Once upon a day...
I woke up and ran to Safeway for some coffee because we were out. Out of freaking coffee! Day two of tea was not really gonna be an option, after all I am a United State-ian. My favorite roast from peerless is French roast, so at this point I just need some Effin caffeine!
I digress.
So today was the BIG day. The day where we visit the brand-spanking new Ophthalmologist for EmBea's 4th follow up for her anisometropic amblyopia. Today was apparently a time to delve into the chaos of an over booked Eye Doctor's office.
We signed in, paid our co-pay, checked in with the Optometric technician, had Em's glasses assessed for the script and were assigned to room 3. Our lovely Ophthalmologist was very thorough. She determined that Em's old Rx was obsolete and also that she had developed astigmatism. Many eye drops were administered to dilate EmBea's eyes. She cried, she screamed and I held her eyelids open, Ala clockwork orange. This truly and completely sucked and felt cruel beyond all reason...
Cut to being told that our insurance did not cover refraction. (refraction=the final step of looking at the eyes after dilation -aka all of those effin drops) and that we could skip out or pay an additional $65. I am not a tortuous mommy, I paid up. Then the "primary" O.D. comes in. She then says OH..oh we need to refer you to a Pediatric Ophthalmologist. WTH, seriously what the fricken heck..That is where I thought we were.
Lesson learned. When entering a new state of residence with an amblyopic child ask, ASK..are you a Pediatric Ophthalmologist. Do NOT ask; do you treat children with Amblyopia? If they can, they will say yes and you will find yourself being charged above and beyond your budgeted co-pay.
So am I down, am I upset, am I pissed the eff off? NO. I was a earlier today when I barraged my DH with frantic texts. Now, I am not. It was the honest mistake of a Mama of an Amblyopic child who had thus far had an "easy go". I will never again take for granted the lack of bedside manner of our Doc in Albuquerque.
My advice to any Mama planning a move; double and triple check with your insurance as to what may or may not be covered. Double and triple check with the office that you choose that they cover your child. Pediatric seemed to be the key word in my experience.
Other than that...
I have moved forward. I have a plan, a new Rx for my wee turtle and a fricken positive attitude. We will see the new Pediatric OD soon and EmBea will be wearing her fab new script. We'll rock, Rap and roll with the flow. Until then we are Patching Strong, 4 hours per day and looking to improve even more. Our progress from March 2009 to now..20/200 to 20/60. I have faith and belief that we will succeed and my daughter will beat Amblyopia.
Thanks for allowing me to vent dear internet.
Peace, Love, green Chile and a Taco truck in Oakland.
-out
Showing posts with label moving on. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving on. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Friday, July 10, 2009
a day in the life...
So far, despite the previous posted finger mishap, the week has gone surprisingly well. I even managed to plan five meals out and shop within 10 bucks of my allotted budget, hooray me! So what are we having for this weeks nosh?
Last night was... Pork Chops (pan fried), duchess potatoes and broccoli & cauliflower florets in butter. The duchess potatoes (recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook) turned out delish!
Tonight I am trying a crock pot recipe called 3 beans & Sausage. It has red kidney beans, black beans and great northern beans with smoked sausage. This will be served over wild grain rice with corn cakes.
the rest of the week will play it by ear with these dishes;
I even managed to sqeeze in some crafting with the kids. They each made grandma a fimo picture fram with a pic of themselves. See the completed project below. I think it is starting to sink in that we won't be seeing grandma everyday come September. I really want them to enjoy this time with family because the adventure is just around the corner. If you have any moving tips to lessen the stress on the kiddos feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email.
CB's soccer '09 pic in his handmade fimo frame.
EmBea's soccer '09 pic in her handmade fimo frame.
Last night was... Pork Chops (pan fried), duchess potatoes and broccoli & cauliflower florets in butter. The duchess potatoes (recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook) turned out delish!
Tonight I am trying a crock pot recipe called 3 beans & Sausage. It has red kidney beans, black beans and great northern beans with smoked sausage. This will be served over wild grain rice with corn cakes.
the rest of the week will play it by ear with these dishes;
- Pulled BBQ Chicken sandwiches with pomme frites (ok just french fries).
- Spaghetti Pie, a family fave, but I am substituting whole grain whole wheat noodles. This will be served with garlic toast.
- What week would be complete without Pizza? It is a must in the Novus house. Italian Sausage & Pineapple (the grown ups are throwing on some green chile too).
I even managed to sqeeze in some crafting with the kids. They each made grandma a fimo picture fram with a pic of themselves. See the completed project below. I think it is starting to sink in that we won't be seeing grandma everyday come September. I really want them to enjoy this time with family because the adventure is just around the corner. If you have any moving tips to lessen the stress on the kiddos feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email.
CB's soccer '09 pic in his handmade fimo frame.
