The latest stressors …

On Friday I got home to find a letter from our insurance company stating that they were "pre denying" our claim for Cardiac Rehab due to DH not having a condition that warranted it.

Needless to say, panic ensued. He'd been to six sessions already at $250 a pop. They're getting him to actually EXERCISE. The education part of it is pretty worthless, but the GETTING HIM TO EXERCISE is priceless.

I posted on a FB group with people who've gone through heart attacks (or their SO has.) And they talked me down. I got a plan of action put together - call the hospital on Monday and figure out what the heck is going on.

Then I checked the insurance website. The first hospital's charges of around $16k was mostly covered, except for our out of pocket and deductible.

The second hospital, where he had the stent put in, had $42k+ in charges. And in big red letters - NEED MORE INFORMATION. If we do not receive more information within 45 days, we will base our decision off of what we do have.

My panic level greatly reduced at this point. This explained why they were pre-denying Cardiac Care. If they didn't have the proof to go with the charges from the stent hospital, then they'd have no reason to believe Cardiac Care was needed.

So … it at least was enough to get me through the weekend.

I called today and left a message with someone. I hate voicemail.

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DH's good vehicle (not great on gas mileage, but the best for his shoulders) may have an engine in the last stages of life. He has less than $1k in his car replacement fund due to having cleaned it out to buy this particular vehicle.

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Haven't heard anything new about the car accident / insurance. I hate to push DH to check into it.

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DH's stepdad with whom he was estranged … (he actually wrote him a long letter a few months ago trying to mend fences - no response) … died a couple weeks ago. DH found out because of an email from the guy who wrote a book about a local cave here DH and his stepdad's family were a big part of.

So yeah .. DH is getting a nice stress free time of it while recovering.

And yes, if you were wondering, my stress levels are quite low as well. If you consider Saturn pretty low.

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DH is doing so well changing his eating patterns. Not perfectly, but so much better than I would have believed to be possible.

Getting him to eat vegetables without me sitting beside him having a big bowl of them, is still a work in progress … but he's reduced his level of SAD diet by at least 95%.

I spent a lot of money on groceries this month trying to figure out dishes that would at least somewhat tempt him, as well as things he can take with him to work easily.

I'm hoping this next month will be more reasonable.

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We are not contributing to our ROTH's this month from new income. He was off work for almost two weeks. We agreed that this was the simplest way to do it.


I'm selling $1k of stock (electric car) and then moving that to our ROTH's. So they'll still get their contributions, it just won't be new money. (And that stock seems to be going up again after having fallen hugely thanks to its erratic man at the helm.)


We also had to lower what we normally put in various categories. He even willingly acknowledged that putting money in the date night fund when we weren't putting money in (new) into the ROTH's wasn't a good idea.


So anyway … that was our budget meeting on Sunday.


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I'm about halfway through my keyboarding class. The first week of it unfortunately fell the week DH was in the hospital. Trying to figure out an online keyboarding class while also spending the vast majority of my waking hours at a hospital … yeah, that wasn't good.


I've got it figured out now though, and am pretty sure I'll be making an A.


I registered for my next class today - Microsoft Applications 1.


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We haven't turned our heat on yet. There haven't really been very many cold nights yet, so it isn't THAT much of a major thing. Although, we did have our first snow a couple weeks ago.


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My newish supervisor let me know she's going to be retiring a year from this Thanksgiving. So, I guess a year from now I'll see what happens.


I've taken over managing our FB page, as well as the info email. We're debuting a couple new technologies that I'll be doing a lot with - keeping alerts up to date and answering texts, etc.


So, even if I don't stay here, I'm growing my resume.


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I made a couple eBay sales this past week. A set of Dr Suess books and a pair of Keds. Now I need to get some more stuff up …

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OK this was long. I'll try not to be such a stranger!


One more thing - Have you seen Bodyguard on Netflix yet? The one from BBC not Whitney's. I binge watched it this weekend …


I almost forgot! Someone used my Ting referral!! I have a $25 credit from that. (Will have to tell about my phone trials in another post.)

Well, my week has pretty much been spent at a hospital. DH was moved to a heart specialty hospital on Wednesday. They attempted to do a heart catheter twice - once through each wrist. But due to his anatomy, they weren't able to get a clear picture of the issue before the unsafe level of dye had been reached.

So today they did a 3rd attempt - through his groin. They found 90% blockage in one of his arteries and placed a stent.


The 3 procedures themselves were not too bad according to DH - but the aftermath of today's was the worst pain. After he came back, he had to lay absolutely still so as to not dislodge the sutures in the groin artery incision.


The nurses had to apply a LOT of pressure for 15 minutes - then the found a hematoma - which had to be broken up - and another 10 minutes of extreme pressure.


The laying still thing … he was having a REALLY hard time with that. I kept having to tell him not to do things and he was getting really frustrated.


Right now at least I think he may be willing to make a change. He said several times he never wants to go through this again.


Financially we are looking at a minimum of 3 weeks lost wages. Plus of course increased medicine costs, and whatever we have to pay after insurance kicks in.


3 nights and 4 days in two hospitals, an ambulance ride, at least 3 procedures … Then there's the cardiac rehab program and follow up visits.


It'll all be worth it though if we can celebrate our 10th anniversary together maybe taking a hike or going on a long biking trail somewhere.

A few days ago I was wondering if I'd have to get creative to not lose the FSA money other than the $500 that rolls over to the next plan year (starting in November for us.)

Around 8:30 this morning I got a call which told me it wouldn't be an issue.

My DH drove himself to the ER with a racing heart and chest pains. By the time I got there it was confirmed that it was AFIB symptoms.

His heart rate was 180+, his bp was high, and he was having constant chest pains.

After over two hours of meds, his heart rate was averaging 160+ and he still was having chest pains.

So they did something called a cardio inversion - basically reset the heart.

In two tests of his enzymes, it showed the number went from 17.4 to a higher # - which according to my retired nurse aunt indicates that it was a heart attack.

Tomorrow he's having a stress test and a heart catheter. At which point we'll find out if he needs a stent or a bypass …

I am so thankful for our fully funded medical deductible fund, so I'm not stressing about the money at all. (Yet …)