I got hit today with spam for online strip poker. What is that?! I need to get Patrick to update my website today so that I don’t have to deal with these assholes! Easy enough to delete the comments, but I’d like to have something in place so that they get some kind of a bounceback showing they have not succeeded in posting their stupid comments.
Lots of stuff going on the past few days. The most obvious to all who live here is the rain. Just heard that Pasadena got over 3.5 inches just yesterday! It’s been coming down in bucketloads! Once again I thank God for my new windows and relatively new roof. Still have a problem with the pool dumping huge amounts of water into the ground resulting in the retaining wall for the backyard cracking and giving way eventually, but am hopeful the insurance company will see fit to cover this repair under my policy. No rain right at the moment, but another storm is due in tonight and it’s expected to rain all day tomorrow. Since I’m off work for the President’s Day holiday, guess I’ll do some inside stuff. Had hoped to clean the garage this weekend, but that will have to wait for another time when I can be certain I’ll have at least a few days of dry weather. Don’t want to move stuff out into the driveway only to have a downpour hit!
Patrick is feeling much better with no remaining pain from the kidney stone episode. However, new pain (for both of us) arrived in the mail yesterday: the hospital bill. I knew it was going to be bad when I saw the envelope was really thick. At the bottom of the fourth page was the unbelievable total–over $13,000!!! And that’s not really the bottom line since we still will be receiving bills from the doctor, the emergency room service, the lab, etc, etc! Can you believe they charged $50 for the styrofoam pee strainer to catch the stones! Don’t yet know how we’ll be dealing with this. I expect I’ll be contacting the hospital this week to try to reduce the cost and then arrange some sort of a payment plan. I’ve advised Patrick that he’s just going to have to “grin and bear it” if another stone passes anytime soon.
Meanwhile, I’ve applied to Kaiser to try to get him some kind of insurance for the next time–and I have no doubt there will be a next time. Just hope they will give him coverage. If not, I’ll start submitting info to Blue Cross, Blue Shield, and any other company I can come up with.
Kevin and Soula are finalizing wedding plans and will be getting invitations in the mail within the next few weeks as “the date” rapidly approaches. I can’t believe it’s only 3 months away–and I know those 3 months will fly by as the time gets closer. Still have to arrange the rehearsal brunch and get my dress. Hope to take care of both within the next 2 weeks. Hotel reservations are made in Vegas. Now I just have to figure out my budget and determine how I’m going to pay for all this!
Things really aren’t that bad, though. I’m in better shape that lots of people I know. Just got a raise at work, am able to pay my monthly bills without too much stress, can go shopping occasionally, and usually can make room in my budget for new plants to brighten up the yard each year. Now if everyone (including the cats and dog–and the house and cars!) can stay healthy for awhile, I should be fine. We live in hope.
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Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackbackif the animals keep backing each other up in their fights, they should be able to keep from getting hurt! 😉
Murphy decided to join in and take on a cat that was in the midst of a rough and tumble fight with Loki. Murphy won with the visiting cat racing down the driveway! Ain’t no one allowed to mess with Murphy’s cats!
You know, if you’re applying for Kaiser, it’s not like they have to know you’ve had previous problems with stones and that you’re a smoker … do they?
We do have to let them know about the kidney stones…they would probably find out eventually if they did some kind of a medical records check. The cigs are a different story. I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember ever seeing Patrick smoke…anthing!
Regarding the hospital bill… When an insurance company is involved, usually about 2/3 of the cost is disallowed under their agreement. They are able to do this because they pay right away. Don’t know if you’ve talked to them yet, but if you had a way to come up with the cash, you could probably talk them down quite a bit.
That’s exactly what I’m trying to do. Talked to someone in the billing dept at the hospital on Mon, 2/28, who promised to get back with me later in the week. Right. Have not yet heard back from anyone.
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