EmBea's soccer '09 pic in her handmade fimo frame.Tonight is looking promising. We are going to an art opening reception to see a friends work. Any outing with art and friends is sure to be a winner. We also have friends in town from Sacremento. I can't wait to meet their scrumdidlyumptious daughter! Life seems to be moving right along and quite nicely I must add. For added kicks I have thrown in the picture of my kids dancing crazily to the JoJo's Circus theme song. Yes it's supposed to be blurry they were really rocking it out.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
the one where AS posts her to-do list...
Things to do...
- pack, sort, purge, repeat...
- research schools for the kids.
- get massive amounts of money in my mail, or however; i'm easy like that.
- study maps and other area-centric information.
- pick an official move date.
- get more money, here i am almighty dollar you know where to find me.
- work on article about Chroma Gallery
- connect with the peeps before we blow this popstand.
- get an accountant to sort out all the money.
- make more lists about what i need to do.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
in my skin.
The stress levels have been high this week. I am too broke to go to Wild Oats or the Co-Op so I hit the Wal-Mart for some Hyland's Nerve Tonic. Don't judge, Wal-Mart just fits my budget, and I really do need to feed my kids. The Jenny-O ground turkey is a buck fifty eight a pound. You cannot go wrong, anyhoo...
Work has had me up to my eyeballs in the whole mess of trying to figure things out, solve problems, and remain in control. The truth "I am the Master of my own Universe". I can remain calm approach the issue and decide how I am going to handle it, whether that be asking for help or freaking out. So I move forward and choose to forgo the freaking out part.
Since we are speaking so candidly internet, I am feeling selfish. I am at the height of the busiest week I am bound to have this year, as far as work is concerned and my brother is on his death bed. I am so selfish that I thought, please just hold on through this week. I take it back.
I saw my brother tonight, it has been a week or two and he looked so different. His face scrunched in pain just trying to swallow. His flesh seemed molded to his bones like a badly mis-stretched canvas showing every imperfection, every malformation. He is dying. He truly is.
It is a very challenging life growing up with a mentally and physically handicapped brother. Cerebral Palsy doesn't begin to capture the extent of what cards he has actually been dealt. It is the closest diagnosis that the Doctors' could come up with I think. I perused through pictures with my mom, and I saw the difference. The disability has always been there, but so had the health and happiness. That is just gone now.
Some of my family member's don't want to hear it and I can understand that. It is much easier to pretend that death does not exist, that it is not knocking on each and everyone of our doors. BUT, the big but, there it is. It is. We each have to handle these things in our own way and our own time. I think the important thing for to remember is that even though you may not be ready to delve into the emotion of letting someone go, that it is not fair to forbid someone else their process.
Emotions are strong things that should not be bottled up inside to spew forth when you are least ready to handle them. For some I do understand that this is the only way. Others, however need to examine and dissect their emotions, otherwise they may sit and rot and eat away at your very core. I am the type that lays it out come what may. Deal with it head on avoid the surprise later. I know that I will find unexpected (or rather expected) grief at my brother's passing, but I will not hold it in now just so that you can feel comfortable. Don't forget dear loved one that you are loved, but in the end we must each live in our own skin.
Work has had me up to my eyeballs in the whole mess of trying to figure things out, solve problems, and remain in control. The truth "I am the Master of my own Universe". I can remain calm approach the issue and decide how I am going to handle it, whether that be asking for help or freaking out. So I move forward and choose to forgo the freaking out part.
Since we are speaking so candidly internet, I am feeling selfish. I am at the height of the busiest week I am bound to have this year, as far as work is concerned and my brother is on his death bed. I am so selfish that I thought, please just hold on through this week. I take it back.
I saw my brother tonight, it has been a week or two and he looked so different. His face scrunched in pain just trying to swallow. His flesh seemed molded to his bones like a badly mis-stretched canvas showing every imperfection, every malformation. He is dying. He truly is.
It is a very challenging life growing up with a mentally and physically handicapped brother. Cerebral Palsy doesn't begin to capture the extent of what cards he has actually been dealt. It is the closest diagnosis that the Doctors' could come up with I think. I perused through pictures with my mom, and I saw the difference. The disability has always been there, but so had the health and happiness. That is just gone now.
Some of my family member's don't want to hear it and I can understand that. It is much easier to pretend that death does not exist, that it is not knocking on each and everyone of our doors. BUT, the big but, there it is. It is. We each have to handle these things in our own way and our own time. I think the important thing for to remember is that even though you may not be ready to delve into the emotion of letting someone go, that it is not fair to forbid someone else their process.
Emotions are strong things that should not be bottled up inside to spew forth when you are least ready to handle them. For some I do understand that this is the only way. Others, however need to examine and dissect their emotions, otherwise they may sit and rot and eat away at your very core. I am the type that lays it out come what may. Deal with it head on avoid the surprise later. I know that I will find unexpected (or rather expected) grief at my brother's passing, but I will not hold it in now just so that you can feel comfortable. Don't forget dear loved one that you are loved, but in the end we must each live in our own skin.
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