A Day in My So-Called Life

 Ah, the travails of being. 

   My car has been in the shop for 3 days.   I was told I would be called when it was ready, but with the weekend coming, I made the call. I was "just about" to be called. The car is ready. At home, reviewing the quite hefty charge, I see a "Credit Card Fee" for $32.77. No big deal, I guess, but if I'd known there was such a fee, I would have written  a check. 

 The phone rings. The doctor will not be available for my scheduled 6-month appointment. But I can get an appointment a few days later if I go to a location other than where I was scheduled. She tells me it will be in Malta. I decline. I recall driving a friend from Amsterdam to her home in Gansevoort, through 5 separate Traffic Circles in the Malta area.  I'll reschedule for more familiar territory. 

   I drive to the store to replenish my pantry, and find that the car radio is not working. I find a secure place to pull over and read my manual.  I am very familiar with having to enter the Code to re-set the clock, having done it so frequently I know the code by heart,  but didn't realize  (or forgot) the car radio also needed the code. I enter the familiar code, press a few buttons, and drive to the store, with music  playing in the background.   

  I open the car trunk and take  the bag of returns to the Bottle Return Machine. It is closed, not accepting anything. So back into the trunk with the bag of cans. I finish shopping, mostly small items, and the check-out person asks if I would like a paper bag in addtion to my plastic shopping bag. I say yes. I don't want  to be dropping stuff on my way to my car. The price of  a paper bag, 5 cents I guess, is an insignificant amount; it just rankles for the way that it was assessed and that it is probably intended to last forever. .

I go to the mailbox to retrieve the mail, and find a bill from my fuel company that I should not owe. I pay all my bills, never even late, my credit rating is exemplary, but I do not intend to  pay what I don't owe. So that saga continues.

All the fabric of life. So sweet.

\ I just received 6:30 p.m a Message re my cancelled doctor's appointment which indicates "Cancel Reason: Patient"  No, I didn't cancel. THEY DID.  Also the tme allotted for that appointment and the future appointment is 15 Minutes. *****Are they not aware that HONEST HEALTH , the ACO REACH Model Pilot Program is working  with doctors to improve the delivery of high-quality COORDINATED health care.  Maybe adding a 16th minute to the visit?

Don't We All Want "Honest Health"?

 Yesterday I received a call, from Prospero Crespo, if you go by what Caller ID tells you. He spoke in such broken English I could not understand the reason for the call.  He mentioned my Primary Doctor's name 3 times in what turned out to be a short conversation. I asked him where he was calling from. He said something about a health service associated with mine. And then he told me to stay on the line while he transferred my call, and the line went dead. 

   I emailed my doctor's office re above, and received this response today. It's a PILOT PROGRAM, all for our own good. Thanks, Medicare, and associated Pilots,

for your concern. 

OK, I have read this explanation. "What's it good for?"  Any patient on Medicare will receive a call from this company, I am told. How does it change anything? The stated goal is for health care providers to work together to give you better care. Isn't that already supposed to be possible---in this time of easy transmission of data? Our "health care teams" can now share data and thus provide the "better, safer, and more coordinated care."  In reality, it seems your health care provider often looks at your "chart" for the first time at or just before your office visit. 

   Being somewhat cynical, I suspect maybe the takeaway, the  raison d'etre,  for the existence of such a pilot program, is found in the sentence, "You may save time, money, and frustration by avoiding repeated tests and appointments."  Is this where the pilot could be flying us?

The line forms here---or there.

 Even though you have an appointment at your doctor's or medical provider's office, you have to go though a process to gain entry to care. We know that is true. Some offices are busy, with patients awaiting their scheduled appointments. Other offices may have none or a few patients ahead of you in the office. 

Each office has its own procedure for getting the patient to their medical visit: (1)  Patient may  be able to go directly to the window or desk to sign in to verify their visit and be ushered to their appointment. (2) patient may be able to take a number from a dispenser, and then sit and wait to be called in. (3) Patient is greeted upon entry to the office and handed a number, no need to stand in line to get the number.

 I have been a patient with a a medical appointment many times, and so have spent many hours "waiting to be seen." Sometimes the wait is longer than we'd like, but we know there are lots of reasons, so we patiently sit and wait; we do have our phones. We all understand, no problem.

