I’ve slowly been learning how insurance companies work recently. I received a letter on last Thursday, informing me that the tilt table test was not covered. Then I received a letter from the hospital that my monthly payment was increasing. Both of these were not cool (in fact I burned the envelope that the second one came in). Yesterday I decided was the end of this madness. I call the insurance company, they say it wasn’t listed as related to the accident (or I went over my limit for labs). So I already had to call the hospital about my bill, call them, they’ll send me a bill (currently to the tune of 1842.20 which includes the $760 in question). Then she informs me that there’s another $691 pending. Yikes! I had to take a break and figure out what I was suppose to do. Talk to mom, then talk to Mark. Then decided to call the hospital back and get it resent as related to the accident. Talked to the guy there and he says that all the past stuff that was covered wasn’t sent as related to the accident either, but he’ll resend it. He suggested calling the insurance company still and making sure it will be covered. So, I call them and she says “if this was routine it won’t be covered.” I explain it wasn’t routine (who would pay $1450 to make you passout??). I ask directly, if they resend it and the code says it was related to the accident, it should be covered? Correct. OK. Hang up and cross fingers for the next few weeks.

I just hope this actually worked. I’m so sick of everything and I’m really ready to be done with it all.

I had an appointment at the UIHC again today. They told me nothing new, but then decided to do an ultrasound of my heart. I asked them for the picture, but they apparently thought I was kidding. So here, I wanted to share my heart with you all:

I also wanted to mention this tilt table test they are doing to me on Aug. 18th. They strap me to a table (my mom would HATE this). Then they tilt you up to 60-80 degrees. Then wait for you to passout. If you don’t passout in 45minutes, they give you an adrenaline-like medicine to induce passing out. I hate this idea. I think it’s a horrible one and I’m going to be absolutely petrified the entire time. Also, I have decided this is it. If this test turns up negative even…they’re done. I’m through with tests, they have had 5 months and haven’t found anything wrong. All I keep hearing is everything looks just fine. I’m sick of it.

I’ve always hated going to the doctor; they’re never any help to me except for when I need stitches, but when you crack your skull you have to go. I’ve been trying to be patient with the UIHC, but today I hit my limit. When I passed out and hit my head, they took me to UIHC automatically. At first, I was thrilled by this because they are known for being very good (so I thought at the time). I started getting the run around though. That evening Dr. Granner told me we could do a 6 hr. eeg to get a better sense of what my brain was doing. The next morning I woke up to some youngin’ telling me we had to do it that day. I informed him I was going home and a nurse came in and told me they’d call me to setup an appointment. They never called. So I called to schedule an appointment. Eventually I got Elaine something, Dr. Granner’s nurse and she said she talked to Dr. Granner and suddenly I didn’t need an eeg, I needed a cardio work up. Well this confused me, so I told her to check again and sure enough she called back with an appointment for an eeg. Now, yesterday I finally got my results back after calling Elaine several times, leaving a message every time and having her call me back half the time. She left one message saying that she tried calling me at work number (353-0792, those that don’t know…that’s my old dorm number). She had all the wrong info. I set that all straight. Then the letter says that I have a few abnormalities (didn’t need that eeg huh?) and that Dr. Granner wanted to meet with me to discuss. I called the number he left today and they transfer me to scheduling and I leave a message. I expected that and understand that’s normal. But then they finally call me back and tell me that Dr. Granner isn’t available until September! That’s not acceptable! They asked if I wanted to be transferred to his nurse and at first I told her no, there’s no point she doens’t answer her phone. When left with no other options though I said yes and left a semi-nasty message for her to call me back.
The point of all this is that it’s bull. Nobody should I have to put up with this to see if they should go on medication. I could be having seizures left and right (luckily I’m not). I’m angry enough as it is, but what if the seizures had gotten worse and more frequent and I couldn’t do my job properly, etc, etc. I understand that UIHC is very good in some departments, but I think the neurology department can be ruled as one of the worst I’ve ever seen. I’m finding a work around to this, but as my normal Dr. told me at my latest exam, I should be able to talk to my doctor if I need to and what’s happening right now is “bullshit.” So, while the healthcare system needs fixed for cost and insurance (I could write a whole nother rant on that), the health care administration needs fixed too.

I’ve been trying to make the appointment with the UIHC so that we can figure out why I passed out so suddenly. I called yesterday and spoke to Kathy at scheduling and she told me she would find out what was going on and call me back. Then another woman calls me last night and leaves a message to call her for them to get more information.

So today I finally speak to this woman and she tells me that Dr. Granner (the neurologist I saw) thinks I don’t need the long EEG, but that I need to see a cardiologist. This confused and frustrated me. Last thing I knew cardiology wasn’t being considered in this, but apparently I was confused because Mark told me that Dr. Granner had mentioned this before. But that doesn’t explain why the doctor the next day tried to make me stay for the long EEG appointment.
Anyways, the point of this is that they think my head is fine now. They don’t have an explanation for my passing out and they would suggest seeing a cardiologist. And so I will.

My Dad and I have now moved from joking about passing out because of the lack of chocolate I have been receiving to now thinking this is an actual possibility. There really is no way to prove this except for time. So as scary as this is, I am going to now just go on with life (see the cardiologist for some peace of mind) and pray to God that this was a once in a lifetime thing and if He ever feels like letting me pass out again He’ll give me a few signs before it happens.

Side note: Dad continues to be impressed by Mark. Yesterday, Dad decided to hate him though because Mark got to have Whitey’s. My Dad loves Whitey’s. Mark was confused for a minute, but I cleared everything up right away.

I got my bike back from the police today. I don’t have my helmet yet though and I know several people would be upset if I rode without it. But, a funny note: the tag on my bike from the police said “Owner had seizure. She may claim when she’s able.” They apparently weren’t sure if I’d want it back.

I’m also taking full advantage of the “I’m sorry, I hit my head” jokes. It’s a wonderful excuse for silly mistakes.