God took care of the insurance

11/6/04

I'm so pathetic. So inefficient. I had all this time this week to write, and what did I do? I worked on my website, on my Yahoogroup, bought Christmas presents, browsed online for books I convinced myself not to buy, posted in writer's forums that I'm not particularly active in... Lord, thank You for this free time. Please help me to make the most of it and to write for Your glory.

On the knee front, it's quite a story. I'll just copy what I told Sharon in an email.

I went to Urgent Care Thursday night, and the doctor took an X-ray and twisted my knee to make sure I was really injured (Just kidding, he was actually rather gentle). He prescribed Motrin and Vicaden (powerful stuff, huh?) and said to stay off it for a week, at the most I could only do minimal standing and walking. He also said to make an appt with my primary care physician, who would schedule an MRI (I had already called on Tuesday and she didn't have an appt available until next week Thursday!).

I emailed my supervisor, her manager, and the company admin to let them know I was to stay off the knee for seven days, but I did mention that I was walking okay on crutches, and did they want me to come in? (Aren't I a good little employee?) I haven't gotten an answer yet.

My husband and my chiropractor both want me to see a particular orthopedic surgeon, Dr. King, who does surgery for the Oakland Raiders and who did all four of my husband's surgeries (Yes, you heard that right, FOUR. He had meniscus tears twice, a bone spur in his elbow and something else in his other elbow). The problem is our insurance. We have a point of service company, and each of us have a particular primary care physician and group listed for our individual coverages. If we don't go to that physician, we get charged more. And if it's surgery, forget any kind of coverage if that surgeon isn't in the group we have listed.

Dr. King is in the Palo Alto Medical group, but my group is Camino Medical group. To change isn't a problem, but it doesn't go into effect until the first of the next month. So I would have to change my group and I couldn't actually see Dr. King until the first of December.

Not a problem, right? Except that my work company is changing insurance companies on January 1st to a cheaper (not as good) insurance plan. So if I need surgery, it needs to before December 31st or I might be paying buckets for it. Time really wasn't on my side, especially with the Xmas holidays.

But GOD IS GOOD. I called my insurance on Friday, and the customer service girl managed to change my physician group to Dr. King's group, AND to make it effective the first of this month!

I made an appointment with a primary care physician (my husband's) in Dr. King's group for Tuesday morning. I'll request that she refer me to Dr. King. If I can get an appt with Dr. King soon enough, he can schedule me for an MRI and I *might* be able to have surgery before he goes on Xmas vacation.

Whew, talk about planning! I know I'm ranting, but I also do know that it's in God's hands. And if we do need to pay more for the surgery, I know God will provide.

Well, back to writing. I did most of the characterizations I need, I only have a few minor characters who play prominent roles in the other two books of the series, so I need to personalize them now for consistency and accuracy. Oh, and my villain. Sigh. Everything I've come up with seems cheesy, overdone or just plain stupid. This is not going well. Hm, maybe I can have two or three different villains instead of the same one for all three books. That's an idea. Off to write!

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