Ethan’s Journey

 I got another bill from the hospital. It was for a service done on 2/27/2021. It was some sort of exam. $480. How is this just popping up now?  Was this exam different from the other exams that were done day in and day out from 11/18/20 -3/31/21? But we only have to pay this one exam? Sigh. Another phone call. Another explanation of me telling them to submit under the old insurance and not the current insurance.  My insurance liaison isn’t returning my calls or emails at this point. Maybe she died? I have no idea. I do know I don’t have hours each week to try and communicate with the hospital, insurance company or the collections agency. Hours! No one will talk to me without Ethan’s consent so I have to make sure he is home from work to make these calls. This system sets people up for failure! It’s so annoying and I have found that sometimes my coping mechanism is to ignore it until I have the proper energy to deal with it mentally. How did it get to be the last day of September? Time

 Our lab plan did work to a degree. Sort of.  Ethan checked in with the QR code at 8:00 while we were in route to the lab. We tried to do so earlier, but the lab wasn’t open so it wouldn’t allow us to check in. There were 4 people ahead of him. When we arrived, we walked in and his name was called within 5 minutes or less. Very promising. We gave the lady his 3 pages of blood tests. Then we waited. We waited and waited and waited. Ethan was tolerant. Finally they called Ethan’s name. Other phlebotomists were calling their 4 th or 5 th person in. We finally were called and I asked the lab, what their process was. The thing that takes the longest, is that they have to manually enter in ALL 3 pages of tests, one by one. What a time suck.  NYC lab orders don’t mesh with Rochester labs. We were there for a solid 40 minutes before we were called back. So we did save a little time. Good to know! We will see what the results are.

 We are going to try and “beat the system” tomorrow. Ethan needs his bloodwork done. He won’t go by himself because he never knows what the ladies are talking about. The last time I had to stay in the car because I had a meeting for work. He came out to the car with like a two gallon jug to collect his urine. What? The fact he is going without a fight is a win.the last time we were there, we waited for about an hour. With the drive there and back home and the time spent getting the sample, the simple blood draw takes about 2 hours. I wish I could just do it at home. We have a picture of the QR code. We are going to gamble and check in to have the labs drawn, from our driveway to cut down on our wait time. Hopefully by the time we get there, they will be ready for us. We will see if it works or not.  I am glad it is Friday tomorrow. This week has been long and hectic. Down right chaotic really. I have been putting in long hours this week trying to train our new team members. Wish us luc

  Today is Nicole’s birthday. Nicole is Ethan’s heart donor. We were able to connect with her family on Facebook and  I saw that her family was celebrating her day. When I saw her beautiful face beaming in the pictures I just lost it. A flood of emotion washed over me as I can only imagine how terribly her family misses her. I can only imagine that they want one more of her hugs. One more of her smiles. One more time listening to her voice or her laugh. I am thankful she chose to sign up to be an organ donor. Her choice for organ donation not only saved Ethan’s life, but others as well. It is a testament to the kindness her family describes she had. I would like to celebrate Nicole today. My heart goes out to her family.  I am sure today and every other birthday her family celebrates without her, just seems empty. Happy Birthday Nicole! Or as her mom lovingly refers to her as “Colie” or “Colie Bear”

 I hurt my neck sleeping last night. I went to bed feeling fine, woke up with a sore neck. The majority of my adult injuries have been while resting. I worked a bit late today and was exhausted. I didn’t even take the dogs for a walk today. Poor dogs. However, they didn’t seem to mind. Lazy pups. I continued with my basement organization for a little bit. I just want to throw everything away or donate it. We don’t or haven’t used most of it in years. Why keep it? Avery got the results of her calculus test back. The class average was a 61. Ouch. Last week Avery was bummed that she had to miss two of her club meetings because she had to study for her calculus test. She looks forward to these meetings. She finally got her test back today and was pleasantly surprised that her hard work paid off. She got an 88. way to go kid!  She seems to be thriving at college.  Ethan worked in the garage the majority of the day. It is his happy place. I was also thankful for the nice weather we are havin

 Today was weird. I was super busy with back to back meetings for almost 8 hours straight.  One of the people I interviewed lost her husband suddenly and has a small child. Ugh. She is getting help and picking up the pieces of her broken life and her child’s broken life. I hope she gets hired.  I spoke with someone else who recently lost their fiancé to suicide. We talked about mental health and how important it was to talk about feelings openly.  Ethan worked all day today, when he got home, he mowed the back lawn. He seemed down today. I gave him a big plate of food. I find I shove food at people when they seem sad to me. I am not sure why.  I have a few projects I am working on. One is to clear the “stuff” from our basement. It is an unpleasant chore. I will be thankful when it is over. It was a beautiful day. My windows were open, the breeze was floating in. The sun was out. Not bad for a Monday.

 Today was a work day. But Ethan really wanted to get some fall yum yums. We went to the local apple farm and bought the “to die for” apple fritters and some glazed donuts. We didn’t forget the cider. We then went to Blodgett’s Farms to get our pumpkins. They are the best. The money you spend goes to local charities.  I am in an organization mood. I think that because I am getting help with my territory at work, I need to feel in control of something. I need everything clean. I need to donate things. I have a food shelf box. I have some clothes for the local clothing closet. I have some items to donate to the vet. The rest will go to goodwill. My territory at work is being split up into 3. I have been doing the work of three people since the beginning of the year. I am a bit nervous that I will get a normal work load and be bored (hence the cleaning). I know it will work out how it is supposed to. It will be a new lesson for me. Avery ventured back off to college this afternoon. Last n