 However, there is one medical office where  I find "getting to the appointment window" to be quite offputting even though the wait may not be long. Here it is:

 Patient walks through the door on the side of the office. The customer service desk is along the front of  the room, with 3 or maybe 4  sign-in windows. There are signs placed near the seating and above the sign-in desk advising (or warning) incoming patients that they are to WAIT TO BE CALLED by standing in one of the lines.  Sometimes those check-in lines have quite a few patients ahead of you, other times, maybe none or a few.  Regardess, even if no one is in line, you are advised not to approach the desk UNTIL you are called. Those behind the desk often tend to be busy with paperwork or other office tasks.  Ironically enough, that office is a cardiology office. 

   

Superscript---lets you pay in advance for your medical treatment

 Just received notice from yet another medical office:  New Superscript will tell you what you owe BEFORE your appointment, and lets you pay in advance. So if the medical treatment you receive isn't lifesaving, you can rest in peace knowing your bill is paid. 

Could it be that Senior Citizens are - - - - UNDERDOCTORED? Addendum of 5/27/26.

 Just some observations:   Your doctor may have had a perfect SAT Score, and  earned outstanding accolades in Medical School. How is it then he seems to lack basic medical knowledge in his specialty? Either he is not that smart after all, or he just does not want to expend the fruits of his vast store of medical knowledge on short-term successes.  (I went to medical school to SAVE  lives, long term, not merely to add a few months here and there. 

  Fair Warning. Heads Up.  Pay Attention.  You Will Owe.

For a rather routine procedure, the practice schedules a time not for the procedure, but for a TIME  you will receive a PHONE CAll  to SCHEDULE that procedure. Be there to take the call.

Important notice: FEES 

   The handout the office gives you warns you in 3 different places that there will be a  $!00 Fee if 

              (1) you fail  to show at the scheduled time

                      or

              (2)  you reschedule LESS than 2 business days prior to your scheduled exam

                    or

            (3) you fail to follow the preparation for the exam.

So slink in to your appointment, and be on time, follow all the rules, and be grateful that your care is paramount. 

I waited by the phone, at 10 a.m, fearing I might miss the call if it should be earkier than the designated time of 10:30.  I had before me as instructed the sheet handed to me when I left my visit. The sheet had the time I would be called and all the other pertinent information, including the location where the  procedure would be scheduled. I wiited for the call, the seconds , then the minutes ticking by. At last the phone rang, at 11:20 a.m., almost an hour late, with the time that I could show up for the procedure, (which if I missed, remember the charge of $100.)  Although all seemed set in stone, according to that sheet of paper, I thought to ask, to verify the location. The sheet of paper listed my choice of Clifton Park, but the rep told me it was to be in Albany. No problem to correct the wrong place, it just meant rescheduling the time. Geez, if I'd gone to the address on my sheet of paper, I might have had to pay one hundred bucks.

 

THE WAR

 Some of the earliest memories in my life were of war. Even though I was very young, I remember being terrified at the sound of airplanes, especially at night.  Even more frightening were the mandated blackouts.  Sirens would wail, and all lights were to  be turned off. My parents took it very seriously and our house would be plunged into darkness. At times, my father would serve as warden, I  think the term was, and would have to drive around a certain perimeter to make sure all lights were extinguished. He would insert a piece of folded cardboard over his car's headlights while he made the rounds, low beams deflected downward.   

 There were other signs of war: ration stamp booklets, the unavailability of food and other products, and my parents' reading the daily newspaper for the accounts of the war and the death counts. 

After Pearl Harbor, the country lived in constant fear of other attacks, of more bombs exploding on our soil. But that will never happen here, right?

Batten the hatches.

 Lock your doors for safety. I always do, at least at night, and often more times than that.  If about 365 days in a year is multiplied by 55 years, that would be about 20, 075 daily lock-downs, if the math is mathed right.My house was broken into twice, 10 years apart. The door was locked; the robbers kicked it in. Fortunately nobody was home. I don't think there were any other attempts that were thwarted by the door being locked. So it seems all 20,000 plus times the door was locked did not matter. 

   Of course, now I have alarms,  security cameras, and deadbolts  and I will  continue to lock the  doors.