IdentityHawk: ID Theft Protection

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Just One More Aspect of Chronic Illness

I purposely didn't post yesterday because I was in such a foul mood, and was afraid I would be posting way too many $%%$##@#! kind of words. So I refrained. : )

I have been going back and forth with the U of M over a bill for $20.86. From December 21 of last year. It would be SO much easier to just send them the stinkin' money and be done with it. But it's the principle of the thing! I can't take it. I can't just give in. Besides, if I did that every time it would add up!

So back and forth we go. They have the wrong secondary insurance. Medicare is my primary because I'm on disability. (Believe me, I'd MUCH rather be working!) and Priority is my secondary. They still have Blue Cross as my secondary; well, let me clarify. The U of M HOSPITAL billing has everything straight. The PHYSICIAN billing (which looks exactly the same bill-wise), still has is messed up. So I call Medicare (oh, what joy) and they say they need a letter from BSBC of termination of benefits so they can change it "in their system."

And HOW is this all my job? Aren't the insurance companies supposed to communicate? O, silly me...what was I thinking? That would require INTELLIGENCE and a little WORK. Heaven forbid.

So I do what they say, and it still is messed up. So I call Blue Cross again, and this time get someone who knows what they're doing {cue Hallelujah chorus} and tells me exactly what to say to Medicare to get it fixed. Because apparently at the U of M physician billing, Medicare is billed first and then sends it on to the secondary, which they still had as BCBS....just for U of M apparently.

Rabbit trail: Why the heck does everything have to billed separately anyway?? When I have plasmapheresis, a neurologist comes to my bedside (when I have the needles already in so I can't talk anyway), asks me 3 or 4 questions that take about 90 seconds, walks away, and charges $205.00. Yes, $205.00 for 90 seconds. No wonder insurance is such a nightmare!

Anyway. So I'm billed separately for their highway robbery visit. Nice.

Thankfully, the ladies at City Hall (my hubby works for the City) are willing to help me with this, because there comes a point where I'm just ready to lose it. So I e-mail the girls, and they e-mail back saying U of M is telling THEM I have a zero balance. {imagine me pulling my hair out running around the house screaming, which I can't do, but I would if I could}. So I call this morning, and I have a $20.86 balance. Someone just shoot me.

And we're supposed to have this "Employee Benefit Solutions" person to deal with all this, who has "been in this business for 20 years." However, I know more about his job than HE does! Needless to say, I don't bother with him.

NOW U of M says I need an "authorization of service" from my PCP. I'm like, you mean a referral? No. That would be too easy. "It's a little different. You need an authorization of service for that day." {more screaming and pulling of hair, maybe some poking of the eyes with sharp objects}.

So I call the PCP and they have NO IDEA what I'm talking about.

And of course, I have NOTHING better to do than spend what little energy I have dealing with all this bull$#!!.

{Sigh.}

Feeling A Bit Better!!!

I am feeling a bit better than yesterday. Well, A LOT better than yesterday....Yesterday was pretty rough. I'm hoping and praying that this is the beginning of a long upswing.

One thing that is so difficult is the constancy of this disease. It doesn't go away for Easter. It doesn't stop when you get a migraine. It's still there when you get sick (like a normal "sickness" like a cold, for example). My MG never takes a break. Never leaves me alone. It's always there.

Germs aren't just germs; they're deadly microorganisms for the chronically ill.

Staircases aren't just staircases; they are, at times, insurmountable obstacles.

Hospitals aren't just buildings; they are the stuff of life and death. Of dreams and nightmares. Of cures and killers.

Imagine carrying a 50 pound backpack with you every moment of every hour of every day. You might be okay for an hour, a day, maybe even a week if you're strong and in good shape. But try a month. A decade.

It gets in the way of everything. Just think about it. It's not like you can't live with it, but it just changes everything. That's the life of people with chronic illness.

Today

Do you know what today is?

Today is the day a mother went to grieve her son at his tomb, only to find it empty.

Today is the day that people finally believed in a Savior.

Today is the day that gives me the hope to live each day.

Today, we celebrate Jesus Christ and His victory over death. Today, we serve a Risen Savior!

