Author Archives: Regina Garvie

Insurance

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Children’s National is sending us bills for Belinda’s surgery and visits, and they are getting more persistent. You may recall that we paid $3000 to continue the COBRA insurance for November so all this should be covered.

Ben has contacted the HR department at his former employer about this, yet the bill keeps coming. I suppose I need to contact the billing department at the hospital and see if there is anything they can do.

I do not know if this problem is the fault of CompSource or the fault of Healthcare Highways and I generally don’t list them by name but this is a real failure on their part. We followed the rules, and paid, and did what we were supposed to do and now it’s still hanging over our heads.

I notice they did accept our COBRA payment without problem!

Allergy Testing Scheduled!

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Finally! After going through hoops for months, Belinda’s allergy testing has been scheduled for March 13 at a clinic in Edmond that specializes in allergies in people with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. This is one more thing we need to get taken care of so everything is checked off medically before she starts college in Alva in the fall. She’ll also be 18 then, and so she will have to handle more of her medical care as an adult. I will miss having healthcare professionals talk to me without hesitation, since she’s still 17. If we had discovered her issues after August, it would have been so much harder. I thank God that she was diagnosed when she was!

After that, she will go back to the internist in Tulsa on April 17.

It’s hard to believe she will graduate in May. I need to get senior pictures scheduled and start thinking about graduation announcements.

I just realized that her entire high school career has included us dealing with rare disease health care. I pray that her college experience goes smoothly and that the diseases don’t keep her from meeting her goals!

So far so good

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I finished Chapter 5 today. Half was on Saturday night and half was today (Monday). I didn’t write last night. I told myself it was okay because it was Sunday but I didn’t know if I was lying to myself or not. But I did indeed do more tonight. It’s going slow but I think that is okay. Just writing something is what matters, at least for now.

Tomorrow is our homeschool co-op day and I also need to write an article for the newspaper. I didn’t give them anything last week. I was a little put out because they didn’t get an article in the week before, so I wasted my time because it had to go before the event it was covering. But I mostly pretty much forgot because Lenora was at the house and it was also super cold and we were battening down the hatches.

This week has had great weather. I went for a walk yesterday and took a few pictures of interesting things and put that on instagram. Today I only walked to the mailbox and back. I actually put shorts on because it was so warm. Wild that it was like three degrees less than a week ago.

If you don’t like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute and it’ll change. –Will Rogers

#amwriting once again

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Today I felt off, somehow. Maybe I’m getting sick, maybe it’s just mental/emotional. I have a hard time understanding the way I’m feeling most of the time. Lately it’s seemed like I’m just not doing anything or accomplishing much. Too much watching tv and taking care of the house, and not enough living. Part of that is probably due to the cold snap we are just now coming out of. I hadn’t left the house in days, due to bad roads and just wanting to stay at home and hibernate.

This morning I felt like I had to do something different. So I went to Newcastle and picked up a library book I had on hold for book club, then went to Mustang to the community center gym. I walked on the indoor track for a half hour or so, with no music, no audio book, no podcast. Just me and my thoughts. My brain doesn’t seem to think as well as it used to, but maybe if I just force it to work instead of placating it with distractions, it will get better. I talked to myself some as I walked, about my books, about my plans, about my dreams. I talked about my current novel and wasn’t thrilled when I had a hard time remembering my protagonists’ names. But they did come to me after a minute.

I came to the conclusion that I need to try to write at night again. I have been telling myself for years that I need to write in the mornings. That I need to do it first thing, while my mind is the freshest. But in all honesty, I’ve done the majority of my writing at night in the past. I would take care of the house, and the kids, and whatever else, and then in the evening I would finally get time to myself and I would sit and write. I haven’t wanted to do that for a long time for various reasons…but I think that time is past now. If writing last night before bed worked for me before, I think I owe it to myself to try it again.

