My battle with Dad's Cancer Doc's office

That seems like a lengthy title, but the problem isn't with Dr. G. It's with his finance office. Dad was deemed eligible for Medicaid with a start date of October, 2008 initially.

My father passed away April 7, 2009 from Stage IV rectal cancer with metastases to his liver and lung. He was only 56 years old. He died under a tragic set of circumstances surrounding his life, and to be brutally honest- he was homeless, and penniless. All of that means nothing now, however there are still some things that remain to be done and since I am the Power of Attorney, they are my tasks to complete.

In early July, Dr. S.- Dad's surgeon- called and informed me that Medicaid had retro-activated (I know that's not a real word, but that's the jargon for it) Dad's account to August, 2008 with a "spend-down" month of September, 2008. Since Dad had had surgery in August, 2008 and had put $150.00 down, I was due back this amount and the surgeon's office submitted the bill to Medicaid and was paid for it.

I had Brett stop by Dr. G's office to alert his staff of the same thing- not once, but twice. No one looked into this, and no one has presented me with reimbursement for close to/or for the entire amount of $900.00 that Dad paid them prior to October, 2008. As I understand it, I am due back the money EVEN IF Dr. G's office failed to submit the bills to Medicaid.

I have to hire a probate attorney because Dad and I did not get the title of his Chevrolet Avalanche out of his name before he died. I am going to sell it and use the funds to buy Dad a tombstone. He did have DI insurance on the truck, and it paid off everything on his loan, save for about 2500.00- which is due on or before Feb 26, 2010. However, since the Title is in his name, a mere POA will not allow the Title department to transfer a temporary Title over to me. I have to have a court order to do so.(The full title will transfer upon the loan pay off). I need the $900.00 back from Dr. G's office to pay for the probate attorney I need to hire.

So today, A2 started preschool. I took off 3 hours of time this morning to see him off to school and be close at hand- "just in case". I came home and drafted my letter to Dr. G's office, which I am cc:ing to the County Medicaid office. I am not trying to get anyone in trouble, I just am tired of Dr. G's office staff refusing to address this matter. All they have done is call to tell me Dad's account is current!

The whole ordeal has been frustrating, but I don't mean to complain. Dad thought he and I would get more days to work these matters out. We would go to breakfast and talk about things, or I would sit with him and talk about his affairs and to be honest, I think it depressed him. Who wants to admit they are dying at 56? I am not upset at all that I am the POA, I am simply upset that Dr. G's staff did not bother to check into what Brett was relaying to them for me.

YEAY ANGELA!

My cousin, Angela, and her yoga studio were given a positive review @ yogacitynyc.com!!!! How thrilling! :)

you can read about it here

Menus...

At work the other day I sat down and wrote up an entire list of meals for Monday through Friday. Of course, I cannot locate said list now. Meh.

So I am going to focus on recalling what I had listed here...

Monday:
B- scrambled eggs, toast, oranges, milk

L- watermelon, half of a pb sandwich, side salad, graham crackers with frosting

D- meatball subs, buttered parm noodles, broccoli

Tuesday:
B- french toast, sausage, orange juice

L- Salad with hard boiled eggs, mini banana, pudding

D- potato soup, salad, crusty bread

Wednesday:
B- egg bake

L- muncher's delight- cubed meat, cheese, grapes, berries, melon, sliced peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, corn bread

D- lasagna, garlic toast, salad

Thursday:
B- pancakes, bacon, milk

L- subs, celery with pb, trail mix, banana

D- roast, potatoes and carrots with rolls

Friday:
B- burritos

L- pita chips with salsa, fruit, lean turkey, vanilla wafers

D- left overs

Saturday:
B- toast

L- hot dogs, mac and cheese

D- ham, au gratin potatoes, broccoli salad, rolls, hot milk cake

Ahhh Wednesday- the happiness post! LOL!

I came home from work and made pancakes from scratch and froze them. I made a batch of sloppy joes and froze them too. I also made the stock for my chicken noodle soup. mmmmmmm. That made me happy. We were able to purge a few things and found more uniform pieces for most of the kids whooooooooot! That makes me VERY happy.

Now Saturday we will be cleaning cleaning cleaning. I will be cooking a few more things- including my chicken noodle soup (I make Brett pull the meat from the carcass!) and hopefully 3 more loaves of pumpkin bread, meatballs, lasagna, breakfast burritos, and more sloppy joes.

Saturday afternoon we will go to Mass and the our church picnic. On Sunday we will be cleaning some more. A guy I work with GAVE us a set of bunk beds! We *REALLY* needed a new set. So we will be deep cleaning the bedrooms, putting fresh sheets on all the beds and getting everything in it's place. That will make me EXTREMELY Happy! LOL!

And the best news of all... I have found an old dear friend on Facebook and we are catching up and I have the name of a doctor in Cincinnati who specializes in adhesions! I cannot wait to call and get an appointment set up.

I am resting in bed watching Ghost Hunters and waiting for my sweetie to return from work. Tomorrow night we have R's band show and carry in. Friday night is the band show at the County Fair.

September 12 A1, B, A2 and I Are going to Lowe's to make drums!

So please pardon my giddiness but this has been an amazing day. I cannot wait for tomorrow! :)

Tuesday

Going into work today, hoping there is an answer from Med Mutual in my inbox. I did complete the list of foods to make and freeze for this weekend. Hopefully I will have enough energy and discipline to finish that!

Laundry tonight... the laundromat is both a wonderful and horrible option. It's a date night for Brett and I- how silly is that?!

