9/21/22

I had some blueberry coffee today. What a terrible idea. Who combines coffee and blueberries? Ugh! Not only did it taste terrible, but it made the house smell funny and completely ruined my coffee experience this morning. Avery was picking on me and telling me I was being a little dramatic and over reacting. (I was totally being over dramatic). “If the worst part of your day is that you don’t like the taste of your coffee….then…..” she said it in a judgey voice. I highly do NOT recommend blueberry coffee. 

She is right. Yesterday in the news a local man was shot in the head in his driveway. There are no more details. I bet anyone in his family would trade places with me and my poor coffee experience than to have to deal with the grief, shock and trauma of losing a family member in this way.

Avery was right to make fun of me. We actually were laughing about it as I complained each time I took a sip….yep, I still drank it….more than one cup too.

Ethan and I went to the lab this morning for monthly lab work. The weight wasn’t too bad. I feel so bad for the workers there. People yell at them for long wait times. They are busting their ass and then having to slow down to address these curmudgeons. I want to say “if you shut up, they will get to all of us faster, people like you are slowing things down.”

Ethan went to work and I was puttering around the house getting organized. I get my 2 nd call of the week regarding billing, insurance and balance due for Ethan’s heart transplant hospitalization. This was for 2 claims. The total was $3750.00. “Do you want to put that on a card?” Um…nope.

The lady told me it was from a 5 day hospital stay in 2/2021. She told me I didn’t have insurance so I had to pay that amount. I politely corrected her…”it was actually 18 weeks and 5 days.” That was a few short days out of the entire stay. Our insurance covered the rest of the days….but apparently not those 5. She said we still owed for those days. What? Makes no sense. I explained this to her. She seemed stuck on the, “this is from a 5 day stay” thing.

I asked her if those had been submitted to insurance yet. She said that we didn’t have insurance. Ding ding ding 🛎️ that was the issue. I had her look into our file a little more and she was able to find, not only our insurance card from February 2021….but also that the claims weren’t submitted. After about a half hour of me exercising extreme patience and kindness…..I got off the phone and stewed.

I am annoyed at how long this is drawn out. Bills from over a year and a half ago still surfacing? Why does it take so long? I am annoyed at the process. I know it wasn’t that lady’s fault but I wish there was some common sense exercised. I say that and I don’t even know the process. Maybe she only gets a small amount of information because of HIPPA. I just felt annoyed and I was glad to have the house to myself and my little creatures kept me company. It’s a quiet and soothing company (except Penny and her big, yappy mouth). My little Ferguson, perched in the window, waiting for the sun to warm him up. He kept moistening his mouth like the old man he is. 

I am glad I am not at the hospital anymore. I am glad Ethan is doing better. I reminded myself that if this is what I have to live with to have my kid here….I can manage it. Annoying, absolutely! A small price of annoyance is worth the reward. I get to go on a trip with BOTH my kids…AND….I don’t even have to bring a dialysis machine. Even just thinking about that makes the annoyance less. 

I view the annoyance as a way that Hell, my enemy, is trying to beat me. Not today, Hell! Hell doesn’t know what it is in for, because I am quite competitive.

One of my besties came over for a visit. She brought me the coolest little addition to my little home office nook.

The rest of the day was full of boring adult tasks like groceries, filing and laundry. I let the dogs out and a few minutes later I hear them barking their fool heads off. The Fed Ex guy was standing in our driveway with 4 dogs circling him and two of them barking like fools. 

He was clearly uncomfortable and practically threw the boxes at me. It was my computer equipment for the new job. I set it all up and made sure it was working.

I had some last minute packing to do and then boom…time to get some sleep for the big drive. 

Side note: Avery pointed out this morning, Wind, Earth and Fire put out a song in 1978 called September. It references September 21st specifically. It is a peppy little number that is sure to bring a smile to your face.