My mind might not be early morning fresh, but mornings are too difficult. There’s the question of breakfast, and emptying the dishwasher, and taking care of Mom’s breakfast and a dozen other little things. Then I start thinking about the things I need to do during the day. But at night none of those things matter. I’m done with my work for the day an I can relax and enjoy my writing.

So that’s what I did tonight. It’s been a long time since I worked on this, so I read what I had written before, doing some small edits and tweaks. Then I went ahead and wrote a paragraph about what was going to happen in the next two chapters. Which is great, because I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. Now I know, and I can think about that tonight and tomorrow, and then hopefully knock out some real words tomorrow evening.

I prayed before I began, asking for help, and after, thanking God for how well it went. I want this book to be like my first, which I still feel like came directly from God – from Him to my measly brain. The idea was not mine, and the writing just poured out. I wrote that novel in a month. I’m praying for another download from God. Just something that feels like it’s writing itself. The new chapter outlines felt like that, so I’m optimistic.

Allergist

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I called the allergist again today. They have gotten the referral, and they got the confirmation from insurance they needed today, hooray! Now the doctor will look at everything and see if he believes he will be the best doctor for her. I sure hope so because this has been such a struggle. I’m praying that God’s will be done, though, because I know that even if I’d like to have this doctor work out, if it’s not supposed to be then that’s the way it goes.

Anyway, the lady said they might get back with me today but probably early next week!

EOBs, allergies, and other fun things

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We got a bill from Children’s National with two charges on it, one for Belinda’s video six-month follow up after the POEM procedure and the other from the dilation procedure in DC on Nov. 5. Both should have been covered by insurance, that’s why we continued to pay the big COBRA bill for November to keep her insurance going. Ben sent an email to his former HR rep who looked into it and then said that it looked like the EOB was not on the first one (explanation of benefits, if I’m remembering right) and the second one was still processing. Okay. She asked us to let the hospital know about the need for the EOB on the first claim.

So I emailed the thoratic surgery department. Those emails are generally answered by an absolutely lovely lady who always helps us with whatever we’re dealing with for Belinda. This lady gave me a contact with the billing department at the hospital but also said that she was going to ask the providers to waive the first fee completely. So if that happens, that’s nice for the insurance carrier! If they can’t waive it I’m supposed to get in touch with the person at billing.

The other one we will wait longer on to see what insurance does with it. I don’t like having the bills hanging out like that, but that’s what we have to work with.

My other new struggle is getting her an appointment with the allergist. The internist she saw in December wanted her to get that done and there’s another appointment with the internist in March, so it really needs to get going. But because she is in Tulsa and doesn’t usually refer to OKC, she wanted us to decide who to go to. On the EDS facebook group for Oklahoma, several talked about Dr. U.G., and that’s who we asked for. And then a month goes by. So I contact the internist office again and they say they called it in but he isn’t accepting new patients. Ugh. So I go on the fb page again and find another person and they call in that referral. But when I call that allergist, turns out they don’t take Belinda’s insurance. Okay. So I get back on the fb group, and someone on there is recommending Dr. U.G. and saying they went there just a few days before for their first appointment. What? So I called their office and yes, they are accepting new patients. So I get the contact information for Dr. U.G. and then I ask the internist to do the referral to him.

What I think happened is that Dr. U.G. used to be at a different clinic, and maybe that’s the one they found that said they weren’t accepting new patients. So I waited to get the call. No call.

Earlier this week I called Dr. U.G.’s office and left a message for a call back asking if they had received the referral, but no one has called me back.

I guess I’ll try again today. I just don’t feel like it. But I know I must.

Wedding bells

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Bennett and Mia were married today. It’s my parents’ sixty-first anniversary as well. The photographer took a nice picture of Mom with the couple today, with the cake topper from her wedding on the serving table.

My family has changed so much in the last few years. I am thankful that God is helping me handle all the change and how I’m feeling peaceful most of the time.

Just a few years ago all my children were single and at home with us. Ben had a job he’d held for years. Belinda didn’t have achalasia or EDS or MCAS…at least not that we knew of. Jerry was alive and he and Mom lived comfortably in Blanchard.