This was my favorite hymn when I was little. It is written by Robert Wadsworth Lowry.

Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior,

Waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose,

With a mighty triumph over His foes,

He arose a Victor from the dark domain,

And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.

He arose! He arose!

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch His bed, Jesus my Savior;

Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose,

With a mighty triumph over His foes,

He arose a Victor from the dark domain,

And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Death cannot keep its Prey, Jesus my Savior;

He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose,

With a mighty triumph over His foes,

He arose a Victor from the dark domain,

And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.

He arose! He arose!

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Pheresis From Hell (Long)

OH good grief. This is exactly what I felt like on Friday when I saw the "new" pheresis tech. My appt. time was 1:00. We were there at 1. She was there at one. We'll just call her Pokey (more relevance than just being slow). She fiddled with the pheresis machine for AN HOUR before she even started moving it into my room, in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n. Good heavens. Talk about molasses in January.

This was doing NOTHING for my confidence. I honestly don't think this child EVER had done pheresis peripherally in her young life. Not that age always means experience and vice versa. But in this case, OH yes. I was almost shaking by the time she started getting ready to start the actual treatment.

First, she scrubbed my anticube veins for like 30 seconds with betadine. I'm like, Helllllooooo have you ever heard of an alcohol wipe????? Then walk down the hall to throw it away. Then get new gloves on. Then scrub the other one for 30 seconds (she was actually looking at her watch). Then walk down the hall, throw it away (I'm like, you got something against a garbage can in here or somethin'??) Then down the hall to get new gloves. Here's an idea, GRAB MORE THAN ONE PAIR IF YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THEM OFF EVERY 2 SECONDS!

Then the blood pressure cuff. They always do it on my lower arm, because if they use the automated ones, they always blow up WAY too tight and it hurts like hell and I get a ring of bruises around my arm. So she put the cuff on the top, of course, and walked away. If puffed up, my eyes are bulging out of my head and my hand is purple, but it finally stops and starts to de-puff. (Yes, that IS a word). But then it starts puffing up again.

I just yelled "Would someone get this thing OFF me??? It's killing me!!!" Well, THAT actually got her moving quickly! Ug. So she moves it to the bottom and it was like 145 over 85. I said, "That's it? I thought it would be like 200 over 140 by now!" Went over her head.

I should have known. First stick on my return arm. Holy $h!t. PAIN. In spades. Then she's moving it in and out like she'll magically hit a spot if she "jimmies" it around. Problem is, that's a razor sharp fork tong you're "jimmying" in there. Then she's poking the vein around it, so the pain goes from a 9 1/2 to a 12 and I yelled "Get it OUT! You're on a nerve!" So she takes it out.

(I do think I managed a normal-decibel voice once or twice before the poking began). So return arm, second poke, good to go. She takes blood first, which I'm amazed she remembered. Starts running saline, and it stings, but it's bearable, so I'm not ABOUT to say anything.

My draw arm has a huge vein. It's a little crooked, but Helen Keller could find it. Well, Helen she was NOT. I don't know WHAT she did, but this poke actually made me CRY. Usually it's just gritting teeth, squeezing Doug's hand praying, and going to my happy place. This was some of the worst pain I've ever felt. I don't know what she did. I'm in agony. Can't sob or yell now because I have a 1/2 inch needle in my other arm. So I lay there crying. Like back-arched-off- the-bed-pain. So many thoughts going through my head....I'll spare you the deep, philosophical ones and just tell you that if I ever see Pokey again, something is going to snap. And it's not gonna be me. : )

So it ran faster than Wednesday, purely by the grace of God, after she FINALLY got started. We were there til 4...should've been done by 2:30. My dear friend Linda was visiting me. She used to be the charge nurse at short stay where I was at St. Mary's and told one of the nurses there to call Michigan Blood and say "Never again." (About Pokey Helen). I was like, that's cool, you saved me a phone call!

So today I feel like I've been run over by a train. I can't hold the phone very long, because my veins are so bruised it hurts like heck to fold my arm up.

So that was my Good Friday. How was yours??

No Bull?

Well, yesterday's treatment was pretty horrible, so we're just going to go to the funny part of the day.

