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Tuesday, April 11, 2017

In Case You Thought I Have This Whole Thing Wired....

I talk a good story....peace, positive energy, smiles....solutions appear problems solved...life is good. I know its true I wrote about it just the other day. Two wolves? Remember? One had negative traits the other had positive traits. And then I made the connection between the second wolf who was the peaceful one also being a powerful wolf, of course making the case that the positive wolf is the one we want to follow.

Rainbows.......

And then I tried to refill my husband's prescription.

As you may or may not know both my husband and I were hanging by a thread health wise. We quickly became conversant with health insurance, lots of prescriptions, doctors, more health insurance, and the need for patience. We were told one of the main things to avoid when you have heart issues, is stress.

If that is the case, you should also avoid:
1.) Traffic
2.) Money - making it, spending it, managing it.....even spelling it
3.) People
4.) Doctor Appointments
5.) Politics
6.) Social Media

I have been helping my husband keep up with his medicine and when the pharmacist was filling the prescription she nonchalantly mentioned the new medication's copay was $500. I immediately asked if there was some other medication it could be substituted for. There must be a box of leeches in the back somewhere that would suffice, right?

They agreed to fax the doctor. Call us in a couple of days.

One week goes by....I call the Doctor. They will handle it.

Another week goes by, we go into the Doctor's actual office. They will handle it.

Another week goes by and the phone call is the same as all the others, we are researching the medication and will handle it.

Another week goes by and the story now is the Doctor has been out of town and only he can rewrite the prescription. That makes sense but he was in town when it all began..right?

Today the story is different again, and no surprise it is now our fault.

As I was wrestling with my human frailties and obvious hypocrisy I thought I would come clean and make the record clear.....the second wolf is still the most powerful wolf, no doubt, but that first wolf can push you to your limits.

I know my thesis is correct. Negativity is devoid of light, therefore it is devoid of solutions, because you can't "see" anything in darkness. When I am frustrated, angry and anxious solutions are beyond my reach. People that can help don't appear, the ones that are in front of me are not at all motivated to help. In our health debacle I have been very clear that it's new territory for us. My husband and I went from never having to deal with insurance companies to doing it constantly. We have gone from no medication to lots of medications. We are maneuvering medicare, pharmacists, doctors, side effects of medications and dealing with the after effects of our health issues. With each new saga we find ourselves in a definite learning curve. And just as with every other new thing I have done, it can be daunting.. Algebra comes to mind as does my first pregnancy and starting a business.

So what is the solution? I can only tell you what I did.

After a full morning of zero sucess, I stopped. I simply stopped. What I was doing wasn't working, so I needed to change lanes, pull over, and start over.

I concentrated on breathing....it is centering. It takes you from focusing on your problems to just breathing.

As soon as I was calm I started calling anyone I could think of that could give me answers to my questions. I reached out to the insurance company and asked them to tell me what I should have done from the beginning. What language should I have used? What questions could I ask that I didn't know to ask? How long do I wait in between queries? Should the doctor know what medications are covered and which ones aren't? I was taught a long time ago a good question is better than a good answer.

And then I waited.

I wrote down the answers the woman started to give me. I collected phone numbers of the pharmaceutical advocacy team that I could call right from the doctors office.

Knowledge made me calmer.

Then the doctor's office called with a sample of the medication he has needed for a month. She explained that would give us needed time to work out the problems we were having.  She offered to spend time with my husband to go over his medications and make sure he was getting what the doctor intended.

I am sure your situation is different from mine, but the pattern is the same. We live in a fallen world filled with people just like us who are dealing with all the nonsense of the world and gravity....so you can give in, or.......

Stop -  pray or simply meditate
Breathe  - give yourself a minute to refocus
Think - what is my real problem?
Ask good questions - good questions come from understanding what the real problem is
Listen - Have faith and trust that a solution will come
Act - take action on the answers that come to you

Each step brings you closer to the solution you need. And each step brings more light and more power. Remember the second wolf is also a wolf and because of that is powerful.

None of this is easy, our default emotion is negativity, but with practice, you can learn to master your emotions.

Ta Dah!

My husband just walked in with a month's sample of the medicine he needs and a big smile.....

Life is good.