Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Tuesday Tweaking

And More On The Medical World

I had my physical therapy and a chiropractic adjustment today, so I did not work the Boys...again. Also, since I slept so badly last night, I ended up needing a nap in the afternoon.

I did, however, accomplish something which is the bulk of my Christmas shopping. I still have a gift cards to buy for my cousins, but the bigger stuff is done. We have a store here in the USA called Kohl's which carries all kinds of nice clothes, gift items, linens, and household goods. Their prices are usually good to start off with, but this time I had a 30% off everything in the store coupon--and that included sale items. I ended up buying a memory foam matress topper for my own bed, already marked down 50% with another 30% off that sale price. I have a good matress already--one of those air filled ones you can adjust for firmness, but I have been having some back issues likely related to my medical problem, so I figured this might help. Besides, when I get home from my surgery, I will need the best bed option possible.

All that said, I got some nice sweaters for gifts, and a few other presents, nearly completing my holdiday efforts. I will have to check my list again to see if I forgot anything, but I think I'm nearly there. I will be putting up the inside tree--an artificial one--and the outside lights and decorations right after Thanksgiving, so I won't have to worry about any of that after my surgery.

And yes, Mary Ann, I am going to stock up on edibles as well. I've already scoured the recent supermarket flyers for deals on things I might want to eat while I am laid up. I'm going to make sure most of it is "easy cook" to save me some work, but aside from cans of soup, I'm not into too many prepared foods. But, if there is a deal, I might get a few just to be safe.

Hay is not a problem as that is delivered and I still have a fair amount. I just bought grain, but I will have to stock up again just before I go to the hospital. I only have a limited amount of storage, so I can't really load up too much. And I would also worry that grain stored too long in this damp weather might go bad. Again, I do not have to load it at the feed store, and I have lined up some "muscle power" to do any such heavy work here once I get the grain home.

Meantime, for at least a little while, my physical therapy is at a standstill. Once again, the insurance company requirements complicate things. Last time they allowed me nine visits before I needed to re-apply. Re-application requires an exam report by the physical therapist and a session with a referring medical doctor. Then, I might get nine more visits, or six, or whatever whimsical choice the insurer makes. This, of course will run into the period when I am laid up for my surgery, so until I recover from that, I will not be able to use whatever visits I am granted. At that point, I will have to go through the re-evaluation process all over again!

In order to have my surgery, the surgeon recommended and scheduled the surgery. But then, I had to have pre-admission testing at the hospital, and then the reports are sent to my primary care physician and I have to see her for another exam and her approval. Hopefully all of the running around will not push my blood pressure up too high, thus causing questions as to whether or not I can have the surgery as scheduled!!

All of these visits add up to the costs of medical care, that's for sure. I suppose caution is important, but surely there must be a more efficient way to accomplish the same ends.

6 comments:

  1. The requirements of insurance companies certainly adds enough stress to get the blood pressure to rise. You sound like you've got it all under control though. When you get back from surgery I'm sure you won't have much to do since you're almost done with everything for Christmas. It's good to hear you've got some muscle for when you need it.

    I've got to start my Christmas shopping too. Maybe this weekend. Just got all my fixings for the Thanksgiving Day meal(the whole gang is coming over). So glad that's done.

    I'm going to start decorating soon too. It always seems to sneak up on me, I think there's enough time but there never is.

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  2. Congrats on nearly finishing the Christmas shopping, I haven't even started. I have one of those memory foam mattresses, it's a Godsend for back problems.

    Hopefully all the hospital stuff will work out and you won't do too much running around. At least you'll be in good shape from all that nonsense! *G*

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  3. Anonymous6:39 PM

    You're way ahead of me on the Christmas shopping!

    I'm a big fan of the foam bed toppers - helps a lot with aches and pains.

    When you see all the nonsense and duplicated effort in our healthcare system, it makes more sense why it's so expensive and there are so many errors.

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  4. Good effort on the Christmas shopping. Right now I am having lots of ideas... which the most difficult part. What to buy?

    Fingers crossed for your medical trials. I hope you get everything done soon, so you can relax and re cover quickly.

    [[[[[hugs]]]]]

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  5. Wow, I'm impressed by your Christmas shopping. I haven't even thought about it yet.

    Insurance sounds like a pain. I didn't have it for years. I do now through my husband's job, butI haven't even tried to use it. Good luck.

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  6. which is why i get hacked off with people over here who whinge about teh NHS. don't get any of that bollocks .. mind, getting chiro etc on the NHS is virtually impossible, but that's a whole other ball game.

    all of which reminds me - make sure you tell the hospital about your back/neck issues. you probably know how they administer general anaesthetic - in my view, NOT good for the neck at all! in fact, very BAD for it! so make sure they know. no good getting your innards sorted only to find they've made everything else worse!

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