Friday, June 29, 2012

My Two Cents on Healthcare

When I thought about writing this post this morning I wasn't thinking about the Supreme Court decision today.  I had planned it in reaction to a co-worker who made yet another snide comment about people on medicaid.  Frankly I am sick of it and similar attitudes expressed by people (both those I do and don't know).  Perhaps this will turn into more than one post, but I want to throw in my two cents about some recent issues.

I want to start by stating that I work in the healthcare industry.  I realize that there are people who abuse the system, but the system is there for a reason.  There are plenty of people who legitimately need these type of social services.  I'm tired of listening to ignorant and judgmental people who look down on people who may need these at some point or another.  I am talking about things like medicaid, "food stamps", and unemployment benefits.  Also now that I have my own children my perspective has changed somewhat.  I know that if something happened to my children I would try to move heaven and earth to help them if I had to.   

And just to make a quick point, Medicare (you know insurance for those age 65 and older) is a social service.  It is a government funded program.  I definitely don't see the same type of stigma on the elderly.  Probably because most everyone will grow old one day.  To play the devil's advocate I could say that if you planned and were financially smart during your working years that you wouldn't need the medicare program or social security.  But I digress.

The thing that got me so upset today was one of my coworker's remarks on medicaid patients.  This patient in particular was picking up a very expensive medication to help treat their child's disease.  To which my coworker says in a negative tone "our tax dollars at work".  And you know what, good, this is one of the reasons we pay taxes.  I do not and will not pass judgment on those who need assistance.  To give you some background (well as much as I legally can) this medication was for a child.  A child who has a horrible disease, who may only live to the age of 30 if they are very lucky.  I do not begrudge this child's parents for seeking assistance to help pay for the shockingly expensive medication.  These types of medication will add years on to their life and also make their life a little more comfortable.  And I think I can say pretty confidently that this family would trade just about anything to have a healthy child who would live a long normal life; who wouldn't require financial assistance to help pay for their medical treatments than to be in their current situation.

Medicaid covers many low income families, but it also covers people in other ways.  In my state medicaid also has what is called a spend down account.  Essentially medicaid says we recognize that you need help for your specific situation.  Although you may not qualify for the "traditional" form of medicaid we will help you.  Medicaid says we believe you can afford to spend X amount of money each month on your healthcare needs, but once you hit X, we will cover all further expenses you incur this month.

Another thing they do that not everyone realizes is that they will cover people like the child I talked about who have horrible medical conditions I would not wish on anyone.  They do have certain qualifications you need to meet, but they are there to help when the worst happens.  Even if they normally wouldn't cover your family during normal circumstances, they can cover an individual family member.  Such as if you develop cancer they can help you pay for the exorbitant medical costs.  Working where I do, I have come to realize that there are so many awful diseases out there and medical expenses can add up quickly (the cost of treatments and tests these days is ridiculous).  I personally know a family where the parents are hard working, college educated, professionals who have what many would consider a very good and well paying job.  But one of their children was diagnosed with a rare disease and needed numerous surgeries and other types of harsh treatments.  Even though they had done everything right (and had "good" health insurance), these type of medical bills can quickly become overwhelming.  Because of this the child was eligible for medicaid.  And I am glad that the system was there to help them.  I wouldn't want anyone having to go through something like this to have to contemplate filing for bankruptcy because they can't afford the treatments needed to keep their child alive.  

I am thankful that when I was pregnant and when the boys were born we had excellent health insurance.  I looked over all of the bills sent to our insurance company, and was amazed at how much everything cost.  When the boys were born they spent 9 days in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).  The cost for their stay that was sent to my insurance company was about $25,000 EACH.

Well I suppose it's bedtime, perhaps I will make another post continuing along these lines.  I need to get some sleep for my expensive medical test in the morning that I have been dreading for weeks.           

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Happy Birthday to my Mum!

Today is my mum's birthday!  I want to wish her a very Happy Birthday!  It's at times like this that I really feel the distance.  It can be very hard to live 1,000 miles away from my close knit family.  Mum is only a phone call way if I ever need anything, but pretty frequently I find myself wishing that she was only just a short drive away.

Happy Birthday Mum!  Now that I am older and have a family of my own I find myself appreciating you so much more and starting to understand what it took to raise the 4 of us.  Well, you still have several school years left with the younger 2 =).  While I realize more so now that things weren't always easy while I was little, I never lacked what was important.  Especially when it came to love and attention.  I hope you have an amazing birthday, you totally deserve it!  You always have put our needs and wants ahead of yours, and especially on days like today it should be all about you.  I wish we could be there to celebrate with you, we miss you terribly.  So Happy Birthday again, I love and miss you.

