beginning in may 2009 i switched from lisinopril (which was giving me a persistent dry cough) to 75mg irbesartan, the first time i was put on an angiotension II receptor blocker (ARB). i was only on it for 2 months before i switched health insurance and discovered my new policy didn't cover irbesartan, so my doctor put me on 80mg of valsartan (diovan) instead, another ARB. then i switched insurance again (and switched doctor for a brief while) and my new insurance wouldn't cover diovan so i started taking losartan instead. i finally returned to MGH in 2011, where i was once again put back on valsartan.--> several insurances and a brief hospital switch later, i'm now back to valsartan (160mg). that was until they ran out, and my doctor sent in a new prescription for avapro instead. his e-mail had a few errors, said avapro was valsartan, prescribed 160mg when in fact it was 300mg. i had to double check with the nurse, making sure i wasn't accidentally taking double the dosage. she replied, said that 300mg irbesartan is the equivalent of 160mg valsartan.
i was actually sort of surprised they had the prescription ready after my doctor sent it in this morning. i was already preparing myself for the hassle of either getting back in touch with my doctor or more likely having to fight with the insurance company to get them to authorize the medication.
walking back home, i visited some flowering peach trees on the corner of spring and pitman street. i saw 2-3 flowering trees from the main street, but when i got a closer look, it was a whole garden of just flowering peaches, i'd never seen anything like it.
i finished watching the plot against america. i accidentally spoiled the series when i went online to look up some info on the show and the book it's based on. they changed the ending though, instead of happy they left it ominous, perhaps to goad viewers into voting this november.
i watched a documentary about the gay subtext in the 1985 a night on elem street 2: freddy's revenge. i never noticed it but looking back now, it's pretty obvious. the movie basically ruined mark patton's acting career, a closeted actor who was ridiculed for his effeminate performance during the height of the AIDS pandemic and 1980's conservative homophobia.
i hardly saw kevin today, it was one of those days where he didn't want to be social. i heard him occasionally sighing loudly in his bedroom, and he probably also opened his window a few times judging by the sound the door makes when it closes when the house isn't "pressurized". it was a weird day, in the mid-morning it was bright sun and clear blue sky, but by late morning the sky quickly changed and it became overcast for the rest of the day, finally raining a little bit by late afternoon.
for dinner i finished the last of the salisbury steak leftover my sister gave me, mixed with the leftover rice i made from yesterday.
later in the evening i did some plumbing. it's something i've noticed for a while, the cold water knob in the bathtub doesn't close tightly, i can keep turning it in the off position. that means it drips cold water, and a dripping faucet is something i can not tolerate. it's an easy fix, the rubber padding needs to be replaced (fortunately i have a whole pack of spares), i just needed to run down into the basement to turn off the cold water inlet. i was hoping kevin would be curious to see what i was doing in the bathroom, so i could show off my plumbing skills, but he wasn't the least bit interested, and i made the fix without him even knowing about it.
