vacation, medical stuff, etc.
Jun. 16th, 2014 02:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llcoolvadHad a good vacation. Perfect weather Sun-Tue in Provincetown, where we ate good food, relaxed on the deck, wandered around downtown and looked at art, and visited the Whydah Pirate Museum (which, frankly, was uninspiring). Still, beautiful weather and fun times.
Saw Sean Flood's work at a gallery, couldn't resist sneaking some shots to remind myself how awesome he is. I guess he's hanging at the Decordova, so maybe that will have to be a new trip.
Later Tuesday, a little sunburned and after oversleeping, I left my gracious hosts and headed into Sandwich for the Heritage Museums and Gardens, which was spacious, had an antique car museum, an art museum (sadly not open due to renovations) and a large garden to wander through (but because of the late season this year, not much in bloom other than rhododendrons). Eventually left for Hyannis for dinner and a wander around the Cape Cod Mall and then my hotel. Wed in Hyannis at the Kennedy Hyannis Museum and the Cape Cod League Hall of Fame, then off back to Sandwich for the Sandwich Glass Museum, which was much cooler than its website would make it appear. Got home around 6pm, so not too bad.
The following weekend Jenn and I decided to hit Lake Winnipesaukee. It was charming in a "oh, right, old New England lake town" kind of way. Skee-ball, pinball, fried dough, ice cream, sticking our feet in the lake, sitting in the sun day. Nice.
Work has been oddly insane. Our new boss is trying to make a lot of big changes but doesn't seem to want to commit to a plan to make those changes. We're rebranding all of our things — websites, product logos, company logo, collateral like presentations and brochures, and email footers, letterhead, business cards. Everything. And it's all due Oct 8. Which, you know, is only a few months away. So everyone is freaking out.
Had my surgical consult. It turns out that the goiter is leftover from the original surgery. My surgeon looked at the scan from now vs. the scan from then, and opined that when he hauled out the original massive goiter, the other part stayed behind. He was going to suggest leaving it there. I left his office with that suggestion. But then he pulled the pathology from last time and since there was a micro-carcinoma and the remaining mass had gotten a little bigger than before, he thinks now it should come out. He called a couple of hours after I left him and said that he'd talked about it with some other surgeons and they all concurred. So back under the knife July 21, but I apparently get to keep the rest of my thyroid, so not stuck on meds for life anyway!
The bad news is that I have to have a partial sternotomy for them to get in there. Which means a second surgeon, another consult, and of course a new and more ugly scar. (UGH, just did an image search on partial sternotomy scar. Christ, why do I do this to myself?) Because they're opening my chest, I have to stay overnight in the hospital until they see fit to discharge me. My surgeon claims the recovery is about the same, and that I should be off work about a week. I guess I'll find out!
So far this year I've seen/had done:
And there will be (at minimum):
I've created a spreadsheet for all of my medical bills that I've received so far, and it's cray-cray! I only pay $57.70 per month for my health insurance, but so far I've paid an additional $750 out of my deductible (it's $1,750, but my company pays the first $1k), and then something like $1200 (which is my 20%) towards my out of pocket max of $4k. I assume I'll hit the max before the end of the summer, oh boy. I guess so far, however, I've only paid about $257/mo. When I hit the max, add up the monthly amounts, and add the deductible, I'll be paying $5,440 per year for health insurance, which works out to $453.33 per month. That blows, but it's better than many people, I guess — at least that's the most I'll have to pay.
My insurance at my previous job cost me $31.25 per week. I had copays, but that was it. So if I added in about 10 copays per year, let's go with the highest amount possible ($40 specialist) then that would be $400. That would get me to about $2000/year max. Which means I am paying significantly more than double in insurance than I paid before.
Once I reach my out of pocket maximum everything is paid 100% by my insurance. Let's bring on the specialty tests! I'll get another sleep study. I'll see a dermatologist. I'll see an allergist. Because why the hell not? Fuck them, right?
So that's my life. Work, health, thinking about money. I want more vacation time. I have planted some pretty flowers into a couple of planters on my porch. Took some pictures of the gorgeous hydrangeas out front of our house. I play with the cat. I'm binging on movies right now.
As always, more pictures at Flickr.
Saw Sean Flood's work at a gallery, couldn't resist sneaking some shots to remind myself how awesome he is. I guess he's hanging at the Decordova, so maybe that will have to be a new trip.