And here is a shameless plug for my mum's blog.  You can find her over at Blue Monkey Butt.
I wish I had older pics on my computer I could share from when I was little.  Here is a recent pic of my mum with my kiddos.

Mum and Owynn, Dad and Oliver

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Sick Day and One LONG Week

I decided to take a much needed sick day on Thursday.  I always feel guilty about calling in to work, mostly because I know by doing so it effects all my co-workers and usually creates more work for them.  But I try to remind myself that work gives employees sick days for a reason, and that I rarely call in sick.  Everyone here had caught a cold, it made the boys extra grumpy.  For some reason I just couldn't sleep Wednesday night, I felt like crap, was achy, and completely worn out.

Let's back up though.  I've had some ongoing stresses lately, like our finances and my upcoming HIDA scan on Friday (which I am dreading).  My glasses broke on Monday, which is so not what I needed right now.  Although perhaps I should look on the bright side, I am beyond due for an eye check.  I can tell that my eyesight has been getting worse.  Tuesday by the end of the day I was just done.  I was feeling horrible and the boys were super fussy.  I fed them dinner after which they both had a massive bout of diarrhea.  It was an awful poopy mess.  Ugh!  By the time we got them to bed around 9:30ish I was done.  I had been up and constantly going since 6am.  I told John that even though we shouldn't spend the money I wasn't cooking and it was fast food for dinner.

By the time Friday rolled around though things were much better.  Everyone was feeling good and I actually got an early shift that day and was done by 5pm.  It made my weekend seem much longer.  We took the boys to the mall Friday afternoon and we had a good time pushing them around and window shopping.  We went because I had to get my engagement ring it's twice yearly cleaning and inspection in order to keep my warranty valid. 

Our weekend was fun.  On Saturday we all went over to a friend's house for "Dine For A Dollar".  Everyone brings $1 then heads off to the grocery store to decide what can be made for everyone.  We had veggie fried rice, egg drop soup, and salad.  It wasn't too bad and it was lots of fun.  We had a good time hanging out with some friends we don't see terribly often.  The boys had a great time playing with our friends' son who is about a year older than them.  Sunday we ended up at my in-laws doing laundry.  But summer laundry days are definitely not boring.  We spent a couple hours at the pool with two little boys who think they are fishies and then we stayed for a yummy dinner.  It was a nice way to end what was a long rough week. 

Monday, June 18, 2012

Father's Day 2012

Yesterday was Father's day and John and I spent a low-key day at home with the boys.  We all slept in after a late night Saturday, and we watched an epic game of baseball (John is a big KC Royals fan).  They played 15 innings in 5 hours, before KC finally won!  Saturday night John's parents watched the boys so John and I could go out to the movies.  We went and saw the Avengers; what a great movie!  It was so much fun just to get out the two of us for a few hours, we don't get the chance to do that very often anymore.

John is a stay at home dad, which right now is working pretty well for us.  John and the boys both love him being at home.  It's hard work being a stay at home parent, and I am thrilled that we don't have to send the boys to daycare.  We figured if both of us were working one of us would be working almost solely to send the boys to daycare.  But I digress, John is wonderful with the boys and I don't know what I would do without him.  He was my rock during the last terrible trimester of my pregnancy and the boys absolutely adore him.  I wish I was gifted with a better way with words, but I wasn't, so here's a picture instead =)


Oliver, Daddy, Owynn


I need to download all the pictures of our family from the boys' first year, right now they are all backed up on the other computer.  I have some more great photos of John and the boys.  

In April we spent about a week and a half in NY visiting my parents and siblings; it was a wonderful trip.  It's hard though, being so far away from my family.  We all had a great time and the boys really loved their grandparents, aunts, and uncle!  We have only managed to make the trip to NY twice since the boys were born (last August to surprise my dad for his birthday, and April for Easter) and Oliver is really taken with my dad (he should be, my dad is great!)  
 
 
Oliver falls asleep on my dad surprisingly easily; he doesn't do that with just anyone. 
 
I find now that I have kids of my own that it is so much harder being so far away from my family.  Our family is very close and I have many fond memories of all the fun times we spent all together growing up.  I wish I could share that with the boys more often.  Hopefully in the future things will change and we'll be able to see my family much more frequently.  So Happy Father's Day to my awesome dad, I miss you a lot! 

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Where Did This Week Go?

