Dark Cloud Moving…

I don’t want to jinx it, but it appears the dark cloud has been moving.

The person at PT who got into it with me yesterday (I promise I used “my daughter’s Mom’s voice, that is a super polite, even tone, low volume voice) called and left me a message today apologizing profusely saying that the billing has an extra step she wasn’t aware of and will be insuring things are fixed for the past visits and bills going forward will be done properly, and I won’t need to cancel any more visits. Hopefully this does the trick because I’ve called my insurance 4 times this month, and this has really been stressful. 

I also got a voicemail from my son’s new specialist. This doctor has to approve of all new patients himself. Very strange, but then this type of specialist in the entire history of my having to deal with, have always been strange. Not a normal one ever, since 1996. Unfortunately I had already rescheduled with his old doctor, but this way there is no rush to get in with the new doctor. 

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Random thoughts

Why does everything have to be a 💩fest? I got confronted today at PT. They are still insisting they are right. Seriously? I had to cancel PT for Friday. I will have my wife call to cancel Tuesdays appointments. This won’t be settled by then, especially with the holiday. I could probably continue shoulder and back PT if my attorney notifies them the injuries are related to a lawsuit (which they are) and he faxes the appropriate paperwork, but that does nothing about my knee, which is still not right.

I picked up my daughter for a home visit today. It’s going to be a horribly long weekend. I just don’t know what to do anymore. The yelling, arguing, and disrespect are too much. It’s not just her, it’s the rest of the family. My new tactic is to speak more calmly and more quietly the louder they get. If I match their volume, it turns on me ‘oh, it’s ok if you yell.’ There just doesn’t seem to be a way to resolve this. This is going to kill me. 

I bought my wife a 2000 Chevy Blazer. It was to go into the shop this morning, but it’s been delayed until Tuesday. It’s got new tires and a recent brake job. I got it way under market value (I’m an excellent negotiator, too bad it doesn’t work for my other problems), so the repairs won’t be exceeding it like with the Pilot. I’m hoping it won’t rain over the long weekend so we can wash all 3 vehicles, empty the Pilot, snap photos and put it up for sale.

My brother-in-law picked up his GMC Sunday. Now I have only vehicles I own in my driveway, minus my Craftsman rider which my neighbor towed next door to work on for me. My brother-in-law had been asking me for car buying tips. His GMC already has a buyer, when he gets a different vehicle it’s sold. He wants something “newish”, kind of like what I did. He’s coming over Sunday to do yard work, so I’m sure we’ll cars more then.

The dark cloud that’s hanging over me needs to dissolve, or move on. I’m not sure I can handle anymore stress.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

This and That

I spent a 1/2 hour on the phone with my insurance and then got disconnected. A few minutes later my insurance case manager called. I went over the issues I’m having with my PT provider on both calls. Oh, just tell them to call us, they say. The whole point is the provider is trying to do something shifty. I keep getting billed for the amounts over the insurance contracted rates, and now they are insisting I have to pay a copay with every visit. I don’t. Medicaid pays my copay. They must scam a lot of people this way. I wasn’t born yesterday and I’m not paying. Both calls with my insurance today told me that the provider is in network and therefore I am zero pay, I pay nothing for covered services, which this is. I am so tired of the monthly calls and now this month I’ve called twice and will need to call a third time because my insurance needs to call their billing department…again. Anastasia works for them, she says they do this all the time. She expects to lose her job next week, and 2 people are suddenly gone from the location I go to. Monday they had only 2 therapists and 8 or 9 clients besides myself. That’s not what the ratio of therapist to client is supposed to be. They no longer have a receptionist. Both Anastasia and I think they are going bankrupt. 

No word on my daughter’s apartment. My wife and I drove by on the way home from dropping off her Mom’s friend’s Caddy. So happy to get that thing off my property. She is wealthy, but won’t spend the money to properly fix it. All 4 windows are taped shut because they won’t stay up, and many other repairs haven’t been done or are 1/2 way done. My property has been looking like a parking lot. I’ve got the Buick, Pilot, my brother-in-law’s GMC SUV, and now the Caddy is gone. My wife refuses to drive her brother’s GMC because she got stranded for 15 minutes when it wouldn’t start. There is an electrical issue, hence the reason he did not gift it to her. (He’s buying a car when he returns.) I drove it once and had no issues, other than it was incredibly difficult to get into because of my leg and back. We have to keep it until he returns from his bus driving gig in Indy, sometime in June.

                                    Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Day 411-416 of Sheltering In-No more waiting

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I picked my daughter up for a home visit on Friday. Saturday was laundry day at my father-in-law’s, but I stayed home. I had my daughter stay home with me. It just would not have been a good thing if my daughter went with. Let’s just leave it at that.

