carbonel

I called the billing office back at 10:15, after I'd waited more than an hour, and the clerk explained that the problem was that the California office didn't open until 8 am, which was 10 am our time. I pointed out that it was after 10, and she said she'd tried recently and they seemed to be opening late. It was about at this time that she was really trying to help me instead of just getting me off her back. My occasional authentic gasps of pain may have had something to do with it.

About 15 minutes later she called me back and said everything was cleared up. She didn't know what the problem had been, since all the numbers matched what I'd given. But apparently confirmation from a live person at Blue Cross made the difference.

She transferred me back to the triage nurse, who said the flag was still on my file. This time I asked her to talk to Diane (the billing person), and the two of them were able to fix whatever needed fixing. My regular doctor didn't have an appointment available for a week, but she was able to get me in with another doctor this morning if I could get there in 40 minutes, which I could.

After palpation and X-rays, the doctor couldn't see a break, but she couldn't confirm anything until the radiologist saw the films. (If it's not broken, why did it get so much worse three days after the original fall?) And in any case, there wasn't much to do in the way of treating broken, cracked, or bruised ribs but rest and pain control. To the latter aim, she wrote me a prescription for codeine. One pill got me through the afternoon without making me at all woozy; I think I'll take two pills tonight.

And I hope this stops hurting so much soon. I've been in the middle of a house improvement frenzy (well, for me; for some people it might be very leisurely), and this is putting the brakes on it in a very unpleasant way. Not to mention the fact that I can't go running until it lets up.

I repeat, bleah.