virshup, M.D., Praxis Press.

Please tell us your experience or adventure complaining about anything medical.