Ramblings

Well bronchitis has swept through the house like a plague. 2 teen boys & 1 mom felled. Guess who still has to wait on the teen boys?

I did see a new psychiatrist on Tuesday & he confirmed my diagnoses of bipolar type 2, along with social anxiety disorder. He's weaning me off of some meds & replacing them with new ones. We'll see how it goes, it could take months to find the right combination to suit my brain chemistry, but I'm optimistic to be taking a step forward.

After just finishing the last class for my Associate degree in Allied Health Technology, today I start the first class for my Bachelor of Health Servies Administration. I thought I had a little break, but oh well.

The class I'm starting now is the Psychology of Death & Dying. I'm sure it will be interesting, but I have to say this instructor is requiring A LOT of work. One of the many things I have to do this week is write a letter (500 words minimum) that I would like have read at my funeral! Fun times. It's an online class, so it's a minimum of 5 days a week participation.

Oh & the boys have next week off for spring break, so even if they are better, they will need to be fed, entertained, picked up after, etc. *sigh*

I anticipate being able to have a restful, relaxing day in about 4-6 weeks.

No Wonder People Can't Afford Medical Care

I recently "broke up" with my long term Dr. She just was too conservative and was not handling my medical problems.

I called & let them know that I need to have my medical records copied & sent to my new Dr. I was informed that it would be $83.00. When I expressed my surprise at that number the receptionist quoted a Michigan statute that said this was legal. I replied by telling her that just because it was legal, doesn't mean it's ethical.

It's $25.00 for the first so many pages then 58 center per page after that! When I complained that this better be copied onto gold paper, she said that I was really paying for her time. That's when I pointed out that most copy machines run about 100 copies per minute.

The next excuse was that it's not her time copying it, it's her time to take a medical record apart & put it back together properly, so that's what I'm really paying for. I told her that we were in luck! I'm a medical coder & have worked in a hospital. I have experience. I would be glad to come into their office, take apart my record, copy it & then re-assemble it properly. I'd even bring my own paper. Surely we could work out a deal where I just pay for the copier toner...

No go. In our now familiar thrust & parry routine she told me it would be a HIPPA violation. Au contraire mon frere, no HIPPA violation at all since I'd only be dealing with my medical record.

Wearily she said that it's just not something they could do. I replied with, yes of course, they could do it, they just choose not to.

Obviously I paid the ransom for my medical records. I think what really irked me about the whole thing is how she kept coming up with excuses. It would have been much more palatable is she just would have said, yeah, I know it's a lot, but that's what the Dr. charges.