I’m thankful for the changes and the opportunity to learn and grow, and hopefully reflect Christ more every day. I am truly blessed.

Spring semester begins

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Today is the first day of the second semester of Belinda’s senior year. Hard to believe! She received her honor roll cords for her graduation today. Now she will have those and also her cord from Girls’ State.

Her spring semester of concurrent enrollment at NWOSU started today, and he went to her private math tutoring as well. Tomorrow she’ll start the last semester of homeschool co-op.

I guess I’d better start the Senior Sunday posts now on the social media. I’ve been putting it off (and I guess I feel a little guilty that I didn’t do it with the other two, but I don’t think that was as much of a thing then).

The editor at the Tuttle Times wrote a really nice article about Belinda and the achalasia for this week’s paper. I appreciate his work on that so much! Since her disease is invisible, it is good to let people know sort of what she is going through. She appears to be so super healthy.

Thankful

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I am so thankful today!

I thought I didn’t have insurance any more, but yesterday I discovered I am still covered through the 12th. So I was able to keep some appointments next week and I got another two moved so they will be next week too. I also saw my regular doctor yesterday. She was so great and ordered all the labs I would have needed. She also offered to send more prescriptions to the pharmacy, but I am actually doing okay there. I got several 90 day prescriptions filled near the end of November. Yesterday I picked up three prescriptions, and today I was able to get enough cgm supplies to last me two months. That feels good!

Belinda is doing well. She is enrolled for her last year of concurrent enrollment, and she is taking geography, non-western civilizations, and Spanish. Those classes start on Jan. 13. I got the books ordered today and found the geography book on Amazon for about $50 – the ones at the school bookstore were $225!! The other ones were a better deal at the school bookstore. Her homeschool chemistry classes also start up on the 13th, and her last semester of homeschool co-op starts on the 14th. We are in the last stretch! I still need to get her senior photos set up (we had to cancel the earlier ones because she didn’t feel well). I also need to start thinking about announcements, crazy!

Ben R and Lenora are doing great. She was so glad to be done with college and they’re planning to move back to our town this summer when their lease is finished. Bennett and Mia have been working hard getting their future home ready. The wedding is Jan. 25. The showers are on the 11th and 12th and I got my gifts ordered and gifts for Mom to give them ordered.

Right now everyone is in this house and they have been here for the whole holiday season and I am very happy about that.

And I am also VERY VERY THANKFUL for the holes in my walls! See, like two years ago we had our house rewired and they had to make some holes in the drywall and Ben said he would fix them himself to save us money. But he didn’t get around to it, which I understand, because it’s a big undertaking. But I asked him to fix one hole, the one in the stairs, for me for Christmas. With that done, I could at least repaint the stairwell and the hall, since it was the only hole. So he did that. And then the next night, he did another. And the next night, another. And they’ve just kept going. Right now he is in the dining room, getting the wall shored up better to stand against the cold north wind before the storm comes in tonight. This is wonderful because he has been very down on himself about not getting a job yet. It’s really been hard on him. But now he is singing praise songs and fixing the wall!

This is wonderful and a great testimony because I know I’ve talked about how I am trying to follow the wisdom of Merlin Carouthers and thank God for everything, even if it’s something I perceive as “bad.” So at first when Ben didn’t fix the holes, I was bothered. But after a while, I started thanking God for the holes. It didn’t sound genuine at first but I kept at it, praising Him for it even. The truth is, we don’t know what God has planned. But He does. God knew way back then that these holes would prove to be something that could lift Ben out of his funk and give him a sense of purpose and completion. He is accomplishing something very great for his family, and I believe it is helping him realize that he is fully capable, and that he can do whatever he sets his mind to.

I do believe he will get the perfect job at the perfect time. God knows. And so I keep thanking God for this job loss, and I know that everything will work out for good.

I am so blessed!