Ambulance Charges

This morning I was reading a post from blogger,Life under the Lights, and was shocked at the article he was referring to but not surprised. Click on his name to read further. I have been hit with bills before and had a heart attack. One time Max was transported to the hospital by ambulance. Months later I got a bill to the tune of $1005. After I finally got my heart and brain working again I called them up and hollered that I gave them my insurance information. They said that was my bill after the insurance paid. Huh!

Many phone calls later I found out my insurance pays only $400 towards ambulance rides and that was the bill of the left over amount. So I had to make the dreaded phone call to my ex and ask to have his medical insurance jump into the fray to help with expenses. I couldn't believe that my insurance didn't cover hardly any of that. That was the first hit. The fire department called a month later asking for $325 for a service fee for coming out to the house since we are in a county island and not covered by the city. Aw crap. Luckily after asking to speak to the supervisor he realized where I lived and that my apartment complex had coverage for fire services and that they shouldn't have called me. Whew! Saved by that one.

Months later Max had an accident at his high school and they wanted to take him by ambulance to the hospital for a burn injury. I flatly refused and said I would transport him, thinking about that dang huge bill I would get. The firefighters argued with me but I said that I didn't want to pay a huge ambulance bill again. They said that since the accident happened on school property that they would be responsible. I laughed and said with the school district being broke that would be an impossible and long process. I told them I worked at a hospital, was an EMT, it was non-life threatening, and would be taking him to my hospital as soon as we left the school. They were satisfied with that. And yes, I signed a refusal of care form.

As for the article he wrote I agree with what he said. If you refuse care from the fire service you must sign a refusal of care, we make you do that every time, and please do to make our lives easier. If the ambulance service makes you sign one, and you didn't call them, DON'T SIGN IT. I know from working with the fire service that you don't have to sign theirs of you didn't call them because they are a private service. Just like you don't have to talk to those dang reporters. You do have the right to ask questions so ask away before signing anything.

Working consumes time in my life.

As you all have noticed by now that there are times that I don't post anything for a while. I work at a hospital on overnight shift. I have a weird schedule. I work 7 days straight then have 7 days off. When I do work it is a 11 hour shift, or more sometimes, so I basically work, eat, and sleep on those days. Some days I get a chance to get on the computer when I get home and post something. Some days when I get home I can barely see straight and just say hi to the cat and crash on my bed, if I even make it that far. I can't tell you how many times I have woken up still sitting on the couch with the computer on my lap and TV playing the music channel in the background.


The 7 days off used to be nice for getting overtime shifts for extra money but that is a thing of history since there is no more overtime allowed with today's economy. It works out nice for travel, recuperating from getting my butt kicked at work, getting things done at home since I am too tired to do it when I am working, or just sitting at home and vegging on the couch.

It can't tell you how many stories I could write about on here that I see at work but refuse to. I do write about some old stuff but not current stuff. Privacy issues blah blah blah.....It is hard to explain what I do but let's just say I am the only person that does what I do in the WHOLE hospital and that keeps me mighty busy the entire night. So I am pretty tired by morning. The winter season is our busiest time of the year and I am dreading it. With the medical issues I am having it is even harder for me this year and more challenging.


Right now I am on my off week and loving it. I got a chance to actually sleep. The last 4 days of my shift I kept getting woken up by phone calls by various people, insurance, doctors office, problems, and so on. Trying to go back to sleep after the aggravation of those phone calls is useless.

I follow many blogs and love hearing about their travels and look forward to the day that I can retire and do the same. Wish I could retire right now. With the medical problems I am having, my future in my career is in jeopardy because I am having trouble giving them 100%. I was raised with strong work ethics and don't call off sick unless I am dying. I have been looking into what options I have if the specialists can't fix what is wrong. Sucks but I have always been a realist and a planner. I always have to have 3 options figured out ahead of time if something goes wrong because with my life something always goes wrong.

Where do you think I came up with the name of the blog? Don't worry. I am used to it and like my mom said to me one time, it sure makes life interesting.

My Insurance is giving medical advice!

With everything going on my insurance has assigned me a case worker. I discovered that yesterday when I got a call and she introduced herself and what she was calling me about. She said that she was to be my case worker and would be handling all my insurance claims and needs from now on. I had one once before but that was when I was on short term disability when I had surgery. I think because I requested a referral to a specialist outside of the insurance network they want to control the money going out of their pocket by assigning somebody to keep an eye on me.

I have to say she was nice but they asked me to go see somebody else while waiting to see the specialist. I grudgingly agreed to make them happy. I don't know what good this other person is going to do me other than waste my time and their money but if that is going to make them happy and let me see my guy then whatever.

The other person they want me to see is a spine and sports injury specialist. What the heck!!!!! I am having problems from surgery guys! Another bright example of what is wrong with HMO's.

Want to see a specialist. Expect to wait, and wait, and wait.

I finally got the insurance to okay the referral to the specialist. They needed to do their political mumbo jumbo decision making deal before deciding to let me see the guy. I got the call from the office of the specialist and she went over the information and I was excited because I have been waiting forever just to book an appointment. I was warned that it would be a bit of a wait to see him but I didn't expect to hear what she had to say.

"Well we have appointments starting in March."

"Excuse me. What was that you said?"

"March. Actually let me check something...I have one opening for January."

"January. Are you kidding me. I can't wait that long."

"Well, it is better than March."

