Happy Day!

Today I got mail from the health insurance company I had when I went to see the R.E. and guess what?

After all that fighting just to get the doctor’s office to just SUBMIT the stupid bill, after that REALLY bad day I had because I let myself get all pissed off, after they called me back the next day to say they WOULD submit it after all on the off chance it would get paid --- it appears that the bill got paid!!!!

I thought the claim would be denied and then I’d have to fight it. After fighting it, there was a chance it was still not going to be covered. All I had to go on was that different reps told us different things on every call prior to the visit. I did write down one guy’s name and what he said exactly (“Definitely will be covered”) and that was the best I had to go on. It wasn’t even in writing, although they COULD review the recorded call if they wanted to.

But go figure! The visit was just covered without a fight with the insurance company!!!! Sure, I ended up fighting with the billing person at the office just to get her to submit it, but it appears it’s now DONE!

And, to top it off, I got a great tip on a place here that does testing without the doctor’s orders! AND, my regular doctor gave me the Rx for the pills I need for the test I want, so I’m all set there, too!

Totally unrelated, but I also have a really awesome lunch today and I’m a happy girl! My cousin and my brother made potato dumplings and I was lucky enough to get a few sent over to my house! Woo hoo! Nothing like getting your way with a side of comfort food to make a day extra sunny!

Yup, it’s the little things that make me happy. :)

Shitty End to a Shitty Day

(Bonus points to anyone that manages to read this entire thing! I just scanned my rant and I think it took SEVEN clicks to get through the entire thing!!!!!)

Preface

Yesterday Abby woke me up because she peed on the bathroom floor. She was going to go in the toilet, but got distracted by a sticker stuck to her foot.

Enter: Frustration

TMI warning. REALLY gross lady talk coming in next 2 paragraphs.

In addition to Abby's accident, I was blessed with the biggest period accident in my entire life WHILE trying to clean up Abby's mess. I tried to be inconspicuous and not scare the shit out of my daughter, so I wiped it off the bathroom floor, the door, the door frame, and the carpet, then safely placed myself down on the toilet. I planned to handle this entire fiasco by myself so I could show Marti how much one person CAN handle without calling the other spouse to help if they really try.

My plan was to sit there until Abby got out of the shower and when she went into her room to dry off, I'd scooch on over into the shower and make myself presentable again. Everything was going great until she said she had to go to the bathroom! I wasn't about to get up and there was no way I was going to have her attempt to bring her dripping wet step stool and Elmo seat all the way to my bathroom toilet. Not after the first mess she made that morning!

I was still determined to handle it myself and not drag Marti out of bed, so I told her for this emergency, she could squat in the tub and pee. I had to clean the tub anyway!

And her reply? "I have to go poo poo."

Enter: Defeat

I call to Marti to come help.

Today

I woke to hear Abby saying SOMETHING downstairs. I had no idea what she was saying, but Marti was in the bathroom, so I got up to tend to her. When I got downstairs, she was standing in front of the TV with the cable remote trying to figure it out, saying something to the extent of, "I can't make it work."

Oh, and she was standing with her legs apart, obliviously peeing through the entire interaction.

I had to check to see if I was really awake!

I got her out of her wet clothes and stood her in the tub so she could have a quick shower, informed Marti what happened, and went downstairs to clean up the pee before it followed the grout lines under the furniture.

I came back upstairs to find Abby still unshowered and Marti casually drying off from HIS shower.

Enter: Rage

I had to go pee, so I opened our toilet and find it full of TP and semi drained. Looks like someone did his business, flushed, and walked off to take a shower without another care in the world.

Enter: Exasperation

I flushed it -- and plunged it just as it was about to overflow. After some very sweet and affectionate words from me (sarcasm intended) Marti helped Abby get HER shower and I was able to move forward with my morning.

