It rains! It pours!

Yesterday I went to a small group with Lindsay in an effort to start becoming a little bit more fine tuned in my Walk (I'm not feeling deeply philosophical, so I won't elaborate on that whole thing right now). As I was leaving our Pastor's house, I snapped the axle housing right off of my wheelchair and essentially had to wheel to the car as if I was riding on a rolling hammock. Today I made the phone call and set up an appointment with the company that I ordered my chair through. And naturally, after having NOTHING to do with that company since October when I ordered some new upholstery, etc., I get a letter from that VERY COMPANY that I apparently still owe them 900-and-some-odd-dollars.

I don't soapbox very often about political stuff for several reasons. The biggest one is that I truly do not feel that ANY of the political figureheads represent me in any way shape or form. Or, to go another step further, I truly don't believe they CARE. And that's fine, I mean... whatever. But the ONE thing that I've been keeping my eye on is this whole debacle about healthcare. I don't subscribe to the idea that President Obama is proposing for many reasons and I have a feeling that it would completely end up hurting the disabled in their ability to get the healthcare that is needed. If private insurance can take up to a year (trust me, it does) to "okay" a wheelchair being paid for.., I can't even imagine what governmental red tape would do to that circumstance....

The thing that really gets me is the billing... and how it just keeps coming and coming and coming. With my amputation surgery now almost three months behind me, I'm still having bills trickle in here and there. I mean, at what point does it stop? I had one for $3.81, after insurance, for something along the lines of having someone look at an x-ray and confirm "yep, you have an infection in the bone." Not that the other nurses had ALREADY confirmed it by sight, without the aid of an x-ray. But the kicker for me was that we somehow missed that bill and I was sent a notice that they would turn me into collections if I didn't pay up. For a whopping four bucks. I also, somewhere, have a bill that I need to pay in the next couple of days for a doctor who literally did NOTHING in the ER. My surgeon's office decided, via a phone call from someone, to admit me and begin IV meds and some clown came in in a huff that no one contacted him first. He didn't nothing to my knowledge, and I have to pay him $400 some dollars.

Socialized medicine is not the answer... but I tell you, I'm more and more open to the idea of insurance (and medical professionals/institutions/supply providers) accountability....

I know the pieces fit.

For some reason I was inspired to look up an old song that my dorm roommate in college played endlessly over and over. Likewise, for some reason I felt inspired to write a blog in what has been ages. Maybe it's the start of a New Year... our our youngest dog, Cheli's, constant whining that's keeping me up and doing SOMETHING.

Please consider these following lyrics from Blues Traveler's "Look Around" and see if you don't find some meaning in them as you look forward to this past year and the new one in front of us.

I know I do.


"If you want peace then live alone
If you wanna hide then find a stage
Each a brief but perfect home
To accommodate your rage
And sometimes
In the midst of all my crimes
I feel lost
Or have I lost enough?

Remaining friends
Remind me as they say
It's up to you
The things you throw away
And still you're gonna have to go and find it
You'll have to dig beneath the ground
You'll have to unearth every ugly stone
That's kept you on your own
And simply put them down

You're gonna have to look around"