Money money money money........mooooney in A new beginning

This week I think went a lot better than last work wise. Mostly because my surgeon was back and I got to get off phones and do intake for a day. It is 100 times less stressful being an MA verses being on phones. Even the medical assistant I work with said the same and she only got like 5 phone calls covering for someone else for 2 hours! Of course you still get the occasional grumpy person you have to room but it's so much easier to deal with them in person.

I did intake on Wednesday which consists of getting patients vitals, entering their meds and medical history in and pulling up xrays, cleaning rooms and whatever else as needed. So I brought this rather large lesbian back to a room and her girlfriend was with her.She had a hard time reading and couldn't pronounce or understand what "illicit drugs" meant. I explained and she goes "Oh...well...marijuana". Then she gets to the question asking if she could be pregnant and looks at her girlfriend and goes "Ooooh helll to the no!! We know that aint possible haha!!" "So...I'm allergic to vicodin so what would that be?? I don't see that on here as an option." "It would be vicodin". "Oh okay well believe me it makes me itchy everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE! I'm talkin my hands, feet, my HOO HA...". Yeah...you could have just simply responded it makes me itchy but thanks for that extra little bit of TMI. Then she kept trying to get me to touch her hand to feel the cysts on it but I wasn't about to do that. I don't even like shaking people's hands let alone feeling around for a cyst. No thanks. She just kept running on and on and I pretty much had to cut her off to get out of the room. My surgeon gets very antsy about keeping on schedule and spending any extra time with her was not going to fly. Of course in the end she set her up for surgery. ugh.

This batshit crazy drug addict called in asking for another refill on her vicodin. Funny because she had said a few weeks ago she couldn't swallow vicodin, only percocet. She even told the girl "this was bullshit!!!" when she could only get a vicodin script not a percocet one and hung up on her. Now she calls in every week asking for more vicodin. So I explained to the PA that refilled it the week before that there were extensive phone notes in there saying she should get no more and he was like "Omg how did I not know this??" But he ended up giving her one last refill which honestly he really shouldn't have but whatever not my call. I told her it would be her last refill and she goes "Oh well...yeah. I think it just hurts because I smashed it." "Oh yeah..when did that happen??" "Uh....ummm I don't know. I think Saturday...or yeah uh..Sunday". Hooookay.

Meanwhile I have had my own pain going on with my my knee and back from that day I wheeled out that woman and then my left thumb flared up again on Thursday. Icing it was the only way to get through the day, it was so bad. I saw the WC doctor for my injury on Thursday and explained that my knee has started aching all of the sudden and he urged me to get an MRI. I really wanted to wait it out but he said it would be better to get the process going and he never takes MRIs lightly as far as pushing for them. I figure I may as well do it as long as work comp pays for it. I really hate MRIs. I would be highly surprised if it shows a meniscus tear like what he is thinking. I just really think it is bruised. But with the amount of weight the woman was (350 lb +) plus the extra weight of the child in her lap and the actual wheel chair he wants to be safer than sorry. My surgeon I work with also did a little exam on my hand in between surgery cases yesterday. I didn't realize but my left wrist is actually swollen. She picked up on it right away without seeing my right wrist but then compared them and confirmed it. She thinks it is what I was thinking...dequervains tendinitis. Weird thing is after she pushed on my wrist (lightly) I now have some bruising. She told me to take one of the thumb abductor braces off one of the shelves in one of her rooms. If our CFO found out about that I would be in big trouble. She'd be so pissed. I'm just waiting for them to question me about it one of these days when I'm wearing it. She is not about giving anything free to anybody, even the needy. But it has helped with the pain so much. I am so glad I said something to her. All I had was a carpal tunnel brace that I was using but it doesn't restrict the thumb so it doesn't do anything like this one does. I still have pain but it feels better in it. She said to wear it for a week and then we can discuss a cortisone injection. Yay. The perks of working for a hand surgeon!

They finally announced the merger between another company and ours is finally going to go through as of April 1st. I am excited about the new insurance. I may actually be able to afford adding my husband and daughter! I really hope they are good plans and affordable. It is supposed to be substantially less than before. Right now it costs almost $600 every two weeks to add just one person on to your plan. Yeauh...totally can't afford that! Here's to hoping it really is affordable. You have no idea how excited I am about this. Sign of aging...right. Being excited about insurance. Also we got our federal taxes back yesterday! Will be out of credit card debt and be able to start saving. We're finally in a better spot financially for once and it feels good.