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Guest Article: Crafting a Secure Retirement and Healthcare Safety Net Beyond Social Security and Medicare
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Michael Longsdon
Elderfreedom.netPlanning for retirement and ensuring adequate healthcare coverage are paramount in securing your financial future. While Social Security and Medicare are essential components, they may not be sufficient on their own. In this guide, we’ll explore key strategies to create a robust safety net that isn’t reliant solely on these government programs.
Investing in Insurance to Protect Your Finances
One critical step toward ensuring your financial stability during retirement is purchasing disability and long-term care insurance. These specialized insurance policies act as a financial cushion, poised to provide necessary support in the face of unanticipated health crises or physical impairments. By doing so, they play a vital role in safeguarding your hard-earned savings, allowing you to navigate healthcare challenges without jeopardizing your financial future.
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Health Beat: What is Restless Leg Syndrome?
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Mark McNease
After experiencing increasing and chronic pain in my thighs, I finally went to see my primary care doctor. His diagnosis? Most likely restless leg syndrome (RLS). I’ll admit to being surprised, because I’d always imagined that as causing a visible shaking or twitching in the legs. What I didn’t know is that it can be low-grade, and it can happen while you sleep! As he explained it, my legs could be twitching almost imperceptibly while I slept, keeping them from resting and rejuvenating. The result is a pain and tiredness that was becoming slightly debilitating.
Restless leg syndrome didn’t seem to be in the public consciousness until fairly recently, and I was one of those who questioned how prevalent it was. When I first saw drug commercials for it, I thought it might be another of the discoveries being made weekly that require another medication, helpfully manufactured and marketed by the pharmaceutical companies. And then it happened to me. I know what it’s like to have an ailment that almost seems as if it’s in my imagination. If you’re experiencing this, rest assured it’s real.
For me, the doctor prescribed Ropinirole. It’s commonly used for Parkinson’s (don’t let that alarm you) and for restless leg syndrome. The results were immediate. The pain is mostly gone, and began subsiding within a couple days. And a side effect is that I sleep soundly, something that has been an issue for me for years.
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Coming Soon! Drs. Ronni Sanlo and Kelly Watson Share LGBTQ History with Those Who Made It on the LGBTQ History Alive Podcast
Few things are more vital than knowing our history and keeping it alive! Fasten your headphones for this upcoming podcast with Dr. Ronni Sanlo and Dr. Kelly Watson. As we find our lives under renewed attack across the country, with efforts being made to erase us and push us back into silence, every generation will benefit from knowing where we came from, who got us here, and where we’re going.
I’ve long been a fan of Dr. Sanlo’s LGBTQ history blog posts, and I can’t wait to hear this podcast, coming January 1. SAVE THAT DATE! And subscribe to their newsletter HERE.
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A Bit of Video Bombast for the New and Expanded Mark McNease Mysteries Podast
I love hyperbole, bombast, and confidence! If you’re gonna fall on your face, fall hard, I say. I’m very happy to have author Bruce W. Bishop lined up for this Sunday. We just met him in Halifax, and what a great guy he his! The books are terrific, too. Fasten your headphones!
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On the Map: Our Canadian Cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas (with Slideshow)
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Mark McNease
We just got back from our third cruise to Canada, this time on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas. We were joined by our friend Michael, who often cruises with us in his own cabin.
I have a great aversion to flying, so we take ships that leave out of Bayonne (NJ) or New York. Someday we’ll want an itinerary that requires the added hassle of a plane flight, but not quite yet.
I love sailing to Canada. It should be called something else, since we stopped in Boston, Portland, and Bar Harbor first, then on to Halifax, and finally Saint John. It had a bit of a whirlwind feel to it, with the first four ports done in four days.
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MadeMark Publishing Now on Shopify!
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Halloween Books for Your Screaming Pleasure, by Various Authors
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SezHalloween Books for Your Screaming Pleasure
Various Authorsc.2023, various publishers
$12.99 – $27.00 various page countsWhat’s that noise?
Was it the scrape of a branch on the outside of your walls, or the brush of a wing or a fang or a talon? Was there a monster creeping outside your windows, or just the wind and leaves? This is a lousy time for the lights to go out, so grab a flashlight and one of these great new books…
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Savvy Senior: How to Find a Medical Escort After a Procedure
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
Can you recommend some medical escort services that help seniors get home after a medical procedure? I need to have a colonoscopy, but my doctor’s clinic won’t schedule my appointment unless I supply them with a name and phone number of the person taking me home afterward. I live alone with no family nearby, and my friend doesn’t drive anymore. Any suggestions?