But, as I approached the shower, I noticed the floor was all wet. He likes to point the shower head as far up as it will go, so, in effect, it sprays straight at the wall completely opposite of the shower head. I have no idea why he does that. He's not a tall man. I don't know why he'd ever need the spray that high. I really don't. We've talked about this before and I just don't get it. (And he just won't stop.) I even bought a new curved shower curtain rod to try to contain the overspray, but alas, it doesn't work well. I told him someday the floor is going to rot out and the shower will fall into the kitchen, but he doesn't care. Today I told him I'm getting a new shower head that can't point anywhere but down. I don't care if he doesn't like it. I'm getting one of those gentle rain shower heads. He'd have to try hard to make a mess with one of those, right?

So, so far, we have fresh memories of waking up yesterday to a mess that was made infinitely worse by mother nature, a new mess today, a usually attentive husband/daddy that picked a bad day to drop the ball, an unfortunately timed toilet clog, and a small flood outside my shower. This was all before I even brushed my teeth!

After my shower, I went downstairs and looked at my mail. The statement for the visit to the R.E. in July had arrived and there was no payment on it from the insurance company. I'm still not phased, as this was to be expected.

I got to work and thought, my day can only get better.

Enter: Naivete

I have this customer at work. They bought something from us. Their credit card was then "compromised" and I got a chargeback on the charge. The customer gave me a new card number and I ran that. The customer never got the credit for the chargeback our bank processed! I've been beating my head against a wall trying to get a.) his bank to talk to me and b.) his bank to give him his money back. Since I'm not a card holder, his bank won't talk to me. When he calls his bank, they say call the merchant and have them process the refund. I've sent him all my paperwork with tracking numbers and what not, but he can't explain that to the bank, and they won't talk to me. I feel like we need a conference call - but technically, this customer is not the cardholder. He just works in the department that uses the card. The owner is the cardholder. Owners of companies are busy people. So, I continue to bang my head against a brick wall in hopes of getting this guy his money back.

Later, I called my insurance company and started the process to dispute them not covering my doctor consultation. I told the representative that I was told to "absolutely have the consultation" and that it would "definitely be covered." The problem is, the woman who does the billing for the R.E. never submitted my claim!

Enter: Confusion

I called the doctor's office and was told that since they checked with my insurance company before my visit and they were told (and relayed to me) that my policy had a total exclusion on infertility coverage, that she didn't bother submitting it. She said it wouldn't be covered anyway, but if I could show her in writing what my dispute with the insurance company was, she'd submit it - otherwise she wasn't going to waste her time.

Enter: My boss to the locker room where I was trying to speak in private, as well as 2 other employees. Nice. Right when I'd like to go completely OFF on this dipshit on the phone, I have to keep my mouth shut. You see, at work I don't care to share that we're even trying until I know if it will work. If it works, I'll share the news because THEN it would be an issue to deal with at work since I'd need leave. Until then, it's my business.

So, dipshit on the phone tells me "I'm not going to waste my time submitting it" and tells me that I'm welcome to submit it myself. She tells me my insurance isn't going to cover it. I snap back that it's NOT her decision to make whether or not to submit the claim when I was told one thing and she was told another.

Whatever. I pretty much hung up on her after a short, "Ihavetogobye."

Day goes on. I take a long lunch and some retail therapy. Found a great deal on some things.

I go back to work, yada yada yada, and let's move on to picking Abby up from daycare. I am to discuss whether or not the 10 days vacation we just earned can be used as part of our 2 weeks notice that we're leaving for another school. Yesterday I got an "I don't know. Let me talk to Marsha." Today Marsha said our deposit is to cover the last 2 weeks and is non-refundable, so in effect, if we used the vacation time, we'd be getting paid for our vacation days. After the shit day I had, I somehow managed to calmly discuss my viewpoint with her and she said she'd get back to us tomorrow after discussing it with the owner.

Enter: Deadline to submit 2 weeks notice with a side of "stalling"

And, let's just get to the grand finale.

I got home and found my house strewn with garbage. The dog(s) went through the bathroom garbage and there was crap everywhere. That was pretty shitty, but what was even shittier was that they didn't eat the ovulation predictor tests or pregnancy tests.

Let me explain. It's not so great to go through a cycle and do all the tests alng the way, just to have it come up a bust. But, as each test is done and discarded, and then as the cycle comes to a close, it's just over.

