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| Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. |
So, it's a good news/bad news kind of day.
I'm very late today because we spent the morning picking up decent food, water, and stomach-settling soda for Joe and then taking it to him at the hospital. He was supposed to have surgery first thing yesterday morning, and they didn't take him back until after 6PM last night to prep for it, so he spent the entire day without food or water. That said, his condition is part of the good news: He now has a rod holding his broken right tib/fib in place, and he's doing well. They've already had him up on the crutches, and they might spring him tomorrow. [On that front, the bad news is the other innocent party. The local rag is misreporting everything (and they changed the story from 3-car to 2-car, which is completely wrong, and they have not noted that they edited it, either, which makes me wonder). It absolutely was a 3-vehicle accident, and the person who caused it is apparently unharmed, natch. Driver apparently flying, edging in out in vain hopes of passing, clipped the car ahead of them on returning to the lane and sent it literally flying into Joe's driver's door, whereupon it went airborne, flipped, and rolled. And the condition of the driver of that car, who did nothing wrong, was relayed to me as so bad that I'm not going to describe it here.] But Joe's mostly okay, and his partner is fine, save bruises and major soreness, and Wings and I are counting us all very lucky and very blessed on that score today.
On the other front, we are also feeling very blessed, and very grateful for a bunch of folks. Yesterday, we made a major sale (thank you, L!), got a final payment (thank you, T!), got a donation (thank you, E!) and got some additional help that kind of leaves me speechless (thank you, S!), and so when everything clears on Monday and Tuesday, I can pay all $2K-plus in bills, get them all in on time, and pick up his $600+ scrip at the pharmacy. I literally wept with relief and exhaustion last night. I'm so grateful; I have no words. We both are.
The bad news involves the dental nonsense. I say nonsense because cost and timeframe are both ludicrous, but that's health care in this godforsaken country, where lack of proper dentition regularly kills people, and yet dental care is treated as a luxury rather than as the basic, fundamental, preventive health care that it is. And also because I was wrong about the cost. They had told him, and hand-written on the front page of the quote, the nearly $33K I noted yesterday. Last night, I had a chance to LOOK at all the paperwork. And I found that that did not include certain other charges, sales tax, etc. The final FINAL cost? That up there in the photo. YUP.
THIRTY FOUR THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIX DOLLARS.
Far closer to $35K than to 32. If you factor in the $434 from Thursday, it actually IS $35K. [And professional folks: DON'T DO THIS. Don't tell patients something will be $32K when you're only referring to X% of the actual total and it will actually be $35K; give them the whole amount so they don't get this kind of rude shock. I mean, that was undoable enough already, but to find out that it's WORSE?]
There's no way. And yet, they apparently just thought we could bring in a check next Thursday (not Tuesday, Thursday I misunderstood), for the full amount.
Who does that?
Welp, apparently enough wealthy colonizers in this town who do. That's not us, though. So we're going to talk to the dentist on Monday or Tuesday, whenever we can get hold of her, and talk to her about doing this in stages instead of all in one day. Whatever the least expensive first step is, maybe we can have that done Thursday, even if it's just working on his existing teeth with fillings and whatever. Then, with whatever I can sock into his [in my head] dental savings account from my monthly Patreon, maybe do the next step a few months from now, whether that's something like setting the posts for the eventual implants, or some of the bridge work, of whatever. If they won't let us do it that way, then we're screwed, because he has GOT to get this fixed. But I'm going to try. At least now, knowing the other urgent stuff is covered, I can get my head in the proper space to address this (and argue about it, if need be).
In the meantime, of course, we still need to make sales to get his dental fund covered. Folks can help in several ways (sales are always preferred):
Please share everything. Thanks. And thank you, again, to everyone who dragged me out of this black hole last night. I'm still slow from all the physical pain, and since we spent the morning on Joe, I'm more behind now than usual and I need get to work.
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
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