Healthcare Rant

You never know how crazy our healthcare system is until you have to actually use it. So, as you know I spent the first 2 weeks on 2010 sick and in need of care. I am rarely sick and have been hospitalized 3 times in my 44 years. So, I rarely use the benefits that I and my employer pay for. This goround, I did have a need for wound care, which means I needed a home health nurse to come out to my place and clean my two wounds and change the dressings. Without getting too graphic, the wounds were left open (i.E., no stitches) so that they could heal from the inside out. So, proper wound care was super important, otherwise, I coud get re-infected. Initially, they did not give me a home health nurse at all and simply expected my husband and me to work it out for ourselves. SO I went to the doctor everyday the first week so that he could change my dressings. Then, they finally authorized a home health nurse who came a total of 3 times. But here is the kicker, they sent the nurse, without supplies! We were expected to have our own supplies. The hospital gave some, but the wounds can take up to a month to heal and as I write this, one of them still requires daily care. So, needless to say the supplies we had started running out. How can an insurer justify covering the nurse's visit but no supplies? Its really crazy to me. I tried to buy the needed supplies from the local pharmacy, but of course they had none of the items I needed. Lucky for me I work in healthcare and have friends in high enough places......

You would think that in a country as advanced as ours, one could get what you need when you need it, without a lot of trouble......

Looking on the bright side, my husband learned to care for my wounds from the home health nurse and has taken excellent care of me for the past several weeks. : )

Post It Note Tuesday 1-19-10

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Mothering Moments

Motherhood came to me later in life, as you know. However, I have been sure of only one thing in my life and that is that I wanted to be and was meant to be a mother. Sure, I thought it would happen differently and I thought it would happen much sooner than it did. But it turns out, it happened just the way it was supposed to and at just the right time in my life. It took me a while to find the right guy to marry, but boy was he worth the wait! And that wait has made me a much more grateful wife and a better one. I think the wait for motherhood has had the same result. I enjoy my son to the nth degree! I am so grateful for him and so is my husband. Even at 3 AM (yes, he still wakes up hungry at times, even at 9 months old!) He means the world to the both of us and we still marvel at the fact that we are finally parents. Our little guy has added a whole new demention to our lives and I will forever be grateful for him.



Uh oh, I think somebody is awake......better sign off now!

A funny thing Happened on the Way to 2010......

So, from previous posts you can tell that my family and I had a wonderful Christmas season. We enjoyed time together and with friends and created some great new traditions and memories. We even planned to spend New Years with great friends in San Diego. New Year's eve started out fine. We jumped in the car and headed down to SD to spend two days with some of our best friends. Unbeknownst to me, an vicious staph infection had already invaded my body in two places and by New Years Day, I was absolutely miserable. I had no idea what was causing me to feel so bad but soon it became very clear that I had some sort of infection. I had chills and just felt like a truck hit me. I was, needless to say, no fun. I was trying to hold out and see the doc the following Monday, however, by Sunday, I was in tears and on my way to the ER. The triage nurse took my vitals and my heart rate was up and my temp was 102. No wonder I was feeling so miserable. They took care of my right away and I felt better almost immediately. I was then admitted to the hospital for 2 days of IV antibiotics. Turns out, I managed to get the worst staph infections you can get, which is resistant to antibiotics.So after I left the hospital, I had to take not one, but two antibiotics. I had to see the doc daily and eventually a home health nurse started visiting me at home to take care of me.

Once I started to feel better from that, my son caught a cold and of course, I got that too. I am batting a thousand so far in 2010! We are now both getting over our colds and I am healing well from the infection. I am looking forward to things getting back to normal around here and hoping that my hubby does not catch our germs. He has been fantastic taking care of me and the baby boy during this time. So, our new year has been postponed and won't be starting until February 1st!

Though I was tempted to think that this challenging start to the new year somehow marred the whole year, I am not giving in to that. This is going to be another great year for our family and it will be full of happiness, growth,change and good health! So, I am looking forward to this year and all that it will bring.

That's whats happening here, whats happening in your neck of the woods?

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