11trh Hour Reprieve

[notme]

Hey Guys

You will probably start shaking your heads any minute know. (notme is now known as GRUMPY ONE) Insurance is now known as "THE COMPANY)

Grumpy One: LOOK, if the doctor didn't think it was important, he wouldn't have ORDERED IT. WHY won't they pay for it.

The Company: It doesn't meet the Medicare guidelines for qualification

GRUMPY ONE: My o2 sats are in the tank and i can't BREATHE

"I'm sorry."

GRUMPY ONE: Whatever, I give up, Bye.


End--part one of "DAY FROM HELL" 5PM

6pm:
Part Two " Notme is still GRUMPY ONE "new company" is the New Guy


Grumpy One: My insurance won't pay for the oxygen. How much is it?

Company: What? WHY?

Grumpy One: Look, I've been fighting with them all day--just tell me how much it is to get it myself.

Company: Grumpy One, if you'll give me your insurance information, I'm sure we can get this approved.

GRumpy One: They denied it.

Company One: Fax me the information and let me see what I can do.

Grumpy One: Fine--but it's a waste of time.

7PM

GRumpy one: HELLO?

Company: So, Grumpy one, would you like us to come out this evening or tomorrow?

Grumpy One: WHAT? I was told by Company One that it was denied by Insurance.

Company: We're not Company One. Will you be available up to 9PM?

Grumpy One: YES! Thank You!

8PM
Part Three

They came

They delivered

I CAN BREATHE

9:30 pm: I wish a very tired RT a good weekend as he sweats his way out the door. He said, the poor guy "I'm running on fumes"

He was great. Poor guy--didn't knock until he'd lugged up 6 oxygen tanks and an oxygen concentrator machine and a c-pap -- That'a at least 5 trips up and down 15 steps.

I HAVE OXYGEN. I CAN BREATHE!

The End of "NOT the day from Hell after all"

So--I couldn't use the c-pap last night--I was afraid I'd hurt it with non-distilled water. But--oxygen is like....awesome.

I'm not too keen on having to use it 24/7--apparently, I mis-read it. It isn't just for when I'm "out and about" Hence, the 6 tanks--3 little ones and 3 big ones.

The out and about tanks, though, have some sort of conserver on them that make them only shoot out O2 when you breathe.

I think he said I can get up to 6 small tanks a month. Not sure on the big ones--to be honest--I figured they'd call me back at 7 and say it was all a mistake. I was just floored.

So--not sure why company one was denied--and company two wasn't. -- at this point--I don't care!

 

[Alyoop]

Congratulations Patty. Soooo glad you are feeling better with the o2. Bless the energetic man from The Company!

 

[notme]

Oh man, Aly. I thought he was gonna have a heart attack when I opened the door. His shirt was sopping wet--his face was red. My daughter ran to the fridge and grabbed him bottled water. He looked AWFUL.

I didn't realize how much work went into setting this stuff up. My living room looks like a hospital room now. I didn't even know they'd bring tanks. I thought it was just the concentrator a couple of hoses, a c-pap and one portable thing.

I felt so bad for being so b***chy on the phone with them--I kept saying "can't you just tell me how much it costs?" I was sure the insurance would deny them, too.

Now, I wonder if it was more a matter of company one not having a contract with my insurance provider.

The only thing I worry about here is we have power outages on a weekly basis--literally. They've replaced the electric in the entire building. I worry about tornadoes and hurricanes as that season starts next week. He gave me a bunch of paperwork on where I'm supposed to go if there are tornado warnings or hurricane warnings. Haven't read it all yet.

My daughter was listening to all the stuff he said--I just couldn't make sense out of some of it--with is bad. I was an EMT for over 20 years. I couldn't remember how to set up a silly 02 tank. I used to fill the darn things. I swear my mind is going.

I hope the c-pap works great and some of the stuff gets better when I'm properly oxygenated. I forgot to ask if I should do the blood gases with our without the oxygen. I'm guessing without so they can see if I'm building up co2 or whatever. I'm supposed to call if the headaches in the morning don't disappear within a few days.