Texas testing

We made it back to Texas last night where the hot weather and humidity were eagerly awaiting us.  It was 92 degrees at 8:30 at night and the humidity was killer.  Can you say limp hair, runny make-up and sweaty pits?  Ah yes, nothing a pitcher of margaritas in an air-conditioned Pappasito’s couldn't help though.

The day was low-key as E. didn’t have to check-in for his 7:30 MRI until 6:15 p.m.  We slept in and spent some time with Peanut in the hotel pool.  We then headed over to the business office to deal with our outstanding bill.  You see, after returning from MD Anderson in December, we discovered that our insurance company was claiming that MD Anderson was suddenly no longer on the preferred provider list and that E. could have supposedly gotten the same quality of services locally (cough cough sputter sputter).  Based on that, the insurance company was only paying a very small percentage of the very large bill.  We began the appeal process and subsequently had to jump through many hoops.  It took months of back-and-forth communication between us, the insurance company and various medical professionals, but we finally received notice last week that we “won” the appeal and the insurance company would be paying MD Anderson retroactively at the rate we had expected all along.  Whew!  Anyways, after visiting with the kind folks at the business office, they agreed to make note in our file (so we wouldn’t be referred to collections) and resubmit the December invoices to the insurance company.  While there, we attempted to confirm that this current visit was also approved by the insurance company (which we were assured it would be - haha).  No such luck.  No pre-approvals had been received and E.’s MRI was mere hours away.  Phone calls were made and messages left; hours went by and it finally came together (or so we are told ... we’ll know for sure when the bills come in, I suppose).

The MRI went off without a hitch.  We then realized that E.’s check-in for his PET/CT was at 6:30 the next morning.  Now, typically that isn’t a problem, but E. forgot his reading glasses and without them, he can barely read a billboard.  Every appointment requires paperwork to be filled out and without his glasses, E. is pretty much useless.  All this translated to mean that Peanut and I would need to get up at 5:30 a.m. (3:30 Nevada time!) to accompany E. to his appointment so I could be his personal secretary.  Ugh!  We went over to the nuclear medicine department and pled our case.  Lo and behold, they allowed us to fill-out the paperwork early.  Woohoo!  That meant Peanut and I could get a few extra hours of sleep.