Here's to a wonderful day for everyone!

Feeling better... a bit

I just came up with the lessons I will have the children do after their regular schoolwork is complete. (Well in the case of A2 it will be his only work!)

Tuesday Aug 25
A1- Mathematics- Sharpen Skills Worksheet 4 here
Read one short story from "Baseball In April" which we will discuss

B-Math- pg 67 in 2nd grade skills book
Phonics- pg 19 in 2nd grade skills book

A2- Mosaic art (sorting colors- orange, red, yellow, green, blue- shapes- square, circle, triangle, rectangle, oval)

Wednesday Aug 26
A1- People from American History worksheet found here
Guessing Vocab in context 2

B- Math pg 73 in 2nd grade skills book
Phonics pg 25 in 2nd grade skills book
Visions Of America worksheet found here

A2-Sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" talk about our L sounds, make handprint lamb

Thursday Aug 27

A1-Our Lady Word Search Found here
research Our Lady of Mt. Carmel- find out Feast Day, to whom did Mary appear, what color is Our Lady of Mt. Carmel's scapular

B- read "The Fire Cat" discuss how Pickles was both good and bad.

A2- L Worksheet found here
Use computer to look up information on Lambs- what do they eat? What do they sound like? What do we use them for?


I did get some sorting and purging done. Now I am off to create a month of menus for August and September. WHEEEE!!! :)

Took personal time today

getting the littles room ready for BTS and sleeping in it again. I don't have TV in any of our children's rooms, so during the summer they are able to camp out in the living room and watch tv until they fall asleep. We also do not have central air as this is an electrically heated home. We do have a/c in the living room and it helps them to sleep.

But all of that will fall away now as we move into fall. I started going through all of the things that I have picked up for A2 for preschool and sorting their clothing into piles. I have to change the linens on the beds and after laundy tonight put things away.

B tried on her uniforms and she can still wear 2 skorts, 1 pair of shorts and her 2 jumpers so we are set there. She will need pants for cooler weather, but as we often get Indian Summer here, I am willing to wait on purchasing them as she may have a growth spurt soon. Her legs have been aching, that's usually a tell-tale sign.

Tomorrow T and R will have to clean out their closet and sort out the clothing into piles that fit, piles that do not and piles of clothing they don't intend to wear. Hopefully T will find his other ties for school and his other oxfords. R needs at least one more polo, but he does have enough to start school.

A1 needs shorts and a few shirts. Father Dave found a benefactor who has donated 2 shirts for each student at St. Rose with the school name embroidered on them. ; ) that makes me happy. A1 should be able to find all the pants Mrs. M gave him last year and coupled with shorts and at least the two shirts I intended to buy him that should have him set for school.

So far I am doing better than I feared I would be at this point. I am VERY good at indicating on paper all of my intentions, but far less inclined to put them into action without much proding and pushing on my own end.

I am going to make a list of foods that I will make Friday night into Saturday and freeze for the start of school. I am also going to find Bento boxes for A1 and B for their lunches this year. I'd like to go without disposables such as sandwich bags and water bottles. I've been doing research and there are some wonderful products out there.

Ok A2 has a doctor appt. for pre-school @ 12:30 so I must be off to bathe him and continue my work in his room.

A new beginning

I am going to keep this blog as a way to record my efforts with OAMC (Once A Month Cooking) and all variations thereof, my school work with my children and memories of all of their activities.

I have 5 children. My oldest two are 16 and 15 and are sophomores at two different high schools. We are Catholic and as such we have raised all of our children (thus far obviously) in Catholic schools.

Our eldest child has learning disabilities in every subject (mostly with retention and recall) and Sensory Integration Dysfunction. As a result, we opted to hold him back in the 5th grade. Prior to our doing so, the Great State of Ohio changed the rules for proficiency tests and children with learning disabilities. There was no longer a "free pass" for these children. Consequently with T reading at a 3rd grade reading level at the end of 5th grade, sending him on to take a 6th grade reading test was setting him up for failure- hence both children in the same grade.

Last year, our second child, had a horrible time fitting in at the Catholic High School. His grades plummeted, his attitude started to stink and we were constantly fighting with this child. I could not take it any longer and so we discussed with him moving him into the public school. I am actually looking forward to it. He is in a college readiness program which will have him earning college credits in high school and he is going to have many more music opportunities for him to persue. He is very musically oriented.

And so, I will be sitting in bleachers both Friday and Saturday nights. The Catholic school and the public school in our hometown share a football stadium and the Catholic school plays games on Saturday nights when the public school also has a home game the same weekend.

#3 will be starting 5th grade (it's such a hard year!), #4 will be in first grade and #5 will be starting pre-school. So I look forward to incorporating my own lessons into their school lessons. I am going back to NO TV on school nights and family reading. (I use the abridged classics for children and we all take turns reading chapters). I am also going to supplement their work with lessons I create.

I am reading up on old fashioned cooking and studying recipes from "The Farmer's Wife"- a magazine that was in print from 1863 through the 1930's. I am trying to get away from processed food and to learn to cook more things from scratch. I will be posting these things here.

I have a lot to do before school starts. I am hoping my health cooperates. I was recently diagnosed with gastroparesis (Paralyzed stomach) and ulcers. I also have scar tissue (or adhesions) that are a source of constant chronic pain and keep me down a lot of days in the month. I am seeking pain management training and help for that. I am also learning what I can and cannot eat (sadly mostly veggies!) with the GP. I am sure I will be whining about my health issues quite a bit on here... so I apologize for that! :)