weekly round-up

So, my insurance company still has not "made a determination" on my pre-op bloodwork bill, and I was billed again. Fortunately, I called the lab, they rolled the billing odometer back to zero once informed, and I called the insurance, who swore that they had to resolve the matter within thirty days--in other words, by September 18. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

My uncle finally arrived in the state midweek and he, I, and Mr. Salted met for a summit conference. I'm letting them have their mother-son time while I inhale large and beautiful gulps of sane, serene, family-free air. She was so nasty to me on the phone the day he was coming that I took a mental health day the day afterward or I knew it would be Migraine City. Mental health day for me = lie in dark room, read or watch TV, maybe futz around on the laptop. Only answer the phone for actual friends I feel like talking to, often prefer no human interaction whatsoever. In other words: bliss. My uncle is the power of attorney, and I hope he does what needs doing. It's out of my hands. I am advocating for her with the state behind the scenes; she probably would have lost her apartment this month or in short order if I hadn't been. I care a great deal less about whether she's pissed at me than I do about doing the right thing by her. Being a decent, mature human being is rather exhausting. I bet that's why so many people don't do it. That's probably also why I needed the mental health day--that and I'm still not even six weeks out from surgery yet. HELLO.

I've been working as much as I could, albeit in four-hour blocks, since I'm going to be out for all of next month. I'm really grateful for the flexibility I have at this job--I can go in on the weekend or evening if I have doctor's appointments or need a mental health day or have to run up and deal with the Granny situation for any reason. We are trying to figure out what kind of ramp I will need, and if it's better to buy, build or rent one. I also still need to get a knee scooter.

Today we went and got our hair did--and I'm feelin' sporty! I just like short hair on myself. I often like it on others better than they do. It's easy to take care of, and easy to make look professional. I don't have good long hair anyway, so the only time I am seen with long hair is on Halloween. (I was Kelly Osbourne at work a few Halloweens ago and I had a long black wig that I kept tossing out of the way. I kept saying, "I forgot what this was like" and was really bloody annoyed with it by noon.)

I also ordered the body-fat measuring scale I need--got it for a song at Walmart.com (yes, I hate their politics too, but I'm too poor to be picky at the moment) because Mr. Salted had a $25 Walmart gift card lying around from years ago that, as it turned out, was still good.

Oh, and I'm losing weight again as of this morning. So, about 37 pounds lost so far, as of today! It makes writing out the checks for the various and sundry medical bills less painful. My smallest pre-op clothes are getting to be huge on me. The T-shirts are suddenly long enough to sleep in, which is nice because I love some of them too much to give them away altogether. I wish I was a seamstress--I have some graphic-print hoodies that I would to be able to take in and keep.