Today was about the behind the scenes. All the frameworks the keep everything running…or not running, as the case was today more often than not.
It started off with plumbing. Cesar is the good-natured professional that my building’s owner has chosen as the one-stop-shop. Today we went in and fixed a shower, that included two trips for parts, and determined (once again) that my tenants be cray, especially when it comes to reporting “drain issues” that don’t exist once we get up there to diagnose them.
I was also then alerted to the newest feature of my building which I like to call the “Planter Pond” (pictured above). Either a drain isn’t working, or a pipe under pressure is leaking, because that’s about a good 4 inches of standing water in there. Not good.
Then, after bidding adieu to Master Cesar, it was on to Medical Insurance. Hard to be as flippant about this topic, since it is *genuinely* distressing, but here we go. My mother suffers from a severe form of Obstructive Sleep Apnia, or OSA to the cool kids. Well, she’s been trying now for a year to get it dealt with, doing several studies and trying various machines designed to open her airways, none of which have worked. Which brings us to the present, where she’s been referred and accepted as a candidate for a surgery that will almost certainly fix her problem forever. That surgery is scheduled for next Monday.
Except.
Her insurance has thus far refused to accept OR deny the procedure. And the surgery is supposed to happen next Monday. You can see the dilemma here.
The most frustrating thing for me, beyond the basic fact that every insurance company *survives* by not paying claims out, is that I can’t help her. I can’t be on the phone with these people to try and decode what’s actually happening behind the scenes, attempt to formulate new plans based on the evolving situation, because it all has to do with her private medical records. It has to be her. The person least objective about the whole thing.
She’s a nurse at the hospital she’s trying to get the surgery done with. Seems like that would make things straightforward. But nope. Her insurance is another company, like all the others, and they have nothing to do with any actual healthcare providers. All they handle is money.
Later on, had a meeting with my writing/production partner and our manager to talk “Made of Clay” — I’ll be adding a section maybe as early as tomorrow to do some production diary-ing on that. Totally looking forward to that. I’ve done the filmmaking before, but not a diary of it, and I want to. It all whips by so fast, and it’s always a fascinating process. But, anyway, we talked casting and set up some meetings. Very close to shooting our Kickstarter campaign video, and there are some *really* cool people getting involved.
The day ended up, keeping with the theme, on the back end of this very site. Trying to figure out how to post a video here, like Today’s Track, and share that one Facebook with the *video* in the thumbnail, so you or I could play the song straight from your Facebook feed. Instead, as it stands, it links you to the post on this site. Well, I’m not posting the video because I want you to visit my site, I want to share the song. To accomplish that, the internet gods have deemed sacrifices must be made…like my sanity. And perhaps a squishy stress ball. 😛
But giving up is for the giver-uppers, and I’m pretty sure that’s not me. And if it is, we’ll have to think of a much cooler name.
That’s all for tonight. Impressed that I wrote so much, all on my iPhone while Liz falls asleep next to me. Not easy typing on this little thing, but it worked, and pretty well. Well done Apple!