And HEY! With no replies to emails or calls for a week, suddenly my balance went from $1300+ to $100… so I quick paid that. Then I looked in vain for any kind of note or explanation (or… an apology might be nice). Oh, well, I’m relieved!
I know! I’ll eat the leftover ice cream I still have from Prep Day…
Are you on food stamps or some other assistance? You can PM me if you don’t want to post it on the board.
Woohoo!
A couple of you asked about the fact that I can sometimes run out of money for food. I guess it must’ve seemed alarming that I just casually mentioned that, and that it’s just a usual part of my reality.
I’ll explain more about this, and my whole situation, here. I’m aware that there are some who may judge me for some or all of this. I no longer care about that, as I now know that my difficulties don’t make me a bad or unworthy person in general.
I am on some government assistance (we don’t have food stamps in Canada, and this assistance is just for general living/expenses.) Just so I can dispel some myths about it, no, it’s not a whole lot of money, and no, people on this assistance are not usually lazy or freeloaders, or “just unwilling to work,” and I doubt that any of them have condos in Florida.
As soon as I get the money each month, over half of it goes to paying rent. I am very grateful and lucky that my apartment is very inexpensive even for a city that itself often has inexpensive rent compared to similar-sized cities, but it’s just a fact that a lot of this money goes to paying rent. (I’m in a regular apartment, not subsidized or social housing or any other type of purposely low-rent housing. And the social assistance program has housing subsidies, but only for seniors and parents.)
After rent is done, I can spend quite a bit on groceries, and my darn phone. I use my credit card for these (for grocery delivery, using my regular bank card for shopping in-store) and paying back the credit card can be another drain on the bank account. (I recently swore off grocery delivery because they were way too unreliable.)
I also have a limited diet due to both gluten-intolerance and the food-aversions characteristic of autism. (Food intolerances are not quite the same as mere “picky eating,” but often get mistaken for that.) A lot of gluten-free food is not inexpensive. And I do not go around indulging myself by buying expensive luxury foods or anything.
Adding to the difficulty of feeding myself, I’m not good at cooking and don’t have a full-size oven/stove combo as I can’t afford that and my apartment was completely unfurnished when I moved in. A complication is that a lot of gluten-free food requires some sort of preparation.
I don’t have a huge amount of extra expenses. I don’t have a car or other big expenses. So it’s not like I go around regularly wasting large amounts of what money I have.
As for why I’m not working a regular steady job, I have problems with sleeping, tiredness, depression, and the usual exhaustion of being an autistic person trying to survive in an extremely overwhelming and overstimulating world. I am working as much as I can on music and crafts, and hope to do more of that these days.
I sell sheet music and crafts, which is a bit of extra money (I’m allowed to earn a little bit of extra money, but they start cutting you off once there’s “too much money” in your bank account.) I would like to do more of this in the future. I guess if you guys would like to help me out, maybe buy some crafts or sheet music?
Thank you so much for your concern and your offers to help!
Sorry if I sounded like I was complaining in the previous post. I was just explaining things. I hope this doesn’t paint me in a bad light.
Please don’t worry. I can very much relate to your situation, I’m in a similar position in Germany at the moment, existing on a small pension with additional welfare from the state, living in an apartment that’s too big and too expensive for my situation, but in which I’ve been living happily and peacefully for 13 years. I also have medical issues that brought me into this situation, and there’s not much hope that my situation will improve until I kick the bucket. Very fortunately, I don’t have to worry about my health insurance, that much is covered here.
So don’t feel bad, other people know these kinds of troubles, and that’s no reason to be ashamed. Heck, it’s not my fault that I became too fucking sick to work.
Thank you.
Healthcare in Canada is pretty good, and I’m grateful for that. Everything else is expensive (and even some health-related things are not free, either.)
OUCH!!
I’m a frequent flier and I know damn well what these should cost once insurance does their thing. Rack rate tends to be about 1,400 bucks, and insurance knocks that down to about 400. And a similar amount for the anesthesia.
So when a friend’s daughter needed one - at about age 20 - she went to an in-network doctor… only the anesthesiologist was NOT in-network. So my friends got a bill for about 4,000 dollars for the anesthetist.
Yes, about TRIPLE the rack rate, and 10 times what I was used to paying in-network.
In their case, luckily the anesthesiologist’s office wound up writing off about 90% of the bill.
At least EmilyG didn’t have THAT kind of crap to put up with.
On the assistance (back to Emily): I guess it makes sense that they don’t want to offer help to those with “too much” though in some ways that can really backfire - and make it impossible to handle emergencies, or try to better yourself (or as in your case, move to a more reasonable apartment without an insane landlord). I hope that at least your benefits would be phased out, rather than all-or-nothing like “You saved up 10 bucks too much. There goes your 500 a month in assistance!”
