Of course Shar'rai would get to come home in the middle of the biggest storm of the year. The nurse called and said she did well in surgery and was doing good today and that she could go home at 10:00 this morning.
I went to the admissions desk (first one that you get to when you go in) and asked to pick up my dog. They said I had to go to the billing office for all discharges. Of course. That's how you can't skip out on the bill. You can't even see your dog until billing calls back that you are here. The girl started tallying up the bill. It was only $200 something for the surgery but we still had $100 something from last week that wasn't covered by the credit. She told me the total due and I just stood there. I told her that I could pay her in two weeks when I get my next check. She said no, that wasn't their policy, blah, blah, blah. I told her my story, blah, blah, blah. We went back and forth,
"the dog can't be discharged without payment in full",
"I can't pay in full".
She said she would check with her supervisor, which she did, still, no. I asked her, so what, you're going to keep my dog for two weeks until I can pay? She seemed a bit surprised by that and said no that had never happened. She suggested that we try to up the credit that I had gotten last week. I refused telling her that I hadn't qualified, my sister had and there was no way I was going to try to get more on that. I told her about our conversations with the Dr's on the first day and was really getting confrontational by then. She asked me to sit down while she called the Dr. I told her that was a good idea and she should do that. I went outside to call Sean. told him what was going on and then proceeded to cry in the snow for the next five min. By the time I went back in, the surgeon and the student assigned to her for the stay were at the billing office talking to the girl. I sat down and cried some more. The student saw me and came over. She said she would go get Shar'rai. I told her I didn't want to see Shar'rai if i couldn't take her home, it would just be that much harder. She was surprised by what I had said. The Dr came over and was trying to find out what was wrong. I was crying too much to say anything. They finally got me into an exam room and after a few minutes I told them the whole story. Our first good impressions, conversations, and the subsequent lack of communication regarding the billing practices. The fact that if I couldn't take her home they might as well not bring her out to see me because that would be too difficult to see her and not have her go with me. He too seemed confused when I said that and asked why I would think she wasn't going home today. I told him that's what the girl in the billing office had told me. There was no way I could finish paying the bil today so she said she couldn't discharge Shar'rai. The Dr said there was no way she wasn't going home today and that he would take care of the billing office. I don't know if that means that he got them to go ahead and bill us or if he got the account cleared. I guess we'll see if a bill show up in the next couple of weeks.
They brought Shar'rai out. She's in a t-shirt. It's to help keep her covered from the sun, with 1/2 her body shaved, she could get a nasty sun burn, although not during a blizzard! The Dr helped me load her up in the car and off we went. We picked up Sean form work on the way home and we were able to get her out of the car without too much trouble. We took her to the back stairs because they are not as steep and she managed them quite well. The rest of the day she followed me around the house which tells me that either she's feeling a lot better without her diseased leg, or that she's on some really good pain meds. She hadn't followed me around for weeks because it hurt her so bad. She was laying on her blanket later and we noticed her shirt was pretty wet. We'd been outside for a bathroom break, and while it was raining real good, the wet spot on her shirt didn't look like rain drops. I took it off her and surprise, she had felt so good today and moved around so much that she popped at least three of her staples and was oozing. yay. We bandaged it with some neosporin (never hurts right?) gauze, tape and wrapped it all up with an ace bandage - good thing for first aid kits. We'll see how it looks tomorrow and decide if we need to take her in to get re-stapled.
I went to the admissions desk (first one that you get to when you go in) and asked to pick up my dog. They said I had to go to the billing office for all discharges. Of course. That's how you can't skip out on the bill. You can't even see your dog until billing calls back that you are here. The girl started tallying up the bill. It was only $200 something for the surgery but we still had $100 something from last week that wasn't covered by the credit. She told me the total due and I just stood there. I told her that I could pay her in two weeks when I get my next check. She said no, that wasn't their policy, blah, blah, blah. I told her my story, blah, blah, blah. We went back and forth,
"the dog can't be discharged without payment in full",
"I can't pay in full".
She said she would check with her supervisor, which she did, still, no. I asked her, so what, you're going to keep my dog for two weeks until I can pay? She seemed a bit surprised by that and said no that had never happened. She suggested that we try to up the credit that I had gotten last week. I refused telling her that I hadn't qualified, my sister had and there was no way I was going to try to get more on that. I told her about our conversations with the Dr's on the first day and was really getting confrontational by then. She asked me to sit down while she called the Dr. I told her that was a good idea and she should do that. I went outside to call Sean. told him what was going on and then proceeded to cry in the snow for the next five min. By the time I went back in, the surgeon and the student assigned to her for the stay were at the billing office talking to the girl. I sat down and cried some more. The student saw me and came over. She said she would go get Shar'rai. I told her I didn't want to see Shar'rai if i couldn't take her home, it would just be that much harder. She was surprised by what I had said. The Dr came over and was trying to find out what was wrong. I was crying too much to say anything. They finally got me into an exam room and after a few minutes I told them the whole story. Our first good impressions, conversations, and the subsequent lack of communication regarding the billing practices. The fact that if I couldn't take her home they might as well not bring her out to see me because that would be too difficult to see her and not have her go with me. He too seemed confused when I said that and asked why I would think she wasn't going home today. I told him that's what the girl in the billing office had told me. There was no way I could finish paying the bil today so she said she couldn't discharge Shar'rai. The Dr said there was no way she wasn't going home today and that he would take care of the billing office. I don't know if that means that he got them to go ahead and bill us or if he got the account cleared. I guess we'll see if a bill show up in the next couple of weeks.
They brought Shar'rai out. She's in a t-shirt. It's to help keep her covered from the sun, with 1/2 her body shaved, she could get a nasty sun burn, although not during a blizzard! The Dr helped me load her up in the car and off we went. We picked up Sean form work on the way home and we were able to get her out of the car without too much trouble. We took her to the back stairs because they are not as steep and she managed them quite well. The rest of the day she followed me around the house which tells me that either she's feeling a lot better without her diseased leg, or that she's on some really good pain meds. She hadn't followed me around for weeks because it hurt her so bad. She was laying on her blanket later and we noticed her shirt was pretty wet. We'd been outside for a bathroom break, and while it was raining real good, the wet spot on her shirt didn't look like rain drops. I took it off her and surprise, she had felt so good today and moved around so much that she popped at least three of her staples and was oozing. yay. We bandaged it with some neosporin (never hurts right?) gauze, tape and wrapped it all up with an ace bandage - good thing for first aid kits. We'll see how it looks tomorrow and decide if we need to take her in to get re-stapled.
Ugh, what a PAIN! Did she have to get re-stapled? How's she doing now?
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