Sunday, Mother’s Day started out sooo not good. Let’s also just leave it at that. It did improve. I took my daughter back Monday before my orthopedic doctor appointment. Talk about a shirt show! There is the game since March of them not calling to confirm my appointment, then canceling it because I didn’t confirm. I didn’t get a call for Monday’s appointment, but I recalled that they had a patient portal, searched my emails, found a link, logged in and confirmed my appointment. I left early as I usually do, got to their office and the parking lot is empty. I call to check in, they moved and didn’t tell me, nor did their portal mention that fact. Drove to the new location, not that far, but that’s not the point. As I waiting over an hour past my appointment to get called into an exam room, I hear every receptionist saying the same thing. ‘Are you at blah blah? Oh we moved, you need to go to…’ What a professional way of running an office! Then the PA tells me I should stop using the knee brace. Umm no! My primary care doctor told me to keep using the brace AND the walker because I lose my balance a lot. I don’t need to damage my knee any more than it is. So basically a wasted appointment.

Tuesday I had a 2 hour and 45 minute physical therapy appointment because I’m going to continue working on my knee, but also return to the work I stopped on my shoulders and back when I got my knee injury. The 45 minute was for an evaluation. My appointments going forward should be around 2 hours.

Wednesday I had to take my son for his bi-annual primary care doctor appointment. My daughter had an appointment this morning and because she coughed, a new overzealous receptionist refused to allow her to see the doctor. We all have the same doctor, so when I went in with my son he asked why my daughter didn’t keep her appointment. I told him what happened and he shot off 2 emails, staff and his office manager. I’ve never seen him angry before. She has severe asthma and a sinus infection and possibly bronchitis or upper respiratory infection, so he really wanted to see her today. Now she can’t get in to see him until next week. I just hope she doesn’t have another emergency room visit before then.

Anastasia thinks she’s losing her job on Friday. My son was supposed to hang with her Friday. I have to break it to him that she can’t keep their plans. I’ll do something with him to make up for it. She also wanted agencies to contact and an attorney’s info, which I gave her. I have a plethora of that kind of information, so it was no big deal to send links and share contacts. Yes, she treats me disrespectfully by avoiding me and contacting my wife when planning hangouts with my son, but, if nothing else, I’m being the better person…as I always am. My life has been a shirt show since the car accident, so any good karma points I can get I will take.

Sunday I was emptying gift bags to reuse and found an Amazon gift card in a bag that had my birthday gift in it. Today I scanned it and found out it was a $50 gift card. Woo hoo! Made my day!

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Sunday Stealing-Musical Mania

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms, Grandmoms, Foster Moms, Step Moms, Surrogate Moms, Mother figures, Moms-to-be, and to all the men out there that are doing the Mother and Father roles. 

Have a wonderful day!

Musical Maniac1

 

Hi! Your host is Bev Sykes of the blog "Funny the World". . Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

 

From Musical Maniac

1. Five problems with social media

     1.  Too political.

     2.  Too many trolls. People hiding behind false profiles just ‘stirring the pot’.

     3.  Little to no concern about others/too much attacking. And for what? What purpose do the attacks serve?

     4.  A lot of scam ads.

     5.  Seems just as much, or more cliquish than high school.
2. A place you would like to live, but have never visited

Europe. I’ve never left the United States. It would be nice to tour Europe.
3. Someone who fascinates you and why

Pass. I may come back to this if I think of someone.
4. Do you have tattoos?  What are they and why?

No. At times I’ve thought I wanted one, but I can’t think of what to get. I’ve seen a lot of bad ideas for tattoos, the art work isn’t necessarily bad, but the subject matter is. Until I can think of a tattoo I must have…I will pass. If I do decide on one, it will be artistic and I know just the place to go.
5. A book you love, and one you didn’t.

I’ve been reading a lot lately. Trying to get my streaming services to get full of stuff I haven’t seen, that I would like to see.  I really enjoyed “11-22-63”, by Stephen King. Kind of a time travel story, which I tend to love. I recently signed up for Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited because I spent an obscene amount on e-books in February. Ive been reading a lot of romance books. Last night I hit 3 that I just could not get through the first chapter. Some of them are real clunkers.

6. A fruit you dislike, and why

I don’t know that there has been one I dislike. A tomato is a fruit. Lately I’ve been avoiding them in salads because of the drippy mess of seeds. Never an issue before, and I have no problem with them in a sandwich. 
7. Two words/phrases that make you laugh

No one here will find this funny, but when I was in high school, I friend of mine could get me to laugh with just one word…”shoehorn”. It wasn’t that shoehorn is so hilarious, it’s the look my friend gave me when she said it. Even if she was behind me and said it, I could picture in my head her usual look when she said it. 
8. A quote you try to live by

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." (Dr. Seuss)
9. Something you miss

My parents.
10. Three weird traits you have

I have a weird sense of humor. Sometimes it gets me into a bit of trouble.
11. What you wore today

A t-shirt that reads, “If you can read this you’re standing too close, and cargo shorts (or as we lesbians call them, “purse pants”. Plenty of pockets, no need for a purse.)