"Okay. You have a point. I'll take the earliest opening you have.

I got two appointments. First one is the end of January for a bunch of testing. The second one is the beginning of February with the specialist to go over the test results and come up with the treatment plan. I don't know how I am going to get through the next few months. I was warned about the wait but I didn't expect this long of a wait. I am now seriously considering contacting my current provider for pain meds. I haven't been on any so far and have just been toughing it out but I don't think my sanity can last 3 more months.

Guess this is what I get for seeing a guy that is the best in the state. A very long wait. Ugh!!!!!!!

Food and Diet Restrictions.



blakesbakeshop.com



Have you ever been really,really sick with the flu. You are lying on the couch dying of nausea and wishing someone would shoot you to put you out of your misery. You watch TV to take your mind off your misery and EVERY dang commercial is related to food!!!!!
Been there and done that.

I am on a restricted diet to manage my symptoms from the surgery until I can get things fixed. Temptation is around everywhere. Well I can tell you it is not fun! I met my sis today for lunch at the Corner Bakery Cafe. When we were ordering the young lady taking our order was asking if I wanted any dessert. I was standing there trying to avoid looking at all the goodies because it was on my No-No list. I was good and didn't have anything but it sucks sometimes. I am a total sugaraholic and they had some stuff that I love. Nope, not worth the misery.

My list of No-No's is long and it is a pain to eat and be creative on what I can have without getting burned out on the same things over and over again. With my busy schedule at work I don't have time to cook complicated meals. I stick with simple, easy, throw a couple of things together meals. Worst comes to worst I nuke a healthy choice meal. Yeah, yeah I can hear some of you out there hollering about the sodium loaded in those. Some of the usual choices have gone out the window and I am searching the internet for different ideas. Most of them are expensive, time consuming to prepare, or just plain weird.

I can now understand how hard it is for someone to avoid temptation when it is around you everywhere. Not to mention the willpower to say no. It has to be ten times as hard for someone with an addiction. Falling off the wagon for them is totally different than for me. I just get pain and misery.

The only side benefit so far has been the weight loss. No, I am not trying to lose weight but it has been coming off. It is okay so far but I will be getting chewed out by my doctor and my family if it starts getting in the ridiculous range. Don't worry, I have a my love handles to work through before it gets to that.



Catandgirl.com



New Patient Questionnaire.

Recently I was filling out a questionnaire at a new doctors office. After the paperwork was done I was sitting there nervous and trying to think of things to distract myself. While doing this I started thinking about the funny and weird questions that I have come across over the years.

How many glasses of alcohol do you drink a week? My answer one time had a doctor of mine laughing a few years back because I told him it depends on how big the the glasses were.

What sort of recreational activities do you participate in? Uh what do you consider recreational activities? Boating, Skiing, Reading, Sex?

Do you exercise regularly? Does anyone ever answer this honestly? What exactly is considered regularly?

Do you participate in risky behavior? Uh, you gotta give me the definition on this question buddy.

How many body piercing/tattoo's do you have? For some people this would take a while to fill out.

Have you ever been depressed? I think everyone has been depressed at least once in their lifetime but most would never admit to it.

What is your eating habit? How do you really answer this one? I eat food! I eat when I am hungry!

What is your relationship like? Huh! Relationship like with who? My ex? Sucks. My family? Great. My kids? Fantastic. My boyfriend? Got none!

Describe your family history. This is funny because I was knew they were talking about medical history and I was thinking just read someone's blog.

Why are you here today? This question on the paperwork always has a teeny tiny box and I can tell you that most people don't have enough room to put everything on it. I left mine blank for this visit.



My most favorite and the best one of them all.

How many sex partners have you had in your lifetime? Hahahaha Hehehehe Hohohoho Oh Boy. I had to sit in the waiting room trying hard not to laugh out loud but I was grinning like crazy. For some people I know this would be an easy answer. For some this one would take a while to figure out the number to put in the box.

Getting Old and Creaky

I had been feeling off for quite a while and finally got fed up and scheduled a check-up with my doctor. He asked me how I was feeling. I said "Just getting old and creaky with aches and pains and getting tired of it!"


He looked puzzled and asked me to explain in more detail. I told him about all of my aches and pains in more detail. He then asked me has this and that been going on? I looked at him surprised and said "Yeah! How did you know?" He laughed and said OK, I need to do some tests and figure this out but I think I know what is going on.


After everything he came up to me with a big smile and said "I am going to give you an anatomy refresher". HUH! I looked at him strangely and wondered why I, a person with tons of medical experience, needed an anatomy refresher. "This is what everything is supposed to look like. This is what your anatomy looks like." Well everything was totally different and in the wrong place. Good news is that with surgery he will get everything back to it's proper place and I can actually live life again without the creaks, groans, and pain. Now I just got to break the bad news to my job that I will be on a pseudo-vacation for several weeks.


Right now I am busy with the darned insurance paperwork maze, pre-op yadda crap, doctors, work authorizations, and people treating me with kid gloves. Geeeze, it is just some surgery guys. I have never been a very patient person and right now I am itching to get this over with. I keep thinking about what normal is like since it has been so long since I experienced it.

Guess I am not getting old as soon as I thought and I suck at self-diagnosis. Despite my worry about the upcoming pain and misery of surgery next Tuesday I am looking forward to getting it over with and discovering a normal life again. Will be strange but fun.


Also if you see some drunken posts next week, I swear it is the drugs talking.