I have the letter!

Yes, my friends, the letter from the OEB that tells me that I am getting Moneys from the insurance people is here in my hot little paw. As I said to La Belle Dame, though, I ain't chillaxin' until that check's cleared.

With my luck, BCBS will skim 90% of it off for processing costs. Which will, of course, lead to the recently-repaired Hell Bolts being sheared again.

*** *** *** *** ***

I have made a new friend.

A few days ago we got one of those patients in: you know the sort, that come without CDs of scans and with minimal information from the transferring hospital. Luckily, this nice little old lady had no medical history, and not because she'd never been to the doctor. She was, at eighty-something, simply that healthy. A lifelong non-drinking, non-smoking vegetarian, she'd had a TIA as a result of a brief dip in her already-low blood pressure.

So, upon her arrival to the NCCU, I paged the dude on call. And paged and paged. Finally, I sent a text page reading "Are you alive? If so, call Jo at XXXX. Minimum three minute rates apply."

The dude on call called me back immediately and apologized. Turns out that between consults and admits at Holy Kamole, he had more than fifteen patients to see. I said I just wanted him to know that I'd gone ahead and entered orders under his name, using the NCCU order protocol, to which he said, "Oh, are *you* the one who entered all those brilliant orders? You clever little thing, you."

"Yes, darling," I said, "I did enter those orders. Now, you'll have to swing by and work your magic on our sweet LOL, but the rest is taken care of for now. Just decide whether you want heparin and let me know, okay?"

"Brilliant!" he replied. "I'll be there as soon as she gets to sleep and the nurses have relaxed for the evening."

He greeted me the next morning, after no sleep, with a muffin. He thanked me for saving him a half-hour's work and making his life easier.

I may have to reassess my attitude toward new fellows.

*** *** *** *** ***

It dawned on me yesterday that when my boss is not around, stupid shit happens much less often.

*** *** *** *** ***

The Apocalypse is nigh: it is August in Central Texas, and I have all the windows open. We've gotten some rain in the last couple of days, and it's now a balmy 70* at just past 0800. All the fans are on, the a/c fan is whirring away, and the cats are napping on the north-facing windowsills.

After two years of really weird weather, this is a relief. This is how it's supposed to be here: daytime highs in the 90's, occasional rains that flood the highways, and brisk mornings. Ever since everydamnthing burned down last year, I've been watching the skies and the winds. Normal is a little disturbing, but I'll take it.

*** *** *** *** ***

Three big things are going to be happening here in the next few months:

1. A template and step-by-step instructions on how to fight insurance companies. Once the template and instructions are up, I'll put permalinks in the sidebar for anybody who wants to use them. Not everybody has the resources and time I do; it's a no-brainer to distill everything I've learned in the last two years, and all the expert help I've had, into something you can fill in, print out, and send off in order to get your money back.

2. HN might be migrating to a new platform. I haven't decided yet. If HN does move, it'll have the same look & feel and the same layout as before, or as nearly as possible.

3. I am dog-hunting. More to come on that as things develop.