What’s been going on…

So my last blog I mentioned that I had the flu. I had the flu during my birthday, which sucks, but I seem to always have sucky birthdays (except a few). I had the flu for my 30th birthday as well. Once I got better, we had a fish fry (thanks to Kim and Todd) and the next day, we had a BBQ for our neighbor Rick’s 70th birthday! The following week we had pizza and wings with the regulars here at the campground. I didn’t get a picture of the wings (12lbs!) or the other pizzas, but I got a picture of the bird in Kim’s grill…

And of course, we have been enjoying the gorgeous sunsets that this campground has!

On another note, I am having surgery on Monday (February 3rd). I’m a private person and normally would not write about this, but I thought I would bring something interesting up that I never knew existed.

I’ll start from the beginning. Back in February 2024, I woke up a few hours after I fell asleep in terrible pain. I had pain in my right shoulder and my stomach was hard as a rock. I couldn’t get comfortable sitting, laying down, standing or walking! This went on for a few hours, then I threw up and the pain was gone… I had this happen again in June, August, and twice in November.

Our insurance kicked in May of 2024, so I called to get a doctors appointment while in Maine, but they would not accept new patients until November, when we would be here in Florida. So I found a doctor here in Florida. Side note, our insurance is for annual wellness visits and does not cover much else. Brian and I both went to the doctor in November. I won’t go into Brian’s stuff because that is not my business to say. I was told I have hypertension, so I got on meds to lower my blood pressure. I had no idea how much high blood pressure was affecting my everyday life until I got on this medicine. I feel so much better in many ways. At my appointment, my BP was 150/120, NOT GOOD!

I told her about my pain and she said it could be my gallbladder or maybe a stomach ulcer. She sent me for an ultrasound and they looked at just about everything. Turns out I have gallstones, several large ones, but there was no sign of infection.

I changed my diet, dramatically. I cut out all fried foods (except for the fish fry), potato chips, candy, acidic foods, and cut way down on red meat. Basically, I have been eating veggies, rice, chicken, and fish. I lost 15lbs since November doing this.

I had a consultation with a surgeon in the closest town to where we are and my insurance does not cover surgery. So, I asked them for the cash price and was quoted at $24 thousand dollars! I was in shock! I gave up on even having the surgery until I contacted my insurance agent. I asked her how and when I could upgrade my insurance to get more coverage and I can’t do that because it still would not be covered since it would be considered a pre-existing condition. She did tell me about this program that my insurance has that I could go through to maybe get a better cash price. So I thought why not just try…

I had to answer a bunch of questions on how far I would be willing to travel, would I travel by plane, ect. and no more than 10 hours later, I got an email saying that there is a center in Orlando that only charges $7 thousand! I know, still expensive, but it was more doable than $24 thousand! Orlando is only an hour and a half drive from where we are, so I made an appointment for a consultation. Then made the appointment to have my gallbladder removed.

The point of me telling you all this is so you know there are other ways to get things done, you just have to reach out and ask! Asking to be referred to a surgery center probably would have been a better option than going to a hospital, but I did not think of that until I spoke with my insurance agent.

I will be on a stricter diet after the surgery, hopefully I don’t starve to death! I’ll keep you all updated next week. No worries, I will be fine, it is outpatient and will be home with my doggos the same day. Moxxi and Tucker are good snugglers/nurses when I’m not feeling well.

****UPDATE****

After posting this blog, I received an email stating that the payee information on the cashiers check that was sent to pay for my surgery, was incorrect. I have fixed this and will get a new surgery date once the new payment is received. I’ll keep you all updated. Thank you all for the concerns.

~Happy Travels!