An Unexpected Refund

Okay, I'm sure you know that I hate blowing money on anything medical related. In fact, I hate it so much that I always opt for staying awake during my visits with my colorectal specialist rather than paying to be sedated. It's traumatic and barbaric, but it saves me money. When I had to drop fat stacks on my MRI in November, it irritated me.

The lady at the imaging place told me how much I owed, so I pulled out my insurance card because I didn't think the price on the bill had been adjusted for insurance. "I'm sorry, dear, I've already ran this through your insurance." Holy shit, I thought as I slowly handed her my credit card. Ouch, that hurt my bank account. Behold, I got a bonus at work in December and the net pay was 37 cents more than the cost of my MRI.  Isn't that kind of freaky?

When I was paying bills last night, my credit card statement said I didn't owe anything because I had a credit. It baffled me. After further review, I found that the imaging place gave my card a full refund. It feels like an early birthday present!!! I had called insurance a few times after the MRI to ask about a possible partial refund, but they kept telling me that the claim hadn't been processed yet. The refund paid my credit card bill for January and will likely cover most if not all of February's bill as well. So yeah, I'm pretty much just banking money this month. Gah!!! This makes me so happy!

My Birthday Wish

Update: I finally got Cimzia approved through my insurance... again! Go me!!!

"How are you?" When that question is directed at me, it has got to be the most confusing question that exists in the English language. Family, friends, doctors, nurses, counselors, and co-workers alike inquire about my well being. All at different levels, of course.  Nonetheless, it's up to me to figure out how I am, which is tricky.

How am I? Would "I don't know" be an acceptable answer without leading to more inquisitive questioning?  How am I compared to what exactly? My "normal" seems to constantly be fluctuating. Most days, I'm not sure if my body is telling me the truth or if I am perhaps misinterpreting it all together. I don't trust my body. How can I? The bloody thing attacks itself. Hell, I was so used to constant pain in my stomach for a while that when I burned my hand pulling something out the oven a few weeks ago it didn't even hurt. It felt like a light pinch that went away quickly, but the blistering skin on my palm told another story. Burning your hand should hurt, right?  I just figured the pain the burn caused must have been minimal compared to the other pain I had been experiencing, so my body didn't have a big reaction to it.

How am I? In this very moment, I'm convinced that I'm doing better. What exactly am I doing better than? I think I'm doing better than I was doing over the past three months or so because I have more energy, my bowels have been somewhat okay (there's always room for improvement, but isn't that case with most things in life?), I haven't felt pain in about two weeks, and I actually want to hang out with people. I even went for a run this week and it was beyond amazing. Sure, I'm totally out of shape and I was breathing heavy, but I didn't struggle to breath like I did during my last attempts that made me swear off running for a while. Last month I was certain Cimzia stopped working, but now I'm unsure what to think. I'm supposed to be getting lab work done in February that will tell me how I really am.

How am I? I'm pretty sure I'm still anemic because I stopped taking iron pills. I can't wait for my dr. to lecture me about that. I just couldn't handle being constipated all the time. I'm pretty sure my stricture is still super tight even though I'm hopeful my appointment with my colorectal on February 12th goes better than the last time I saw her. It's to the point where I'm actually wishing the scope for the sigmoidoscopy will fit past my stricture so that we can take a look at the disease on the screen. In order for that to happen, my doctor has to be able to get her finger up my ass, which was an agonizing problem last time even with lube.  Yeah, so that's my birthday wish... being able to get fingered in the ass. Maybe I need to find a special someone that would finger my ass regularly between visits with my doctor to keep my stricture loose. Doesn't that sound like a good blurb to put on a dating website? I would do it myself, but giving myself enemas is nearly impossible as it is. It's traumatizing and I'd much rather someone else torture me than me having to do the horrific thing myself.  I've always said if someone likes it in the ass, that's a sure fire way to tell they don't have Crohn's disease.

Oh, by the way, my sisters say that I must be feeling better because my humor is coming back.

Dealing with Insurance... Again

 So, when I called OptumRX to refill my prescription on Thursday, the lady told me that insurance denied coverage. After asking a bunch of questions to try to figure out why, she finally told me that my account has Medicare as my primary insurer. Umm, I've never had Medicare in my life. She said I would have to call my insurance and request, "blah, blah, blah," I can't remember what she said my insurance needed to do.

Anyways, I called UHC and I explained that OptumRx is showing my primary coverage as Medicare even though I've never had Medicare. The lady finally figured out that I was somehow switched back to my parents plan, which is also UHC, not Medicare. Thankfully, she knew the "blah, blah, blah," she was supposed to do and told me that it would take 24 hours to take effect on OptumRX systems. She also had no clue how or why I was switched back to my parents' plan.