We got a cow named Chuck. (So yes, when he lays down he is Ground Chuck). Well. He is supposed to be a steer. I always thought a steer was just a cow with horns. So for the rest of you uneducated city folk (like me!), apparently a girl cow is a heifer. A BOY cow that no longer has his boy parts is a STEER. A boy cow that HAS all of his boys parts is a BULL. Those are the things you see in the PBR-8-second-bull-riding shows. (The BULL not the parts!!!!!)

Well. Our cow has a cough. Yes, a cough. First the $#@$# dogs, and now the cow. WHAT ever. So after another $90 flippin' dollars to combat said cow cough, our loving friend Shawn's son Kyle came over to administer aforementioned $90 medication because 1. it has to be injected, 2. Kyle used to work on a cow farm, 3. Doug had no idea what to do, and 4. Kyle had to help "catch" the thing before he could inject it.

SO. I have to say at this point I am HORRIBLY saddened that I did not see this take place, it is only a vicarious telling. {sigh} I miss ALL the good stuff.

First, when we get home from my horrific treatment, Doug goes out with Jacob to build some kind of cow container. A stall of sorts, quickly assembled. Kyle comes over, Jacob and I are eating supper....never heard a thing.

Doug comes back in after a while, and the first thing out of his mouth is, "Kyle said make sure Jacob NEVER EVER EVER goes by that cow. He said it was rank." Now, I happened to know that "rank" doesn't mean stinky in this case, but MEAN. (I know that from my short-lived fascination with bull-riding).

Then he proceeds to tell me how he got head-butted by the cow, kicked by the cow, and how Kyle narrowly escaped being charged by jumping OVER the cow somehow. (Again, I'm almost weeping that I missed the show). I think Shawn said it was 4 or 5 times that Kyle got pushed around by this "rank steer" who Kyle REALLY thinks is a BULL.

OF COURSE it is. The thing charged the electric fence for crying out loud! And the best part?? We get to do shots for FIVE more days! Today, even if I have to wheel myself to the window, I will be watching. Doug is going to Shawn's to get some gates that they use to box in the animal that needs medication, and then Kyle and his sister Tiffani are coming over. Tiffani will be on her HORSE, and rope the cow's back legs, while Kyle ropes the front, and somehow is going to check to see if his boy parts are still there.

Anyone who has known me for a long time is probably rolling on the floor by now.

So if it IS a bull, we will either bring it back to the auction place and get a REAL steer, or if it's just a rank steer, we will make a small SMALL pen until he calms down. Then we'll just fatten the sucker up as fast as possible and Chuck will be, well, chuck!

One thing to say if you have me in your life in any way: NEVER a dull moment.

Plasmapheresis Number Two Today

So today is the 2nd of 3 plasmapheresis treatments at St. Mary's. The only bummer is that I may or may not get the same ladies from the Michigan Blood Program. And I adored the ones I had. When I saw the first woman, Judy, I lifted my eyes heavenward in silent thanks. She had gray hair. I thought...she has EXPERIENCE!!! I told her that and she chuckled...but it was true!

I'm expecting even better things today, because the nurses at short stay have seen me once already, and know more about how things go with ME personally. Very cool. I have to say, I am SUPER impressed with St. Mary's as far as how GENUINELY kind and concerned the people are. Even the girl who called yesterday to do pre-registration was SO nice! Most of the time, or a lot of the time anyway, people who have that job are pretty uninterested, even borderline rude! So I'm just thrilled that things are going so well. I expect the same thing today!

Karen came over yesterday with Emma (Kerry had a field trip with her middle son) and we had such a wonderful visit. I thank God for those women. They are not only portraying the heart of Jesus, they are becoming such dear FRIENDS!! Love you girls.

So. Please keep my treatment in your prayers today. Also, my sister Lori is still healing from her gallbladder surgery, and they are having a garage sale to raise money to pay bills. If any of you would like to pray for them, and finally, Karen's darling little girl is having surgery on Friday to get her tonsils out and tubes in her ears. So please keep Julianna in your prayers.

Thank you for reading...for commenting....for supporting....for praying. It truly makes a difference.