u/twowrist

An article on cbsnews.com about hospice, mostly about getting kicked off hospice, emphasized using the Medicare hospice ratings to avoid such things.

But a few months ago, someone in the Boston sub asked about a local hospice system. Lots of people responded favorably, but when I pointed out the 3 star out of 5 Medicare rating, I got downvoted.

This leaves me questioning whether the Medicare ratings are really that reliable. Or maybe it’s because the company’s at-home service isn’t as good as their dedicated hospice houses. Ordinarily, I’d discount a couple of glowing online reviews, but in this case, there were about 20 positive reviews, none negative except mine, and the company in question is non-profit.

In case anyone is wondering, I’m researching this because my husband has glioblastoma. He’s currently in pretty good shape, but we know that when the cancer returns, it often does so with a vengeance, so we want to be ready.

I’ve been using Hide My Email regularly since it was introduced, often for online purchases and online subscriptions. But the pain of having email misclassified as Junk has become unbearable. It’s generally stuff sent to a Hide My Email address that gets misclassified that way.

My main email account is one of the Microsoft email services. I started out just using the Apple email client for iOS, but switched to trying the Outlook iOS app a few months ago.

I don’t know whether the misclassification is being done by the Microsoft Mail Server or the local iOS apps or the Apple relay. Can anyone answer that?

I used to manually move things to my inbox using the Apple iOS email client, but now I use the “Not Junk” operation in the Outlook iOS client. It doesn’t seem to help. I would have thought that if it were the Microsoft mail server at fault, then Outlook’s Not Junk operation would fix it.

Any suggestions as to what to do? I’m open to trying a new email client. I’m also open to setting up an email account on a different server, if there’s a way to convince the Apple Relay to change which address it used to for forwarding Hide My Mail email.

Any help or even links to other online help appreciated. Or even a pointer to a different sub.

What are the advantages and disadvantages, if any, of using the online checkin 60 days out?

I’ve been getting mixed signals about permanently installed lithium ion batteries from TSA and various airlines. I haven’t checked foreign regulatory rules yet.

TSA seems to say that it’s ok to have in checked luggage a Li-Ion battery that’s permanently installed in a device, as long as it’s protected from accidentally turning on. That would seem to apply to my electric shaver, since it has a case plus a long press on the power button puts it into a mode that prevents it from turning on without another long press.

But some of the airline rules seem to say either that lithium ion batteries must never go into checked luggage or that they must be totally powered off, which would seem to exclude my shaver since it has an LED that appears with a message telling you to hold the power button for 3 seconds to get the shaver to run again.

Any insights into dealing with these rules? I’d hate to be forced to put my shaver and electric toothbrush into my carry-on along with the usual battery chargers, devices, and meds. As is, I’m giving up on my camera because of the limit on number of batteries (I usually take and use four small batteries for the camera.)

My husband is half way through the adjuvant portion of his chemotherapy. His key indicators are good enough to keep going, but his red blood count is low.

He mostly eats poultry for his primary protein source, with occasional sushi, salmon, or eggs. Does anyone have other suggestions on diet to improve his RBC? We’ll ask the oncologist about supplements, but figure it’s safe to look at diet changes.

My husband’s first month on Optune went very well, so much so that we got complacent and went 5 days before changing. At that point, his skin got irritated with some scabbing. We were forced to take several days off, and tried a couple of times to get back on schedule, but still needed breaks.

Now the visible scabs have healed and we’re trying an every other day schedule, with a few hours break between removal and applying the new arrays, with a topical steroid immediately after removal. But now my husband is complaining that the arrays start stinging/burning immediately upon application, so much so that he’s been using an ice pack over the arrays as I put them on. The stinging lasts about ten to fifteen minutes. His skin is looking much better, though still red in front. His GBM tumor and subsequent radiation was right frontal, but it’s his entire front forehead that’s red. His oncologist said she’s never seen someone with that much redness from the Optune.

Anyone else with similar experience? I know that there are arguments for not using the Optune, because the effort is a great deal for what might only be a few months extra survival. But we’re hoping to have as much living as possible while we can.