Transitions

Thursday, December 29, 2011: Big surprise--Dean's work is changing insurance for next year. I am NOT a happy camper. I'm petrified that my favorite doctors and clinics will be "off limits" and that my "team" will be disbanded. I can't let this happen. No wonder I feel stressed and grumpy. This morning, I asked Dean to find out when our new ID cards would be ready. He called me later from work and said they weren't even close to being ready to mail out. Ouch, that hurts, especially when I have an appointment January 3rd. On the phone I go to talk, first, to the guy who handles insurance at Rocky Mountain Fab, and I can tell right away that he'd rather not deal with me. Too bad. I explain my situation and hope for a teensy bit of empathy, but no. He says I'll have to call the insurance liaison directly and ask what she suggests. He does offer to make a paper copy of the "temporary identification" and give it to Dean, so that helped a bit. I called Shara, the go-between, and she is less than thrilled to be talking to me, as well. I'm sorry, people, but when you work in insurance, don't you naturally psych yourself up for the big changeover January 1st brings? Good grief, I'm sure I'm not the only one asking these questions. She is finally helpful, in that she gets my email address to send me the "temporary ID" copy and assures me that if there is anything else I need to do, she will call me in the morning (the person SHE needed to talk to was out of the office today). At the end of the call, she said, "Good luck with your procedure," and with those few words, she became an ally. There's a bright spot. Our only worry now is if the mumbo-jumbo about pre-authorizations is going to apply to this, since it is a part of my ongoing treatment. I'm sorry they are entering this play in the middle of the first act, but that's not my fault, is it? As Eeyore says, "Oh, bother..."

I keep thinking about something that Dr. Grossmann said as he studied the written results of my PET scan. Along with the confusing medical jargon, he translated parts to read, "There is some degeneration in both knees," to which I nodded my head and agreed, "YES!"; and "there is degeneration in number ?? disc of the vertebrae, which is probably causing you some lower back pain," to which I again replied, "YES!" Amazing that when the troublesome things we just deal with every day are recognized as real and put down in words, they become legitimate. Now someone besides myself knows that my knees hurt and when I sit or lay wrong, my back hurts! Alright! Transitions are never easy, whether it's insurance or the process of growing old(er)...