Weekend Musings
It's that time of the year when kids are headed off to college. While I don't have anyone in college yet, one of my sisters ushered her last kid off to college and my other sister is sending her first kid off to college. And here I sit with a 6 year old! (and I'm older than both my sisters.) Granted, Hilary will be in college next year, but I'm not so sure I'll get her out of the house. My sisters and I have been reminiscing about our college days and laugh at how different things are today for kids versus when we went to college. Our parents pretty much dropped us off at the entrance to the college and sped away. Today, parents are practically going to college with their kids!
My two beautiful college bound nieces - Kelsey (attending Northern Arizona University) and Shannon (attending Holy Cross in Massachusetts)
(I also have a niece who is a Senior at Rutgers University. I don't want her to think I forgot about her ;-)
I received a letter in the mail from Aetna on Friday. I find it interesting that insurance companies always time it so that their letters and EOBs arrive on Friday after their offices are closed. Have you ever tried to call an insurance company on a Monday -- it's near impossible to get through to anyone. I'm sure the letter has something to do with my appeal from their denial of nursing. I've learned to never open anything from an insurance company on a Friday because, for one, I can't do anything until Monday and, two, no sense in ruining my weekend with bad news (I'm not willing to risk that the news is good). I'll open the letter when I get to work tomorrow.
And one of the other pleasantries of having a medically involved child is dealing with DME (durable medical equipment) companies. Every month I have to place an order for Jack's supplies - notwithstanding the fact that he gets the same supplies every single month. The supplies were delivered on Friday. I didn't get around to opening the boxes until Saturday and much to my amusement (you gotta keep your sense of humor, or you're doomed), I found this in the box:
That would be ONE saline squirt. We use these to thin out Jack's secretions before we suction him. I ordered ONE BOX (100 vials) of saline squirts, yet someone actually took the time to take one vial out of the box and put it in a plastic baggie. Apparently they took the word "one" literally. What are you going to do? It's this type of crap that used to just set me off not so long ago. But I'm learning to keep the little things little to avoid ending up in an institution for the mentally insane. It's not so much that we only got one squirt (we have plenty of boxes in reserve), it's the fact that I now have to take the time to make a phone call to get the order corrected. The amount of time I've wasted over the years correcting problems I don't create but must resolve is staggering.
Onward.
5 comments:
"The amount of time I've wasted over the years correcting problems I don't create but must resolve is staggering."
Soooooo true!! And it makes me sick to think about it sometimes. Like you, I try not to sweat this stuff anymore, but some days it is hard not to!
Kristy
Ann, I've only been dealing with this for a year, but I can SO relate to everything you've said in this post. We just recently received a letter on a Friday afternoon from our lovely insurance company stating that we needed to get one of Gabe's medications from a 'speciality pharmacy' for his 'speciality medication (read: mail-order pharmacy for his expensive medication to save them money). I was SO mad upon receiving the letter and it did ruin my Friday afternoon. And I didn't want to deal with it on Monday so I think I waited at least a week to actually handle it. Ugh.... insurance... ugh. That ONE saline bullet was so funny! It is so annoying that because of someone else's incomptence you have to spend time on the phone getting someone to correct it.
Just a reminder, you are amazing! You are a strong, wonderful mother, and Jack is so lucky to have you as his mom, advocate, nurse, rock.
:) Have a good week
Rachel
Oh yes, oh yes. Apria and the infamous box number vs. item number saga. Every month we order 400 suction catheters- and every month four arrive in a box (a huge box...you know the drill) we call to redo the order and sure enough 5 days later another box arrives...again with 4 single caths.... UGH! They have yet to ever get an order right (this is not rocket science people! But our children's lives do depend on it!)
Thanks for making us laugh tonight. This is something we all know a little too well!
-Jen
...still laughing about the squirt of saline...
xo c
Ann,
I check in on you guys so often. The one saline bullet was just too much. I had to laugh, but it is so sad this is so universal. I spent a few hours this week with the very same company trying to sort out the 1 HME versus 1 box problem one of my families had.I guess it's not just the Raleigh office. My love to you all, I think of you often. Kathy Hawley
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