That is, unless I come home to a huge pile of ovulation predictor tests and pregnancy tests -- then I get one more bitter reminder that I'm still not pregnant.

I am picturing Emeril Lagasse shouting "BAM!" as he tosses THAT lovely cherry on top of my shitty-assed sundae.

I Hate That I Have Become So Easily Affected

Warning: SOME vague references to female issues coming up.

When I left the R.E. last month, my next orders were to call him on day one of my next cycle. Presumably at that point, I'd go in for an ultrasound to determine if I had ovarian cysts or not (money grab) and then he'd prescribe me c.l.omid so I could do the CCCT test to determine my FSH. (An indicator of ovarian reserve and egg quality -- read: fertility of the lack thereof.)

Well, today is day one and I didn't call him.

I saw it coming a mile away. First of all, we had questionable coverage for this type of thing at work. Oh, that was as of 7/13. At that point, we had NO IF coverage, which, depending on who you asked, meant a number of different things in relation to the office visit I had just made. Exactly what does "no IF coverage" mean when the rep tells you "up to the point of diagnosis?" And what does "up to the point of diagnosis" mean when testing is not covered? What kind of doctor makes a diagnosis prior to testing? I mean, SERIOUSLY, WTF????

But, I digress.

I return to "second."

Second, with no coverage, I didn't really expect Marti to be thrilled to have us saddled with further office visits, unnecessary ultrasound test, lab fees for blood tests, and (as if we weren't already getting drained) fees just to draw the blood.

As I alluded to earlier in this post, my insurance has now changed. It was pretty well completely out of the blue. In a way it's a good thing, but, had I known they were working on this change, I would have conducted my affairs a little differently.

Now, instead of "no IF coverage" we have a good solid "up to the point of diagnosis." If I would have waited mere days to see the specialist, my $320 (mostly pointless) R.E. office visit probably would have been covered.

C'est la vie.

So, I told Marti it was day one and I needed to call or not call the R.E.

He thought "not call" was the best option.

I can't say I wasn't mad. I was. Sure, he had a point. Why not wait and see what this next cycle brings. Besides, it's not like knowing the results of the test would change our actions, would it? In the end, we'll still do what we're going to do.

But, I can't help but be a little bitter that I can't be in complete control of my own health care and know some pretty basic bits of info so that I can make my own informed decisions regarding MY OWN HEALTH. ARGH!

I take that back. I guess I CAN know the info. I would just have to shell out over $1000 in the end to GET it. Basically, 2 VERY simple blood tests is going to cost me over $1000 by the time I pay off all the gate keepers.

BUT WAIT!

I was lucky enough to have been directed to a place here in town that will do the tests without doctors' orders.

Stop the presses!!!!!!!

GTFO!

As it is, I need to see my regular OBGYN next week, so once she gets me up to date, she can give me the meds I need to do the test and then I get to get on with it.

OMFG! Be still, my heart!

Why Does My Dog Wag Her Tail...

...when I walk by her in tears?

For a Friend Who Knows What it Means

OMG I love my external hard drive!

Shortest.post.ever!

Good News and Bad News: A Shopping Story

Ulta had buy one get one on their store brand lotion today, so I went to stock up. My favorite (actually, the only one I really like) is the grapefruit scent. However, there were none on the shelf. Fearing it was discontinued -- as I did notice some new scents -- I asked for assistance. The nice girl pointed me to the clearance rack and confirmed that it was discontinued. :(

That is the bad news. I won't be able to buy my favorite scent anymore. Plus, it's fairly inexpensive, often on sale to boot, and just the right "weight" for lotion for me.

The good news is, the remaining bottles were on sale for 50% off. I was going to stock up anyway, it seemed!

The even better news was that even though it was on clearance, it still fell under the buy one get one sale! Woo hoo!!!! That was enough for me to drive around and hit every Ulta in my neighborhood. Some had it, some didn't, but, I also discovered another scent that I could live with - and for that price, I might sort of love it, too! As long as my stockpile lasts, that is.