Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Taking Care of All the Medical Stuff

Monday was a very productive day for me.  I spent three hours on the phone getting proof of income sent to me and determining what services were available to me on my medical insurance (you really don't want to know what a mess my insurance coverage is in).

Yesterday I made appointments to get new glasses, go to the dentist, and see my doctor about prescriptions to get filled in Ecuador--oh, and also to write a prescription for my granny cart.  More about that in a little bit.

I was thrilled to be able to get an appointment with Pearl Vision for yesterday, one with the dentist for tomorrow, and I'll see the doctor the week of the 20th.  Once I got all the information, it was smooth as silk and I'll now be all fixed up with insurance services.  You see, getting the glasses and going to the dentist were both things I "should have" done months ago, so waiting until now might have been a serious problem in terms of time.  This is one more thing off my very lengthy list of things to do.

Back to the granny cart.  For those of you who may not be familiar with them, a granny cart is really called a market cart but they got the name because so many of the people who use them are elderly women who take the bus to the grocery store.  They've become much more popular and would definitely be more appropriately referred to as market carts but the name has stuck.  If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, take a look at http://www.amazon.com/Polder-STO-3022-92-Superlight-Shopping-Aluminum/dp/B0015Y6LH6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1328112750&sr=8-5.  This one is MUCH nicer than mine but you get the idea.

Anyway, I use my cart all the time when I go shopping.  Not only is it useful for managing the groceries, etc., but it helps with my balance as I'm walking.  My balance isn't so bad that I would need a walker or anything like that but the market cart is just a nice helper every once in a while. 

As it relates to my move, it occurred to me that I need it for all the things I use it for here.  When I looked at the airline's policies on what you can take along similar to wheelchairs, etc., what they said was that you could check through, free, wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes, or other assistive devices.  My granny cart is definitely an assistive device--OK, it's a bit of a stretch--so I decided to give it a try.  I'll have my carry on bag and camera case with me when I board the plane and the cart would be SO helpful in getting me to the gate.  I figured that if they denied it, that would be no more of a hardship than if I had left it home.  At least if I have it there to ask about, I have a far better chance of getting it authorized than if I didn't, right?

Now comes the part about the doctor.  Once all this mental processing had sifted through my brain, it then occurred to me that having a prescription with me might be more helpful in getting them to approve it.  So, the last time I had an appointment with my Dr., I asked if he would consider doing it.  He was more than happy to do so.  Hurray!  I might get to take it.  That would be so lovely.

All my pesky health issues are now taken care of and everything will be complete before my trip.  Hurray!

No comments:

Post a Comment