I'm also curious about whether the Z-pak helped you. The flu is a virus which is not affected by antibiotics. When I had the flu a month ago I was prescribed Tamiflu. It was pricey but worked great. Walgreens is experiencing growth partly because they understand the concept of "local" and customer service. In the Chicago area we're talking great distances and horrendous traffic so it's wonderful to have a freestanding place in the neighborhood. They also carry so many other items that around here it's becoming the 21st century corner store. Our Walgreens has instituted a great service. Directly across from the pharmacy counter they've created a space for a mini-urgent care practice. There's a small reception area and two small examining rooms that are home to nurse-practioners. You can stop in with minor health problems - colds, flu and such. The nurses can prescribe medications or suggest over the counter products. They seem to be doing a brisk business treating kids with the sniffles and things like that. I woke up the day before our cruise feeling like my sinuses were on fire. I had stopped at Walgreens to pick up some of our regular meds and saw the mini-urgent care and signed up. The nurse suggested an over the counter med and also gave me a script for a nasal spray. All in all I was very pleased with the convenience and speed. Otherwise I would have needed to drive all the way to the other side of town and sat in the waiting room at urgent care for way over an hour.

Sorry - a little more info to be added: (IÂm a believer itÂs best to get a private policy before one turns 50 [most carriers will not write an LTC policy on anyone younger than 45] as the premiums start to rise substantially after that age. As the first article states, the premiums for the CLASS program are not much cheaper than a Preferred risk would pay for a much better private LTC policy if purchased at age 50 or younger. Our own policies (purchased thru DH's employer 10 yrs ago) are miles better than the CLASS program offers, but if we tried to obtain these same policies now, weÂd either get turned down or have to pay three or four times more than what we currently pay.) Further info: Article: With Health Reform, Long-Term-Care Option Becomes Law CLASS Act enacted with health care reform 3/24/2010 By Stephen Miller Under the CLASS Act program, all premium costs can be charged to employees. Employers who chose to participate in the CLASS program wil be required to permit employees to make contributions by means of a payroll deduction, once the CLASS Independence Benefit Plan is designated by U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is to be no later than Oct. 1, 2012. Employers either would create automatic enrollment procedures that allow workers to opt out, or allow workers to choose to enroll and pay premiums. Participants must pay monthly premiums for at least five years before they could receive benefits. Seniors (over age 65 years old) who have paid premiums for at least 20 years and are not actively employed are exempt from paying any premium increase. Premium payments will be placed in a "Life Independence Account" on behalf of each eligible beneficiary and managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a new insurance program. As the CLASS program is developed, participating employers will need to coordinate with their payroll services providers to facilitate these deductions and contributions. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the monthly insurance premium will average about $123 in 2011. Premiums vary with age and will not increase once employees signed up, but they would increase for those signing up later. After five years of paying into the program, enrollees who continue to pay monthly premiums would become eligible for assistance if they experience limitations in two or more so-called activities of daily living, including eating, bathing, dressing and taking medications. This assistance would take the form of a modest daily cash benefit, estimated at $50 per day for impaired enrollees living in the community, for services such as respite care, home care aides and accessible transportation, and up to $75 a day for enrollees who become institutionalized. These amounts would increase with inflation. Here is a link that might be useful: Earlier info on CLASS program

I've been with the same doc for almost 18 years and I would hate to have to switch to another. If I call last minute, either he squeezes me in, or I see his partner who is equally great. I worked for a multi doc practice for a few years and I was disgusted at some of what I saw. It was all about the money with them. None of these docs would "go the extra mile" for the patients. There was no come into my office today, I'll see you tomorrow, etc. This company had a contract with a walk in clinic down the street and the knee jerk reaction of all the receptionists and doctors was " go to the clinic." This clinic was very busy and between the emergencies was alot of primary care things...med refills that could have been done over the phone, routine bloodwork,blood pressure checks, etc. One doc actually had the gall to send a patient that was in his office to the clinic to be evaluated for abdominal pain! His excuse...I'm too busy today to order the bloodwork and xrays! Then if a patient was severe enough that they had to go to the ER, the pcp would call and yell at the clinic docs because they would have to round on the patient at the local hospital! It was a real eye opener. Alot of the patients would say that they felt the clinic docs were their pcps. In 18 years, my doc had given me 1 outside referral and that was for surgery. Sorry for the rant but I was happy to get out of that job and am forever grateful to my doc for the wonderful job that he does.

I did live-in health care back when I was in my 20's, I was a CNA and did not only do patient care but also light housekeeping, cooking and shopping. I worked for a private agency then.. the clients all paid out-of-pocket. Fast forward to a few years ago, my CNA liscense had expired but I took a job as a home health aide. Very, very different. I could not do any patient care.. only cleaning, laundry and shopping. During my training I was shocked to see that most of the aides did very little and spent most of the time visiting with the clients. One of my first days alone I cleaned a lady's refrigerator for over 2 hours. Things had been spilled in there I'm guessing several months earlier and although HHA's had been there 2 times every week.. no one cleaned it up. I also had clients that told me to go ahead and leave when I was done although my time wasn't up (so there is a lot of that going on). I only kept that job a couple weeks... it wasn't at all what I had expected. Good info Lisa!!