Need a Lift
Dear Need,
Good question! Finding “door-through-door” medical escort services for outpatient screenings and procedures that involve anesthesia can be challenging for older patients without nearby family or friends to rely on.
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Health Beat: Is Cannabis Right for You?
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Mark McNease
Once Upon a Gummy
I’ll be honest: I’m a cannabis guy. I haven’t had a drink for 9-plus years, but several years ago I wanted something to help with stress management. A friend gave me a cannabis gummy, and I took half of it. After years of apprehension, I discovered the sky did not fall, I didn’t want to run off to the nearest drug dealer or bar stool, and I quite enjoyed it.
After years with a clear head, I do not like feeling intoxicated by anything. I did that for decades as a young person, even having a reputation as a pothead in high school. That kind of misuse, of the psychotropic components of marijuana and of my own mind and body, holds no allure for me at this age and hasn’t for a long time.
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The Weekly Readlines October 6
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Quote for the Week: “Vacations mean a change of pace, a gentleness with ourselves, a time of rest and renewal, and a time to stretch ourselves and encounter new people, new lands, new ways, and new options.”—Anne Wilson Schaef
Speaker McCarthy out, Paris bed bugs in! For the first time in American history, the Speaker of the House has been removed, in a charge led by the inimitable Matt Gaetz. Claims that Gaetz is behind the historic Paris bed bug infestation have yet to be confirmed. Mais oui!
California Governor Gavin Newsom named Laphonza Butler, president of pro-choice Emily’s List, to replace the late Diane Feinstein. Butler is both Black and a lesbian, making this a double dose of deliciousness.
The MAGA government shutdown was averted at the very last moment by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s refusal to be extorted. We know the price he paid.
Trump, more accustomed to gagging people than being gagged, was ordered to stop issuing fatwas against law clerks and attorneys general on his bizarre social media platform. The countdown clock to his violation of the order is ticking, with Vegas odds makers favoring jail time.
And my favorite nearby town, Lambertville, NJ, was named among the most charming in the country. I told you so!
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The Twist Podcast #243: Canada Calling, Bed Bug Couture, and an Interview with Podcaster Mark Goldstein
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we chat about Mark’s upcoming Canadian cruise, speculate on the language skills of French bed bugs, and enjoy an interview with Mark Goldstein, founder and podcast host of Where Do Gays Retire?
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2023 MadeMark Publishing
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Cover Reveal for ‘Dreamshaping: On Shaping Reality and Living Our Dreams’
UPDATE: NOW ON AMAZON AND FREE FOR SUBSCRIBERS!
I’ve been working on this longer than any book I will ever write. It first came to me about 18 years ago when I was sitting on a beach on Long Island. One of my goals for 2023 was to finally finish it. Almost there …
“It’s understandable that we can react with fear to what we think our bodies are telling us. Who doesn’t assume a grave prognosis when we go to the doctor looking for answers? It’s as natural as gasping for that first breath, terrified there will not be enough air left for another, and another, and another until we take our last. But denying our body’s messages, or pretending they’re not speaking to us at all when in fact they may be shouting, is an invitation to harm and frustration.
Begin to hear your body. Be quiet with it and let yourself learn its language. You are its first and truest friend. You are the one it longs to communicate with. And when it asks you to pay attention, let nothing be more important than understanding what it has told you. When we become the best interpreter of our body’s language, we begin to live in partnership with it, and to trust it will never lead us astray. We may not always like what it has to say, and sometimes what it tells us will be devastating, but we will listen carefully. The answers are there, and in those answers is the opportunity for peace, acceptance and change.”
From When the Body Speaks, Listen (Chapter 15)
Discover this and many other ways we inhabit the dreams we call our lives, how we create them day by day, and how we can begin to experience them as the ultimate lucid dream. No supernatural assistance is required, no surrender to powers outside ourselves.
Dreamshaping is not wishful thinking: it is wishful doing. In this simple guide, this dreamshaper’s manual, you’ll find chapter after chapter of simple insights: how the body speaks to us, how we make choices that determine our experiences, how we act, often unknowingly, as the architect, landscaper, set designer and director of our own existence.
Keep reading, and see what simple reflection and observation can reveal about the lives we live, and the lives we create, in which we’re both the dreamer and the dream.”