12. Word/phrase you use constantly

“Really?” Usually as in ‘really? Is that absolutely necessary?’ In reply to some argument my kids get into.
13. One thing you’re excited for

Nothing really.
14. Your feelings on ageism

I don’t really run into it myself, because usually people think I’m much younger than 60 years old that I turn in July. When I was job hunting 10 years ago I did feel it. Even when you try to leave out the year you got your degree, they do ask and then things seem to come to a close.
15. Three interesting facts about yourself

     1.  I live in Illinois, but was born and raised in Wisconsin. I moved to Illinois, really just to get the heck out of there. I didn’t know anyone in Illinois.

     2.  My parents were much older than my contemporaries parents. My parents had strong work ethic and solid values.

     3.  Oddly enough, I didn’t have children until the same age my Mom did, so my kids went through the same thing. They also had my parents strong work ethic and solid values passed on to them, even though they never met. 

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

 

Day 409, 410 of Sheltering In-Waiting

Wednesday, Thursday. Wednesday’s PT was again brutal. But if I don’t put in the effort it’s not going to resolve my injury. No pain, no gain. Who said that? 

Primary care doctor visit Thursday. Surprisingly good visit, except for the weight gain. To much stress, stress eating. Pandemic pounds. Whatever. I don’t know how it’s possible, but my a1c was 5.6. That’s the lowest it’s been since I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. (I looked through MyChart at my levels since 2018. I can see how he was so excited.) My doctor took me off another one of my diabetes meds. Now I’m on just one pill, and one shot of insulin once at night. I got a script for PT for my shoulders and back. Wondering how I’m going to be working on my knee with those too. I’m not cutting back on my knee work. I don’t want surgery. I also don’t want shoulder surgery. I guess I’ll be living at PT-??? 

I have to get up early to pick up my daughter from her group home. I’m hoping everyone will get along better. Mother’s Day will be a shit show. No tea party as I mentioned in my last post, yet absolutely nothing said about what the plan is. I think the plan is that there is no plan, just another stressful, crappy Sunday. That’s nothing to look forward to. I know my wife shopped solo Thursday and was very secretive about the bag in the way back of the Buick. 

My sister is having surgery on the 15th to remove a polyp in her lady parts. She really didn’t mention where it was. I think she’s having it done at the same hospital my Dad was treated for his pancreatic cancer. It’s all the way on the East side of Milwaukee. I don’t understand why it’s so far from where she lives. It’s a day surgery. I asked what the rules were at hospitals there, like can family be in the waiting area, but I never got an answer. It’s not like I want to be stuck in a waiting room with her creepy husband. Besides, I’ve had 4 surgeries and 2 babies and she only came to see my firstborn, hold her for 5 minutes and then left. No doubt she didn’t tell her husband where she was going. Whatever. 

Lola’s Diner cc 2008-2021

Day 408 of Sheltering In-Waiting

My wife and son got their 2nd doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, so May 11th will be the last day of this stupid countdown.

Tuesday. Before PT I spent nearly 2 hours on the phone with my insurance company, or their claims handler. What fun! The woman from the insurance company seemed like she was going to rip my PT provider’s billing department a new one because they continue to bill me the amount in excess of the contract rate after my combo insurance pays. I told her I’ve been calling every month since last June. That is not an exaggeration. After I got off the last call it was time to leave for PT. M was my physical therapist today. Thank goodness, I am so tired of the new guy shorting me on my time. M and N always let me go 90 minutes, sometimes a bit more so I can get in lots of exercises. Today was brutal because my LCL was really tight, and bonus…I had sciatica on that side. After deep tissue massage she used this extra long rolling pin type thing to press and roll on my left side, butt, hip, thigh, knee, calf, down to my ankle. She added ankle weights to the side steps and kick outs, and balance on a sheet of foam, left foot in front of right, then vice versa. The last one was to work on my balance and that was oddly the most painful because it pulled on my lower back. I could only hold onto the bar with 1 or 2 fingers of each hand to keep my balance, so I was really feeling a pull in my lower back. Fun times! I have M tomorrow also. At least I know I’m working it when she is my physical therapist. And bonus…she’s very chatty, so it’s like my social time.

My daughter got approval from the Director to have a 3 day home visit for this weekend. My daughter says it’s because she likes us. I don’t have the heart to tell her it’s because we are both PITAS, and we don’t let up. Lol!

My wife doesn’t want to do the tea party for Mother’s Day because it’s too much work. She has never been involved with preparation, so I don’t get it. 

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021