Day of the Debacle

[trickykitty]

Doctor's appointment: Confirmed the nerve issue is most likely part of the C6 and/or C7 dermatome (read: nerve cluster). Also confirmed that I hate my doctors, because palpations are apparently the best way for them to diagnose anything I have going wrong with my body which always hurt like crazy. She then felt the arm muscle and was able to feel the spasms that were still ongoing there.

Prescription: Instead of ice on the neck and shoulder blade, I have to ice the top of the shoulder and the upper arm muscle. An anti-inflamatory once a day and a muscle relaxer 4 times a day that won't interfere in the planned surgery tomorrow.



Parents: I stopped by to chit chat and confirm what little I knew of the surgery with Mom while giving the pharmacy time to fill the prescriptions.

Pharmacy: They have been busy and hadn't checked the incoming prescriptions in a short minute. 30-45 minutes before mine would be ready because of how backed up they were. I blame the flu that's going around. Grab some veggies and a frappuccino to nom on while waiting, and a copy of The Joker as an impulse buy. I'd normally get a used copy from Half Price Books, but that movie deserves a full-price purchase. I enjoy supporting the industry when it's worth it.

Checkout: Get a call from the surgeon's office while paying for my items telling me that they still have not received the PCP's referral for the surgery. Strange, because I recalled seeing an email confirming the referral was processed.

Break Time: Spend the next 45 minutes on the phone with my insurance and the PCP's office while they relay info to their 3rd party referral person to get the referral expedited. When the referral was initially called in at the tail end of December, the referral chick said that my insurance wouldn't process a referral for 2020 until it actually was 2020. Stupid and ridiculous, but that's their rules. It became a she said/she said clusterfuck, as she says she told me I'd have to call back in the referral again in 2020, and I say she never told me that and assumed she would hold on to the referral request FOR A SURGERY SCHEDULED IN JANUARY until it was January, and then she would process it. NOPE. She went ahead and processed the referral request that was made and took it off of her to-do list thus putting the onus on me (which she never actually did) to get things moving forward again come 2020. So the email I received was for a referral that was good for 5 office visits to the surgeon between the dates of Dec 30 and Dec 31, 2019. I have no freaking clue what the woman was thinking, when I had already told her after she asked that this referral was for surgery scheduled in early January. I can't decide if she was malicious or just incompetent, but either way it annoyed the shit out of me. All of this was while I was on the phone with my PCP office while they were Skyping back and fourth with the referral chick to try and get an immediate, expedited referral.

[takes a breath]

The info I needed to get to the surgeon's office was the authorization number, the effective dates, and the number of visits it allowed. Her response in Skype to the PCP's office was, "I've update her chart and I'm faxing the info to you, so you can give it to her." Again, this chick assumed I was there in the office with them, but no, I was at the pharmacy NOT enjoying the veggies I just purchased, but instead wincing in pain due to the nerve issue and trying not to scream. The PCP's person asked about getting the info, but the referral chick never responded afterwards. I guess she figured her side of it was done, goodbye. I updated the surgeon's office, picked up my prescriptions, and headed in to work.

Confirmation: At work, I ate and took pills and talked to my coworker about how the morning was going. I logged into my insurance and did not see a new referral listed, nor did I see any email confirming the processed referral. After lunch time, I called PCP office, got the referral chick's direct phone number and gave her a call. I finally got the info for the referral and called the surgeon's office, only for the line to disconnect immediately without ringing. I called from both my cell phone and the office phone. I emailed them the info, hoping they would see it soon.

Then, while resting my shoulder for a moment, I fell asleep in my chair. Co-worker came back to ask me a question and implored me to go home, given how stressed, tired, and still in pain I was. I worked on something and then decided to give in and head home. Called the surgeon's office while driving and was able to get through and confirm she received the referral info. Now she had to call my insurance company and get the pre-authorization for the actual procedure.

Home: Meds were finally kicking in well enough I was able to sort my laundry and get a load started. I had been waiting all weekend while the roommates, all of whom had run fevers this week due to some illness that fortunately bypassed me, worked on laundering all of their tainted clothing and linens. Yeah, they got first dibs. Got the ice pack onto the shoulder and arm and sat down to watch a Netflix show on my computer.

4:45: Called surgeon's office to confirm that the paperwork for the pre-autho had been sent in, we were now waiting on the insurance company to process it, which may take up to a week.

So, long story short, I'm feeling a little better with meds for my nerve pinching issue and surgery has been postponed until I hear back from the surgeon's office. It's really good that this isn't an emergency surgery. At least now I won't have to figure out how in the hell I'm supposed to sleep with painful issues regarding both arms.

Hopefully the nerve issue will clear up in time for the surgery. That would be nice of it.