Hernia surgery - sigh

My newest article:  Just Roll With It.

I'm going to have hernia surgery tomorrow, but I have no idea what time!  It's almost 4:00 pm, and I still haven't received the phone call that tells me what time to be there by.  AND, it looks like we're getting more snow tonight.  Of course we are.

The surgery is supposed to be in & out, but knowing my body, there'll be some sort of surprise, causing me to be a guest of the hospital for at least the night.  This is a fine googly moogly!

MONEY MATTERS

I've been receiving doctor bills that my insurance company is refusing to pay. Why? Because I'd exceeded the number of doctor visits allotted.  So, now the doctors are coming after me to pay them. Well, not the doctors – their billing department.

Here's the thing – the reason I had too many doctor visits is due to the staph infection I received at the hospital during my initial mastectomy! I had my initial surgery a few days before Thanksgiving, and by Christmas Eve, I spiked a fever of 104 degrees. The day after Christmas, I was in the hospital having emergency surgery. The infection was so severe, it ate the tissue expander.

I came home, and in a relatively short period of time, I was back in the hospital, undergoing yet another surgery. This happened ANOTHER time, resulting in finally being admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics. Additionally, this was not without a great deal of pain. Another problem this nasty little infection has posed is my upcoming reconstruction surgery. I have to go to Philadelphia to see a micro surgeon (more about that later).

However, things happen, and I'm not a vindictive person. I know that my doctors didn't purposefully give me a staph infection, and cause me several months of pain. The thing is, though, I don't feel that I should have to PAY THEM for it! I don't know why they're coming after me for this; it's a little less than $1,000. The bulk of the bills have been paid.

I finally explained this to their billing department on Thursday. I pointed out that if I was a jerk, I could be speaking to an attorney. We all know there're ambulance chasers all over the phone book & television, and this would be a juicy little malpractice case for them. However, I hate attorneys, and these doctors saved my life. That's really the bottom line – I'm alive.

If you've been reading this for any length of time, you know that I really like all my doctors - a big whole lot. I'm really hoping that they'll just wipe the slate clean & call it even! I'll keep you posted.