This week has felt hectic, but so far has gone by surprisingly fast.  Between work and home I feel like I have been going non-stop; I haven't had much of a chance to unwind.  Although last night was great.  John had dinner ready when I got home and the boys pretty much ready for bed (yay!)  We had buffalo chicken sandwiches, and they were delicious.

Work has been crazy busy this week, well not so much busy as over whelming.  Our daily average has gone down some, but our employee budget hours have been slashed a few times this year so we are functioning on less staff than should be tolerated.  So our staff is stretched thin, stressed, and worn out.  Then they are surprised when customer service starts slipping.  Really???  Today was awful.  I came into work and our computers were down and stayed that way for about 2 more hours.  I got to deal with lots of angry people including one lady who decided that screaming at me was a good way to get her point across.  It was a lovely day, let me tell you.  Ugh!

It seems like the boys are constantly understanding and doing new things all the time now.  Owynn has decided that he wants to throw away the dirty diapers after every diaper change.  He picks them up and carries them over to the baby gate blocking the kitchen.  So I pick him up and take him over to the trash can where he very excitedly throws them into.  They have added the word "down" to their vocabulary, which right now includes "mama" (but only when they are really upset, otherwise I am just other Dada), "Dada", "Done", and "Cheese".  Although I think they already have selective hearing when we say no.  When they want to be picked up they come over to us now with their arms raised.  And they are constantly pointing at things.  They are really starting to understand what we are saying to them.  They know the words for a lot of their toys and their sippy cups.  A few weeks ago I asked Oliver to give me the diaper next to him.  It took him a minute to understand what I wanted, but then he proceeded to bring me every diaper he could find.   I can't wait to see what they pick up next!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Where I Throw Myself a Pity Party

Friday June 8, 2012
In general life here is good.  We have a roof over our heads and food on the table, the boys are happy and healthy, and I have a job with great security.  But sometimes there are days like today were little things add up and take their toll and I just need to have a pity party, be  prepared for some whining. 

Our finances have been stressing me out a lot lately.  My husband is a stay at home Dad, and it is a situation that everyone loves, but it has hard living off of only one income.  Although to be fair if both of us were working than almost 100% of one of our paychecks would go to daycare for the boys.  Either way though money is tight, and there are needs and wants that can't be met.  It's been pretty stressful for me lately, especially since I'm the one handling our budget.  It's also sad to look at your budget the day you get paid and realize that almost all of your money is already spoken for. 

One of my very favorite cousins got married today, and we had to miss it.  He only lives about 8 hours away, but right now it could be half way around the world, it wouldn't have made a difference.  I had a hard time dealing with the fact, and before work today had a hard time just keeping it together.

I have also been stressing a lot lately about the possibility of having my gallbladder out.  My Dr. thinks that has been all of my stomach issues.  And let me tell you, at this point I am just ready to feel better.  I am tired of having an upset tummy almost daily.  Some days are better than others, and some days are really just horrible.  About a week and a half ago I had an abdominal ultrasound where there looked at all sorts of my internal organs.  It was pretty neat watching it, although not nearly as much fun as when you're pregnant.  I finally found out on Tuesday that everything came back looking just fine.  Yay I guess... I was honestly hoping they would find something and tell me to go have my gallbladder out.  Now I have to go have a HIDA scan which I am NOT looking forward to.   I get an iv and then injected with glowy dye.  I have to lay on a table for over an hour while they take pictures of how my body processes the dye.  It will simulate me eating a really fatty meal.  And my body really doesn't handle that well.  I fully expect to feel like total crap after having this test.  Work has already suggested I take the day off to do it (they will give me a sick day), and to do it on a Friday so I have the weekend to recuperate if needed.

It didn't help that my shift at work turned out to be absolutely hellish.  We were incredibly busy and equally short staffed.  The manager on duty ended up spending about 90% of the evening helping out in the pharmacy and we were still going under.  At 10pm I pretty much literally ran out of work and didn't look back.  I kept counting down the minutes to the end of my shift and telling myself that it was the weekend.  On my way home I stopped at Sonic for shakes, it helped a little. =)  

Thankfully Saturday was better.  The boys and I spent the afternoon and evening over at my in-laws doing laundry and swimming in the pool.  Owynn takes to the water like a fish; he looooves it.  He splashes and kicks and has such a great time.  Oliver did much better this time than the first time we went this summer.  He only cried for a few minutes when we got in the pool.  He warmed up to it pretty quickly, and he was even kicking and trying to bounce around in his little floaty.  We had a really good time.  John stayed home and spent the afternoon getting stuff done around the house (yay!) =)  Sunday should be fun too, we will be spending the evening with some great friends.