Depressing

When Mark's parents were here for early Christmas, we were talking about Sean's hospital stay and how expensive it was. His mom talked about hospital loans. Which reminded me of the hospital's help in 2006 paying some of the twix's viral stays.

So, when the bill came I called and asked about it. The very nice lady sent me the info with instructions to apply for Medicaid as they'd need a denial from Medicaid before looking at our application. Applying for Medicaid took days (on the computer, digging up facts about every cent we've ever earned).

We were denied. So last night I had to write up our "we're pathetic please assist us" letter. The sad thing, no facts were exaggerated, no stories embellished. I felt sorry for the chick after I reread it. By the time I'd finished I wondered where we'd find the strength to go on. (Mark commented that a quick drive out to Nebraska would take care of our problems.) Things that hurt us, saving for retirement (you'd lose more than 1/2 the funds taking it out, but too bad counts fully as an asset), having paid off the cars (and not buying new ones), carrying no credit card debt.

Last year:
-Alex's 4 weeks of casting
-Ryan's spina bifida appointment, bladder study
-Sean's viral-related hospital stay, ct-scan, xray, etc.
-Somebody over the summer went for an xray I'm sure of it
-My tonsils surgery in October
-Mark's ER visit
-My ER visit (both of which are being billed as out of network, i.e. we pay it all)

Upcoming:
-Andrew's pre-cancerous skin removal under anesthesia
-Ryan's spina bifida clinic plus whatever additional testing he may require
-Alex may need the toe walking surgery this year

And in a dream world:
-Mark's pregnancy preventing snipping (Yeah, not happening again this year, based on what's coming).

Now we wait and see, everyone please pray the financial assistance peeps take pity on us...