A Weary Welcome to the New Year
For anyone who has dealt with insurance, pharmacies, doctor's offices, or blood work.
“Hello, I need to order a refill of my medication.”
“Hello, I’m calling for more information on your prescription savings card because the pharmacy just informed me this medicine is now over 20 times the price I paid in December of 2023”
“Hello, I’m calling back with my prescription savings card information”
“Hello, I’m reaching out because I found a prescription savings card but with my current pharmacy, the out of pocket cost is still astronomically expensive, even more than they first quoted me. Are you able to run my coverage information to see if I can fill it cheaper with you?”
“Hello, I’m calling back to go ahead and place the order for my refill because I can’t manage to find it less expensive anywhere else and it’s a time sensitive order.”
“Hello, despite attempting to place an order twice before, when I was finally ready to order, the pharmacy informed me this medication you covered last month is suddenly not covered. I’d like an explanation of why and why after I was on hold for 30 minutes and the call dropped, you didn’t try to call me back.”
“Hello, can you please return this voicemail? I’ve just been told my insurance isn’t covering my medicine and I’ve been trying to get ahold of them with no luck. Can you reach out on your end and see what you can find out? Maybe they’ll be more responsive to someone from the fertility doctor’s office.”
“Hello, thanks for finally getting back to me an hour after the call was dropped. Are you able to tell me why this medication is suddenly showing up as non formulary when the woman who works in pre-authorizations from my doctor’s office informed me there was no change from last year to this year? She was able to get ahold of someone to get that information, but they wouldn’t tell her anymore since she wasn’t the patient.”
“Hello, I just explained all of this to insurance but they transferred me back to you, can you tell me from the pharmacy’s end what the issue is?”
“Hello, I’m calling back to once again place my order for my prescription… Yes I am aware of how much it costs… Yes I have insurance coverage, I’ve just spoken at length with them and someone from your team verifying my coverage… Yes, try to add on the prescription savings card… No, I will not be making any more phone calls, just run the order however you need to get it processed because I’m running out of time before I need it shipped.”
“Hello, I’m here for my bloodwork”
“Hello, I’m at LabCorp and they have not received the lab orders you told me you submitted 4 days ago. Can you please send it now? I have an ultrasound appointment with my OBGYN in 30 minutes, so this is time sensitive.”
“Hello, they still haven’t received your fax and I’m still in a time crunch. Can you email it and upload it to my portal?”
“Hello, can I run upstairs for my ultrasound and then come back down since it’s taking so long to receive the order?”
“Hello, I’m here for my ultrasound.”
“Hello, I’m back for my blood work, sorry it took so long, the doctor was running late… My normal lab tech just went on her lunch break? Fantastic. Just send me back to whoever.”
— How an IVF patient says “hello” to the new year
Dinner
Okay, so this is a 2 for 1 special because I’m going to tell you about my dinner and my lunch. The most recurring dinner in our house is sheet pan vegetables and venison sausage (I know I’ve shared that here a time or hundred), but after the meal, I always find myself with more leftover vegetables than sausage. When this happens, I love to throw them in a pan the next day with some olive oil, get them nice and hot, then fry a couple of eggs on top. I finish it off with some Cholula hot sauce and.. .chef’s kiss. Both meals are so easy, flavorful, and a great way to incorporate more vegetables into my diet. Win, win, win.
Rave
What is January for if not reorganizing and purging your spaces? This is exactly what I did last Friday while my daughter was with my parents— I purged and reorganized my bathroom and closet and man, I feel like a (new) woman.
When we moved to this house 2.5 years ago, I didn’t think we would be here long, so I didn’t make much of an attempt to organize. Fast forward to now, and here we still are, so I decided it was high time to set some systems in place so I don’t want to pull my hair out every time I open my closet door and see my clothes and shoes strewn about. (I’m not brave enough to show you the before picture yet.)
For under $50 I completely transformed my closet with the purchase of these plastic drawers and these bins with lids (or something similar, since I found mine at Home Goods.) With the addition of these two systems, I was able to move my shoes and bins around in a way that opened the space and made it look and feel bigger. Now every time I open the door, I breathe a sigh of relief. Funny how making adjustments to fit the space you’re in rather than waiting for the space you want to be makes you feel so much better… I feel a post about that coming soon…
This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series "Hello".
So well done! That sounds so frustrating and you captured it well here. I love how you approached this prompt.
How true 💛 thank you for sharing all those “hello’s”.. I’m wearily welcoming the new year alongside you. I also LOVE your closet and your thoughts about making adjustments and that sigh of relief.