I waited a day and called OptumRX again. This time I began by reading off my member ID number for my insurance to make sure that's what they had on file for me. It wasn't and it wouldn't let the guy change it manually in the system. He also told me I would need, "blah, blah, blah," and I told him I already had my insurance do "blah, blah, blah." So, he tried to get ahold of the "Resolutions Team." There was a long wait line because all of the call centers on the east coast were sending their calls to the west coast, so I had to wait over two hours for someone on the Resolutions Team to call me back.

Finally a Resolutions Specialist called me back and was able to setup my correct insurance on file. She also didn't know why or how I would have been switched back to my parents' insurance. At least, she was able to process my order and refill my prescription.

All of this prompted me to login to my UHC account to look at my claims. It turns out the last claim my insurance has for Cimzia was back in October. My mom is supposed be looking into seeing if my refills since then went to her claims. It appears I was switched back to my parents' insurance a while ago and it was only brought to my attention now because they denied coverage. Insurance companies are so stupid, but I can't really hate them because they save me so much money.

Entering a Different Lottery

I'm going to apply for the drawing of the TCS New York City Marathon 2016 non-guaranteed entry.  Since my marathon time isn't fast enough and I don't want to raise money for entry, I'll have to enter the lottery. The application for the drawing opens tomorrow and the drawing will take place on March 8th, 2016.

Currently, I'm in no physical shape whatsoever, which is why I'm only announcing my entry into the NYC Marathon lottery here. If I happen to get in, I'll blast the news all over the place!  It would be the perfect motivation to get my ass moving again. This race is on my bucket list. Of course, I'm not really expecting to get in, but I figured I might as well try. Hell, if I played the insane odds in the powerball, I can muster up the craziness to play my odds in this. The race isn't until November, so I would have 8 months to train if by some miracle I get in on March 8th.

#maytheoddsbeeverinmyfavor  #daretodream  #daretolive  #daretorun #daretohashtag

Writer's Block Unblocked

I had been struggling with writer's block. I totally wish I could share online what I just wrote, but I won't. It was a major break through that has turned into a new project. I read the few paragraphs I wrote to Kim and Kelly and they were both very intrigued. It's literally out of this world.  As Kim said, "Look out for the leader of the Shits!" 

Consequences of a Good Day

Yesterday, I had a great day. I woke up feeling well with energy I haven't experienced in a long time. I went shopping, went to lunch with my mom and dad, did laundry, watched some football with my dad, and I even cleaned my room a little. I washed my sheets, which doesn't happen as often as it should because it takes a lot out of me. I didn't even take a nap yesterday.

I woke up today feeling the consequences of a good day. I woke up sore and tired. I tried to finish cleaning my room, but I had the chills and fell asleep sitting on my couch with my portable heater pointed at me and covered in two blankets. I woke up with a neck cramp and moved to my bed. I've been to the bathroom about 15 times today. Eventually, I woke up for dinner sweating like crazy. Hey, at least I haven't been in any pain today.

Dear 2015

Dear 2015,

I am not the least bit sad to see you go. You were a lot like a fly-over state. You offered some cool views, but really it was mostly boring while waiting for you to pass by. Perhaps it's because I was too busy adult-ing.  The highlights you left me are as follows:

1. I mustered up the guts to quit working for my dad to sell cars. When I look back at selling cars, I think that it's proof that I really can do anything I set my mind to. It was a great experience. I just disliked the hours and the way they worked me to the bone. All the while I was still going to school.
2.  I graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCF with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration as a finance major!!! It's still hard for me to believe that I did it! This accomplishment is HUGE in my book of life. It may sound dumb, but there are days when I miss going to school.
3. I had the courage to quit selling cars without any job prospects. Thankfully, my dad's company was busy enough to hire me until I found my current job as Payroll Assistant. I consider this job my first "real" job out of college. I'm learning so much. I'm blessed to work for such an amazing company with a super awesome workforce.
4. I took myself off of my parents' health insurance plan and got my own insurance through work. This was and still is a big deal to me because health insurance is my lifeline.
5. I started a 401K through work. I won't bore you with the details. I'll just say this excites me because I think it really is a step in the right direction to prepare for my future. 
6. I had my first MRI and it sucked, but it didn't suck as bad as a colonoscopy would have. I heard those words I hate hearing from my doctor: Crohn's is active. In response, I started doing Cimzia injections every three weeks instead of every four weeks to help determine if it's still working. I know what I think.
7. I started going to counseling for the first time in my life. I didn't realize the layers of mental complexity Crohn's is affecting/creating. My feelings are valid. Even though I could be saving the money I'm spending on counseling, I think investing in my mental state is a wise decision.
8. [Edit: I added this one because it somehow slipped my mind yesterday. I financed my dream car and I'm still in love. The Mustang totally exceeded my expectations!]

I spent most of 2015 working and reaching goals I set for myself many years ago. I have come a long way, but I still have a long way to go. It feels like I'm sleep walking though life at the moment though.