Food stamps and the like, in the US, are generally means-tested - which indicates that you can only have, say, 2,000 dollars in any kind of account. Making that number up, buy the actual figure isn’t that different.
And in most places, if you, say, own a car, the value of the CAR is included.
So, you literally CANNOT save up enough money to buy a reliable vehicle, or to handle emergency repairs for the piece-of-crap car you DID buy - and without reliable transportation, how are you supposed to get to a job…Moving to a place with better public transportation usually means a steep jump in housing costs, too.
Back to the original topic: I see my gastro tomorrow and will likely schedule my next “look-see” at that point. This will be the first one I’ve had since a) we went to a high-deductible plan, that b) had not already been met for the year. That bill should be fun…
Yeah, I retired and changed insurance provider. I was used to checking with the insurance office to make sure a procedure was covered before undergoing it.
After the experience of being charged a bunch (twice!), now I know to call and ask if it’s covered…AND how much it’ll cost me.
I asked about the cortisone shots I’ve been getting (for a torn rotator cuff), and found out my next one will cost over 600!
Who is going to be lying there in pre-op questioning the anesthesiologist, “Are you in network for my insurance?” That’s if you even meet the anesthesiologist, which you might not.
Yep! And you just ASSUME that if your doctor, and the facility, are in-network, so is the anesthesiologist (and other -ologists involved).
I remember back when my daughter was a newborn, I was on a parent-of-preemies list for a bit. One parent was nearly hysterical because the hospital her newborn was in - and this was not an optional admission, the baby was in the NICU - was in-network, but NONE OF THE NEONATOLOGISTS were. Not like you can take a 3 pound preemie, incubator and all, down the street to the next hospital. I have no clue how that worked out.
On another note; I will shortly be following in EmilyG’s footsteps - if, er, not too closely lest there be lingering, um, effects. Got my next one scheduled for early April.
At 8 in the morning. I could have held out for a later date with a later appointment time, but it’s not like I dare sleep all that soundly the night before. So at 2 AM or so, you all know what I’ll be doing!
And with a 7:15 arrival time, we wouldn’t run into rush hour traffic even if it existed anymore.
Now to try to find some more scope-related jokes. , as I’ve plumb run out. I suppose I could start loudly singing “Let, the Sun Shine In” but that’d be really, really cruel (maybe I can put it on my phone and smuggle it in on the gurney).
I see what you did there.
Going in on Monday. Since Monday I stopped eating seeds, nuts and skins. Today’s the last day I’m allowed any fruit or vegetables. As of tomorrow I’m on the white diet, but cola’s still allowed, plus Gatorade, as long as it’s not red.
So tonight I have to finish off the red wine. Woe is me.
Make sure they sedate you enough. I had a colonoscopy three years ago and I was knocked out just enough to be unable to move, yet still conscious enough to feel the tube poking and prodding around in my colon, which was a sharply painful experience.
Chances are, your fellow NICU-parent was referred to the hospital social workers and/or case managers, and they got something ironed out. I know of cases where a patient was charged in-network fees when there was no alternative in-network physician or facility available.
Og, I’m so glad I live in the UK!
Everyone is different. In my case, the only discomfort came when they pumped air in to inflate the pipes. All I needed was NO2 but I realise that others might find it painful, especially if the doctor is less skilled.
:::hic::: Hope it was good. Hey, wine is a clear liquid, and since it’s not DYED red, I think it’s probably fine.
It’s very counterintuitive that you have to go on a low-fiber diet beforehand. Supposedly that reduces the risk of stuff getting left behind even after The Purge - though personally I think it’s kind of like if you stuck a toy shovel in the sand in the beach, and a tsunami came along. That shovel ain’t gonna be there in 10 minutes. Nonetheless, you may find adding Miralax, or some soluble fiber supplement, to be of help in the next 48 hours.
TMI alert:
I have, in recent years, developed “bile acid diarrhea”, which means food tends to be rented vs purchased. I’m on medication which is very helpful… but i have to stop THAT 3 days beforehand. That… is not gonna be pretty. I suspect I will not need the Miralax. I may have to invest in some Depends. 
I can only hope that it means the actual prep portion is faster…
And now that Emily’s thread has been thoroughly hjiacked: Emily, how are you doing, several days out:? Did they give you any results?
I think you were being facetious, but in case anyone questions this, don’t drink red wine the day before your colonoscopy. Your colon doesn’t care that the red is a natural color from grapes versus an artificial dye.
Die_Capacitrix, you’re still fine to drink it tonight 3+ days before the procedure, and are in fact quite wise to make sure good wine doesn’t go to waste.
