Take that, hospital!

I got very good news today. I had a voicemail from the helpful insurance rep, Theresa from Aetna, telling me that Clarian wrote off the CT scan charge! They wrote off the more than $1500 in charges for no authorization. Guess they realized they goofed. I'll be getting a new bill for about $100!! I can handle that.
Health care and insurance makes my head hurt. I know the whole system needs reformed, but not sure how. It's frankly a debate I don't want to get into now, but it makes me wonder how much they write off a year and if that's also a reason why costs are so high. Nearly $3,000 last month for my two blood draws. That's ridiculous, but is that expensive for a reason. Thank god for insurance. Seriously, if we didn't have it, I'd have sold a kidney, plasma (although could I do that with chemo in me...?) and anything else to try to cover how expensive this has been. We are very fortunate and blessed that Jthan's job has a)insurance and b) good insurance. My job's insurance is ok, but definitely would have cost us more.
Moral of the story: if hospital wants to fight me in the Thunderdome, I win. :P

it's 6 am and i can't sleep

so i blog. I've been up for an hour and can't sleep. popped another anti nausea pill. hoping i will get sleepy. For your reading pleasure, here are some random thoughts and happenings that I haven't yet shared.

- I find I get looked at funny more when I wear my wig than a hat. This could be one of three reasons: 1 I just look smoking hot in my wig (what I want to believe) 2 my wig looks so obviously like a wig that people are trying to figure out why i'm wearing a wig (most likely true) or 3 my wig has shifted and they are staring at my busted wig. (also a strong possibilty)
wigs aren't not always fun to wear. they are very hot. they are high maintenance compared to a hat. you put the hat on your head and you are done. The wig requires lining it up properly on your head. wigs shift. you don't know how many times i've gone to the bathroom at work (passing many people) only to discover my wig moved and i look like crazy wig lady. :P

Hey my stomach just growled, that doesn't happen much these first days after chemo. hmm...still don't want to eat though.

Mort is a coversation starter. I have purchased some tops that cover him up and my scar, but most of the time i don't care and will wear whatever i want. I wore a deep v tee shirt out when looking for trees with the hubby and the woman at the place asked me if i had cancer. She said she noticed my port. then we chatted about cancer, she had breast cancer which i deduced before she told me based on the breast cancer tee shirt she was wearing. Turns out she went to dr. shorty for treatment but now has a different oncologist. she didn't seem to happy with dr. shorty after her treatment but didn't go into it. she did bring up a point that i have heard before: docs often don't bring up all the stuff that may happen afterwards while you are being treated. they wait until you are done and then you are bombared with it. someone told me that people who get chemo have a higher chance of depression later. I guess chemo messess with your seratonin and such in the brain.

After this treatment, i go in for 8 and then i'll have a CT scan. then we'll see who's really winning in the thunderdome. (PS, as you know, i picked the thunderdome reference before Mel Gibson went off the deep end again, crazy mel.)

I'm going to try to go back to sleep again. wish me luck.

health care runaround

I'm still fighting with the insurance company over my first CT scan - the one ordered the day after I found the lump in my neck. I went to the family doc who immediately sent me to Clarian West for an ultra sound. That ultra sound led to the doc at Clarian wanting to do a scan and biopsy. He said he had to call my family doc. Then I had the test.
I was under the impression that my family doc had to certify it...turns out Clarian may be the one that goofed. The lovely rep at Aetna was very helpful today and said she'd call Clarian and figure out what's going on. She said as Clarian was the one that ordered and performed the test, they should have pre certified it. I also don't remember signing something that said I'd pay for it, but I could have. That's key because the rep also said that if Clarian was the one that was supposed to pre certify then they shouldn't be billing me until it's worked out. I've received 3 bills with a stern warning they'll send me to collections. UGH. My account is on hold until until 8/2, but I have to call next week and tell Clarian what's going on. Hopefully Theresa from Atena has it solved by then.
On principle, I refuse to pay all of this bill (and that it's nearly $2,000) I DID NOT MESS UP - SOMEONE ELSE DID, yet i'm punished. Those stupid release forms should say "Make sure your stuff is pre certified by your insurer or else you may be billed for more than you expect." I was distraught, I don't remember what I signed. That's what I'll tell the judge. ;P

Today is 7 of 12. The count downward begins! woo. I hope to do as well as I did last time because I really didn't have too many problems this past round. Nausea sucked, but I get through it. Mind over matter. I just can't wait for this to be over!

back pain blues

I preface this post with the fact I've been feeling really good this round. I definitely am close to putting back on all the weight i lost thanks to all these good days (and baking I am doing!).

But, my lower back has been hurting off and on lately. For example, i crouched down today at target to look at something on the lower shelf, so i was kind on my feet, but my butt was in the air and i was straight up, so my back was curved. hard to explain, but it's a standard crouching position. My back started to throb so badly. It's done that yesterday and today. It's in the same place i had been feeling pain, but not like this. it's bareable, but i'm going to bring it up again to my doc. she thought at first maybe i've strained muscles going to the bathroom. that could still be in but we'll see. ugh.

No need to tell me how to raise money

I may be a bad walker, but I skipped out on the kick off for the Light the Night walk. I thought it would be more like a mixer, not a 2-hr power point presenation on how I can raise money. Our team is doing good job and I think most haven't even really tried very hard. I know we will kick butt without having to organize a bake sale or whatever. :)
Instead, mis amigas, the hubby, and I had dinner at the Rathskellar.

I have neglected to give a shout out to the two awesome gifts I recently received from my cousin. She sent me two stuffed fleet Enemen. They are awesome! Stuffed enima bottles with capes on like they are super heroes. I'll need to take pictures.

I've been having a really great week. Not too much pain, although I am incredibly out of shape. I carried a light box up two flights of steps at work and I was huffing and puffing. I definitely want to start working out again.

Monday Monday

Having a pretty good day! Hooray! Made it through a full day at work, met up with Kristin for a delicious dinner at Bob Evans and I'm not in any pain! Don't want to jinx myself because last time I had a good Monday and Tuesday then a few bad days in a row.

Wednesday is the kick off for Light the Night at the Rathskellar. Kate, the hubby and I are planning on going. If you'd like to join us walking or make a donation, you can do so at Lightthenight.org and search for redteam. :)

Also my friend Missy has organized a kickball game fundraiser for two great cancer organizations for children at Sahm Park in September. For 5$ you can play kickball on Sept. 18. AWESOME. :) http://www.kick-it.org/events/sahm-park-annual-kickball-tournament has more info.

Thunderdome!

I realize my thunderdome references have been lacking lately. that could be because I picked an analogy for something I know little about. I know there's a thunderdome in the Mad Max movie, but only because of the title. I have more knowledge of thunderdomes based on the classic 1995 rap song "California love" by Dr. Dre and Tupac. Still may favorite rap song and yes, I still know most of the words...
but i'm pretty sure that contraption they were driving to was a thunderdome.

Are thunderdomes supposed to be futuristic? When are we going to have to start fightin one another in thunderdomes for supremecy? I'm thinking 2200 or maybe 2016.