Later Tuesday, a little sunburned and after oversleeping, I left my gracious hosts and headed into Sandwich for the Heritage Museums and Gardens, which was spacious, had an antique car museum, an art museum (sadly not open due to renovations) and a large garden to wander through (but because of the late season this year, not much in bloom other than rhododendrons). Eventually left for Hyannis for dinner and a wander around the Cape Cod Mall and then my hotel. Wed in Hyannis at the Kennedy Hyannis Museum and the Cape Cod League Hall of Fame, then off back to Sandwich for the Sandwich Glass Museum, which was much cooler than its website would make it appear. Got home around 6pm, so not too bad.
The following weekend Jenn and I decided to hit Lake Winnipesaukee. It was charming in a "oh, right, old New England lake town" kind of way. Skee-ball, pinball, fried dough, ice cream, sticking our feet in the lake, sitting in the sun day. Nice.
Work has been oddly insane. Our new boss is trying to make a lot of big changes but doesn't seem to want to commit to a plan to make those changes. We're rebranding all of our things — websites, product logos, company logo, collateral like presentations and brochures, and email footers, letterhead, business cards. Everything. And it's all due Oct 8. Which, you know, is only a few months away. So everyone is freaking out.
Had my surgical consult. It turns out that the goiter is leftover from the original surgery. My surgeon looked at the scan from now vs. the scan from then, and opined that when he hauled out the original massive goiter, the other part stayed behind. He was going to suggest leaving it there. I left his office with that suggestion. But then he pulled the pathology from last time and since there was a micro-carcinoma and the remaining mass had gotten a little bigger than before, he thinks now it should come out. He called a couple of hours after I left him and said that he'd talked about it with some other surgeons and they all concurred. So back under the knife July 21, but I apparently get to keep the rest of my thyroid, so not stuck on meds for life anyway!
The bad news is that I have to have a partial sternotomy for them to get in there. Which means a second surgeon, another consult, and of course a new and more ugly scar. (UGH, just did an image search on partial sternotomy scar. Christ, why do I do this to myself?) Because they're opening my chest, I have to stay overnight in the hospital until they see fit to discharge me. My surgeon claims the recovery is about the same, and that I should be off work about a week. I guess I'll find out!
So far this year I've seen/had done:
- My PCP back in Feb for a "I just feel crappy" visit
- An endoscopy for my Barrett's (which, btw, seems to have healed itself!)
- Urgent care for my neverending cough
- Xray
- ER visit as immediate follow-up to urgent care visit
- Bloodwork
- Fluids
- CAT scan at ER
- PCP again for follow-up to Urgent Care and ER
- Ultrasound
- Surgical consult (not billed yet)
- Three PT visits (not billed yet, can get up to 20 per year, so there will be 17 more) for my back
And there will be (at minimum):
- Another surgical consult with the thoracic guy
- Bloodwork
- Pre-op workup
- Bloodwork
- Surgery
- Overnight hospital stay
- Post-op follow-up
- Bloodwork
I've created a spreadsheet for all of my medical bills that I've received so far, and it's cray-cray! I only pay $57.70 per month for my health insurance, but so far I've paid an additional $750 out of my deductible (it's $1,750, but my company pays the first $1k), and then something like $1200 (which is my 20%) towards my out of pocket max of $4k. I assume I'll hit the max before the end of the summer, oh boy. I guess so far, however, I've only paid about $257/mo. When I hit the max, add up the monthly amounts, and add the deductible, I'll be paying $5,440 per year for health insurance, which works out to $453.33 per month. That blows, but it's better than many people, I guess — at least that's the most I'll have to pay.
My insurance at my previous job cost me $31.25 per week. I had copays, but that was it. So if I added in about 10 copays per year, let's go with the highest amount possible ($40 specialist) then that would be $400. That would get me to about $2000/year max. Which means I am paying significantly more than double in insurance than I paid before.
Once I reach my out of pocket maximum everything is paid 100% by my insurance. Let's bring on the specialty tests! I'll get another sleep study. I'll see a dermatologist. I'll see an allergist. Because why the hell not? Fuck them, right?
So that's my life. Work, health, thinking about money. I want more vacation time. I have planted some pretty flowers into a couple of planters on my porch. Took some pictures of the gorgeous hydrangeas out front of our house. I play with the cat. I'm binging on movies right now.
As always, more pictures at Flickr.
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Date: 2014-06-16 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-16 10:08 pm (UTC)