A Dawning Awareness #3

Wednesday Afternoon Frustrations

The thought of changing Respiratory Equipment Providers continued to weigh on me. Even though I dreaded making more phone calls to doctor’s offices … having to deal with automated messages again, I decided to give it a whirl.

I decided to see if Nicole’s doctors took Company Yellow’s Plan. I thought it would be easy. My confusion was cleared up and I knew what I was doing now.

Was I ever wrong! Contacting her remaining nine providers was more difficult than I ever imagined.

The receptionist at the gynecologist’s office answered easily that they took that Company Blue’s plan. She didn’t have such a ready answer for Company Yellow … a company with so many different plans, she just didn’t know about this particular one.

She gave me the number of their out-sourced billing department and suggested that Company Yellow and I do a 3-way call. Well, you know how that went. We got an automated answering machine asking us to leave a message. We could not reach a human being.

Dealing with all that while receiving calls from my internet provider … calls I didn’t answer … plus the anxiety of the whole process and my sleep disruption pushed me over the top. This stressful, frustrating, and time-consuming process was too much for me. I melted down.

I called a friend to vent and for support.

She reminded me there will come a day when I can no longer do this for Nicole. She encouraged me to let go … to pray for trust … she knows I have control and trust issues. 😊

She reminded me that none of this is anything over which I have a shred of control. She advised me to take a break, make the best decision I can, and then let it unfold and see what happens.

I took her advice … except the break I took wasn’t as long as the one she recommended. 😊

Thursday Morning … Decision Day

Nicole had given me permission to move forward and so I made a decision.

I hated having to change respiratory service providers, but I’d just have to do it. I could not go through the whole process of checking with Nicole’s doctor’s again.

Now that I knew the correct equipment my daughter uses, I called Company B … the one with no bi-paps and no interest in talking with me. I gave them a second chance.

I reached a different person. She started outlining what we’d have to do to make the transition.

Her tone sent me over the edge. “We don’t just give out equipment because someone asks for it. You need her doctor’s approval.”

In my mind, that meant getting approval from the prescribing Ohio State doctor who retired several years ago … and the doctor who followed him left the system. My daughter no longer sees an Ohio State doctor. How in the world could I accomplish getting this approval? I didn’t have it in me to even try to make this happen.

I cried out my despair.

Her tone softened. Finally I was able to grasp that it is her Dayton pulmonologist (someone who has only seen Nicole in person once … we changed pulmonologist right before the pandemic) who can approve this.

As I calmed, I asked her to repeat slowly so I could write down the steps I needed to take. She did. And then she reassured me, “This will be easy.”

“It will?!?” I responded.

“Yes,” she said reassuringly.

When I called the pulmonologist’s office to schedule an appointment, I must have hit the wrong number in their automated system. I reacted when I heard, “Leave a detailed message and we will get back to you in 24-48 hours.”

“This is totally UNACCEPTABLE. This is a doctor’s office. I need an appointment ASAP.”

I called again and the human being I reached sounded like a robot. Appointment scheduling is outsources and he seemed to care less that the earliest appointment is at 8:15 am on October 26 … a time difficult for Nicole with her sleep issues … and a date when I had hoped to join friends for an out-of-town couple-of-days of fun I sorely need. I didn’t even bother to tell him of our needs. I took the appointment.

I just hope all goes smoothly with a doctor who barely knows Nicole and wasn’t the original prescriber. I won’t truly relax until this is handled.

Then I called and asked to speak to a sales person in Company Blue. This person double checked their list of providers and found Nicole’s pulmonologist.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

She told me the original salesperson who pressured me to sign me up was inappropriate in doing that. The sign-up date begins October 15 … the beginning of the open enrollment period.

My next post will reveal my dawning awareness plus a bonus gift I received.