I’ll bet few of us have heard of Prior Authorization in our daily lives;
PA in the medical and health insurance worlds.

Eucrisa (trade name) so new and so expensive (617.00 best price) it’s not included in my insurance.
For me to get insurance help my Primary Care must submit a PA to my insurer.
I’ll work on that.

Meanwhile, I went on line and discovered that Eucrisa’s active ingredient is crisaborole.
2% of Eucrisa is crisaborole, a nonsteroidal topical medication used for the treatment of mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis in people two years or older.
It was approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Dec 14, 2016.

I look for over-the-counter ointments that contain crisaborole at any level.
None.
But my eyes fall on the popular anti-itch medication, Cortizone 10.
Whimsically, I bought one. Ten bucks or so.
Grasping at straws.
Resisting the pull of the drug companies to accept their amazing prices.

After three applications of the Cortizone 10 I’m reporting that the two-year itch has not returned.

I’ll report back.

As an aside, my morning coffee intake may have descended to its desirable level: 8-ounces.
One cup.
Half of what I was enjoying a mere six months ago.
Limiting my intake to 8-ounces forestalls the dizziness I experience if I drink ten or twelve ounces.

Bottom line: while my morning coffee-moment has been reduced to half of its not-so-distant past, I continue to stay in touch with the signals my body sends me,
these signals helping me to avoid adverse reactions to the drug, caffeine.

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Tagging Today
Sunday, January 20, 2019
My 283rd consecutive posting, committed to 5,000.
Time is 12.01am.
On Sunday, Boston’s temperature will reach a high of 43* with a feels-like temperature of 29*.
We’ll have an icy mix of precipitation up to 1”.

But permit me to remind you that according to the Blog’s Winter Calendar, Jan2 to Feb13, we have only 25 days remaining to our winter.
We can get through this short period.

Dinner is  leftover goose.

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Question of the Day:
January 20
What is the second book in the Neapolitan Novels?

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Love your notes.
Contact me at existentialautotrip@hotmail.com

From Victor, on the post dealing with the tradition of washing the common stairwells in apartment buildings.

Dom,

Today's post brought back some fond memories and aromas.

I can vividly recall my turn on the Saturday mornings scrubbing the stairs for my mother while she was washing and ironing clothes for her husband and six sons!

I can still evoke the aroma of the "sulfanetta" (a cleansing naphtha) produced as it wafted through the building.

The same building that on the very next morning emitted a savory aroma of a bubbling gravy being readied for a few dunks of crusty Italian bread after mass and before our Sunday dinner ritual. 

Web Meister Responds: Wow! Imagine in a patriarchal society men doing women’s work. I haven’t heard of others. Kudos to you and your family. You guys were always ahead of the curve.

I appreciate your perception in relating two of the strongest olfactory experiences we shared growing up.

Well done, Victor.

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Answer to question of the Day:
What is the second book in the Neapolitan Novels? 

The Story of a New Name (2013)

No longer feeling anything for Stefano, Lila is cold to him during their marriage.
Stefano rapes her on their honeymoon, causing a further rift.
The Solaras gradually take over the increasingly lucrative shoe project and Lila, despite rebelling, is forced to help them with the shoe shop.

As Lila in different ways continues to rebel, both her family and her in-laws worry about her not having become pregnant yet.
Her doctor blames it on stress and prescribes a vacation.
Lila, desperate to not be alone with her mother and sister-in-law, talks Elena into coming with her.
Elena, who is meanwhile still doing very well in school and has fallen in love with a haughty older boy called Nino Sarratore, agrees on the condition that they go to a particular beach resort, knowing Nino will be there.
Elena is naively unaware of Nino's lack of interest in her and jealousy of her writing talent.

Soon Elena and Lila are increasingly spending their days with Nino.
Surprisingly, it is Lila and Nino who fall in love with each other and begin an affair, even using Elena as their common confidante.
Feeling dejected, Elena gives in to the advances of Donato Sarratore, Nino's father, who takes her virginity.

Elena graduates from high school with no concrete plans.
After hearing about a free university in Pisa, she passes their exams and is able to get a university education.

Elena has a difficult time there, because of her obvious poverty and the fact that she is sexually active.
Eventually, she meets Pietro Airota, who is an awkward, dry, but kind and proper intellectual from an important family. The two become friends and upon graduation, he proposes to Elena, who accepts.
Before graduation, Elena writes a small story based on her life which contains a fictionalized account of the night she lost her virginity to Donato Sarratore, Nino's father.
Elena gives it to Pietro as a present.
He, in turn, gives it to his mother, Adele, who passes it along to a publishing house, which immediately accepts it.
The book leads to financial success and critical acclaim for Elena.
To her disappointment, no one from the neighborhood mentions the book except to comment on the sexual passages, and not even Lila shows any interest in it.

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Good morning on this Sunday, January 20
We talked about avoiding the high cost of drugs and the ever-diminishing intake of caffeine in the morning.
We talked a bit about time and weather.
We heard from our dear friend Victor: men doing women’s work. Bravo! Victor.
And we read a summary of the second book of Elena Ferrante’s tetralogy, The Neapolitan Novels.
Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?

See you soon.

Love

Dom