Saturday, August 29, 2009

Shame on us



we seen to have forgotten this horror as we've moved along crashing the economy -- seems to me this was perhaps the beginning of that crash



but the economy is really the least of the shame of New Orleans and how our government left the city to die




the real shame here is that we are 4 years later and there are huge areas that are still just piles of trash ---- it took less time to rebuild sections of Europe after WWII



shame on us

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

yet another whine

sorry folks, and for those of you that just don't want to read another blog where someone complains, take a clue and stop reading here

I went over the growing stack of bills yesterday --- and let me tell you, it is enough to make a grown woman cry

so far I have yet to receive a single bill for the actual surgery, but plenty of them on the diagnostic procedure done as an out patient the month before

after looking at these and doing some calculations based on what I do know, the bills will probably be in the $4000 to $5000 range

at the amount that I can AFFORD to pay on a monthly basis, that figures to be something that will take several years to pay off --- if the various places that have billed are willing to work it out with me

I'm not hopeful about that

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

And so the harrassement begins

I got the first phone call yesterday

The one from the business office of the first doctor I went to (that did such a pathetic job with the testing that it all had to be redone).

So here's the conversation:

Office: You know you have a bill of $720.
Me: Yes, and I've been sending you a $10 check monthly.
Office: I see that on the records, but we like to have these amounts paid off within 90 days, or they want us to turn them over to collections.
Me: Well, I'd like that too, but I'm not able to do that (and I'm thinking "you can't get blood out of a turnip!")
Office: Could you just put it on a credit card?
Me: No, I don't even have a credit card.
Office: Could you pay $100 a month.
Me: No, I can't do that, we live on a fixed income and I have other medical bills from just having surgery.
Office: Well, could you manage $25?
Me: Maybe, it depends on what the rest of the bills from the surgery are when they arrive.
Office: Let me send you some paperwork on our financing plans.
Me: Ok

This should be interesting, we'll see what her "paperwork" looks like (oh and just as a side note, for the first procedure I have a $395 bill to the new doctor, and before the insurance pays the little it will pay, the bill for the actual surgery is $3500 just to the doctor)

Even if the Congress does the right thing and actually makes the changes we need, it will not help any for this situation.

Its going to be a long difficult struggle to get all of this paid off --- knowing what I know now I should have just ignored the problem

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

recovery thoughs

this should probably be subtitled "why I'm not a good patient"

I don't tolerate being told "you can't do that" very well, and I'm very used to being the one that just gets up and does whatever it is that needs doing

in fact, even before the surgery I was very frustrated now and then about not being as strong or as able to do things as I had been even just a few years ago

now that is even worse of course, wondering if this will get better or it's just going to be that way

so the last couple of days I'm sort of struggling -- I don't want just sit, and even though I'm working on projects, I'm having a serious case of "why bother" since there are no shows in the near future to be thinking about, and internet selling has been basically a bust too ----

just trying to be grateful that all of the shows I had applied to and sent money to were willing to refund us because I had a medical reason

wishing I was back in my California friend's kitchen, sharing ideas and learning new painting techniques and not feeling so isolated

now and then it would be good to have a friend that was within easy reach