Pause The X-Ray

Ugh....why is our health care so confusing?!?! Why is it that they'll pay for THAT but not THIS, and sometimes they'll cover 80% and other times nothing. On a whim, I called my insurance company to make sure that I didn't need a pre-authorization, and I asked what they would cover. Answer: I would have to pay the first $500, and then 20% after that. Yuck! Seriously? How much IS an abdominal x-ray?

There is a whole world of medical nuances and it can seriously make you go blind. I've been fortunate enough to have my mother match up all of my statements, and bills and argue discrepancies. She's saved me a lot of money because of coding errors and double billing. I think it's sad that it's this hard to figure out your own health care. We have amazing doctors, amazing treatments, and I love the health care available, it's just so damn expensive. Think of if I didn't even HAVE insurance. That thought makes me ill.

I recently was able to get on to Danny's work insurance, so now, instead of just stacking another $500 & 20% bill onto the stack, I've already been on the internet trying to find a new doctor on my new insurance plan that will hopefully be a good fit and maybe won't be quite as expensive. So far I've got nothing. Most of the general practitioners that I could walk to (closest is over a mile) specialize in physical therapy, or they have a small private office and they don't have access to the other therapies that I was hoping to utilize. This whole no driving thing is really becoming a pain in my ass.

It has been five months, exactly, since my last seizure. In one more month I can drive. I've talked about it a bunch with Danny, and a couple of my friends, that I'm scared. I don't know if I can put myself behind a wheel. I would never forgive myself if I hurt someone. Dan and I have a friend who was hit by a car while riding her bike. If I was driving, and a seizure came on, I might not be able to stop the car in time. What if I hit a pedestrian? What if I hit a child? What if? What if? It's a very sobering thought. I don't know how I will reconcile that fear. I'm not sure if I should ever drive again.

Ugh. In the meantime, I need to find a new doctor and see if Dan's plan covers x-rays. I hate this. I just want to crawl back in bed and give up.

Abdomen X-Ray

Another Rainy Day In The Hood!

Kisses For Jess

I tried to take a photo of both Emma and I smiling, but she kept trying to kiss me. That was the final shot of about 13. Kisses for Jess because she took Emma to the Green Lake library to renew Dan's book. Dogs are so easy to please.

The fast lasted until about six o'clock last night, a total of 24 hours, until my stomach started cramping so badly that I couldn't function. I had to eat something which, in our limited resources, consisted of raw broccoli and my homemade spinach and jalapeno humus (note to self: horrible combination on an empty stomach). I haven't been mentioning it on the blog (because I feel like it's TMI - for those out of the loop, that means too much information), but I've been dealing with a digestive problem for the past couple of months. It has gotten progressively worse so my doctor scheduled an x-ray for tomorrow.

Originally, my doctor was concerned about a lump in my lower left side, but she wanted to make sure that it wasn't just a hard bowel (GROSS). This digestive problem is my own fault, I've been a phantom pooper (thanks for the term Jessaca!) for years, which is very bad for your digestive system and your whole body. It has come to the point where girl friends joke that they're going to get me the book, Everyone Poops (it's for children). Anyway, to make a long story even longer, Dr P, my general practitioner didn't like the lump and put me on some sort of laxative for a week, telling me that if I didn't pooh every day she wanted to take a lower abdomen x-ray.

Well friends, that day has come and tomorrow we will find out what's going on. Dr P's biggest concern is that my diet is so full of vegetables, fruits, lentils, brown rice, etc. that I should be pooh-ing once, maybe even twice a day. Yikes. That seems like a lot, and is definitely not even close to my regular routine.

I'm nervous about the x-ray. As you all know, I despise radiation, but I need to know what's happening in my body. I want to have a healthy, functioning, happy system, and for some reason, things aren't working the way that they should be.

As always, I'll keep you posted. Unless it's just horrifically gross, in which case I might omit some details.