Squeaky wheel gets the grease, but it's also the most annoying wheel so I try to pick and choose my moments. When the ophthalmologic surgeon's secretary told me Nick could be seen in April, I knew it was time to turn on the squeak. She told me last Thursday that Dr. Black only does surgeries on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and it would take at least a week to get clearance from the insurance company before we scheduled, so the absolute earliest they could get him in would be the 30th or 31st of March, but more likely April.
When I found out our eye doc wasn't in the office, I called John, family doc and friend (see earlier posts) who's a good friend of our eye doc. John called our eye guy, who called his secretary, who called our insurance company to say this is an emergency. In the meantime, I phoned the surgeon's office in Albuquerque (ABQ) and asked them to nudge the insurance company too.
Got a call on Monday (yesterday) that the ABQ doctor and the hospital they use are within network, and could Nick be there today at 2pm for a pre-op? Sweet! Nick's eye will come out tomorrow. How upside-down does life need to be that this is good news??
Nick's father Michel was here from France this weekend (dealing with details of the home he and Ilona are buying here) and he just happened to be driving to ABQ today. So at the moment, Nick and Michel are halfway to Albuquerque, and I'm halfway to unstable, thinking, "Why am I not on my way to ABQ, too?" I'm very uncomfortable about this because Michel heads back to France tomorrow morning, and Nick will be driving himself in Michel's rental to the hospital, where he will check-in alone - I can already hear the nurses whispering about this poor, handsome man whose wife could give a rat's ass about this serious surgery - and drive himself away the next day.
Nurses' ruminations aside, I don't like the idea of his taking a bus home from ABQ, and I've told him I want to come get him on Thursday. I tried arguing that the bus doesn't save a dime over driving anyway, and the lack of hassle - making sure he's checked out of the hospital in time to return the rental car and take a taxi to the bus depot by 1pm - is totally worth it. He said, "Not when you factor in the price of the speeding ticket. ha!" Harrumph! Really, must I argue that my presence is priceless?
Dear Nick and Kim, we send you all the courage we can for tomorrow. (if you need some, otherwise, we'll keep it for our own occupations !) if it is possible, we'll be with you with our minds (we would even accept to pick Nick up at the hospital and bring him home !). I agree with Kim to say that my cousin is completely crazy (Nick, you should even accept that good occasion to do nothing and to have others taking care of you !) Why not trying to ski back home ?! N'importe quoi ! We encourage Kim to fight against Nick if he tries again to play the complete healed guy before a good month !
ReplyDeleteLots of kisses. We are looking forward for the next news.
Corinne
Well done you for getting the op sorted. But I can't believe Nick is insured to drive straight after an eye op! I can here you saying, "Only in America!" Hope it all goes well.
ReplyDeleteLove Gill xox
PS If you're that worried about the nurses, you could always get yourself a "uniform"... ; )
Morning, Gill. Not worried about the nurses themselves, just about what they'll think of such a cold-hearted wife! New development is he's returning the car this morning before the op, and a friend is picking him up on his way through town, so things are looking up. -Kim
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