Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts

Monday, August 22, 2016

Broken Foot

I know, I know.

Not what I expected to happen either. While going down the stairs in my brother-in-laws new (old) house I missed the last step before the landing and landed on my butt. Immediately my ankle started hurting. I iced it. My first concern after my fall was not 'Am I okay?' or even 'Is anything broken?' My first thought after falling was 'Is my Mac okay?' My Macbook is my life. Not just because I enjoy keeping tabs on all my friends and the fact that they have the same struggles as I do in raising children, keeping a clean house (ha!) and dealing with spouses. But because I have clients whom I work for doing some graphic design, web design, social media and online database information. It's not much, but I enjoy working with them all and it helps pay the bills.

So you can see why I was so concerned about my Macbook. I was carrying it down the stairs, in my arms. I know. I know. Stupid.


The kids were really good when my brother in law took me to the doctors office Saturday morning in Ames. X-rays were taken - apparently I'm trying to keep up my selfie-x-ray ratio. I've had a lot of x-rays taken of my knees (mostly). I feel like it wouldn't take much for me to become an x-ray technician. 

The other thing that doesn't go well with me and my bones is a dark room - which it was semi-dark - and stairs. Back in 2007 I had a nasty fall at church when the youth we playing hide and go seek in the dark and yes, you guessed it, I fell off the stage and broke some bones in my left hand. I didn't have kids then, so it would have been a little easier if I had broken my foot instead. I had surgery on my hand then, and much like now, I wait.
The doctor will operate on my foot this Thursday, I'm talented, when I break bones - I do it very uniquely. When I was a kid I fell off a bike and broke my arm, but not the large bone (which most people break), I broke the small bone. Hehe.
This time it's a broken bone in the right foot - it's the 5th metatarsal. It's the bone that leads to my pinkie toe. It's not entirely broken clear off, but at an angle.  I did twist my ankle when I fell down the stairs, so this make sense. So the doctor will put some pins in it, so it can heal.  I still have to stay off it for 6 weeks after the surgery. It's already been a week plus.
It's been rough. My bedroom is on the second floor, good thing we just moved the guest bed down to the first floor. I'm sleeping there, for now. The kids are kids - and so the house is a complete disaster because I shouldn't be on my foot to pick up stuff (toys), or even to cook in the kitchen, much less running up and down the stairs doing laundry. For the first week or so, I hobbled around the house with a cane when I needed to. Since then, I have rented a knee scooter. While I don't have good knees and can't stay on my knees for long period of times - it's perfect for getting around the house. Getting something to eat, going to the bathroom, staying on first floor.


Maybe this is God's way of telling me to 'slow down.' Part of me wants to, and part of me says 'no.' I enjoy volunteering my time for my child's school, volunteering for my church, doing crafty things.
This will be my 6th surgery. It's local anesthesia, and the surgery itself will only take about half an hour, if all goes well.

A few days after the surgery I will hopefully be able to put some weight on it, but will- for the most part still have to stay off of it, for that bone to heal completely. It's been tough on my hubby - running a FedEx truck all last week did not allow him to take me to the doctors office or help me around the house. He was awesome - a single dad - basically by feeding all of us, putting the kids to bed every night, working a full time job, doing some of his laundry and changing oil in his trucks - and even fixing one. He's a busy guy. At least the past few weeks of working 6 day weeks will help us save a little money, since someone needs surgery. 

Prayers appreciated on Thursday early afternoon! 





Friday, July 17, 2015

Redeemed

Back Story: 
I was internally bleeding. 
What was I supposed to do? Not go to the ER? So my kids wouldn't have a mom to take care of them?

I thought I was covered. Two missed payments stops your insurance. There were 3, due to timing of other bills we had obligations to as well. 

Nobody in the Health Care Industry gets it. 
My husband is working 50-80 hours a week and I'm on unemployment and we are still eligible for public assistance! My kids have health care through the state. Crazy that we don't make enough to be on our own two feet. 
I have a $6k hospital bill I can't pay. At least the hospital is willing to work with us, and we are applying for payment plan options. 
Jesus can come anytime now, and wipe away all my debt. That would be amazing. 
I need peace about this. That this bill will - eventually - get paid. 

Redeemed. 
There was a small window. Found by a customer service agent named Joy. 
I didn't think it could be done. 
Insurance is a frustrating and tricky thing. Big businesses are not always ready to look out for the little guy. 

We were staring at a $6,000 hospital bill. There seemed to be no way out. 

The phone call came from Joy one morning. She left a voicemail- saying that she thinks she can get our insurance re-instated. I called her back after my daughter and I had finished breakfast. Not believing the truth. She simply told me was all we had to do was pay the premium for July and we would be reinstated. 
Understand up until this point that my husband had called the insurance company, I had our insurance agent (from whom we bought the policy from) call the company as well and he called me back with bad news. I was thinking we were going to have to self-insure the rest of the year. We couldn't re-enroll until January. He said there wasn't a gray area- or they couldn't find one. 
I even called Title 19 and asked if my procedure would be covered (since it is a form of birth control). Called the hospital and tried to have them run it through. No luck. It was worth a try, anyway. 
Obviously we can't miss another payment (which we won't) or we really won't have insurance for the rest of the calendar year. 
But, thanks to Joy. Hubby made the payment online tonight - and my surgery that I had in May is now covered. She truly delivered a miracle to us. 
I never expected it to happen, sometimes big businesses can act like small businesses and care about the little people- especially when they have great people working for them! 
$6,000 
Not sure what my hospital bill will be now, but it'll be much more manageable. 
I called and asked hubby if he wanted to pay $500 (rounded amount we pay each month for the 2 of us) or $6,000. He said - uh- yeah $500. We can do that!

Exhale. 


I have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:18-19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The slate has been wiped clean. 
Almost $6,000 clean.