How to Get Stuck in Bed

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My life here is very circumscribed these days. Mostly I live in bed, resting, healing. I've been very sick for a very long time, and I'm not sure how much actual life function I'll be able to recover. I think that partly depends upon those IgG booster shots I want so badly.

The insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield/Health Options - BCBS - has to approve the treatment, and I think some sort of state medical board does too. The final hoop we jump through before applying is a bone marrow biopsy. That's done to prove the low IgG count - it's now down to 294 - isn't from a bone or blood cancer.

The biopsy has been scheduled and postponed three times. Now it's scheduled for May 15. Wish me luck, folks. Or maybe say *break a leg* instead.

Here at home I now have a hospital bed, one they call *semi-electric.* All the controls are electric except the control that raises the entire bed up and down. That's a hand crank!!! A safety feature, BCBS said, to keep the patient from doing something dangerous like raising their own dang bed up and down. They were delighted to hear my hands are too crippled to crank it. That was NOT nice!

And we do need it to be ALL electric.

Now - following BCBS's instructions - we have a letter explaining that my unofficial caregiver, Walter, is also disabled with a serious back and chest injury, and can't actually crank that sucker either. After we paid $60 for the doctor visit to get the letter, BCBS decided I must also have an rx for a *100% electric bed.* --? I'm pretty sure that's what you were given in the first place, folks. Can you look it up and see? --No. Only your doctor is allowed to ask. We call it Privileged.--

WTF?!? I'm not allowed to ask about my own prescription?!

Well, I'll have to back-burner that task for now. Pick my battles. You see, it means asking one of my docs for yet another free favor. We don't have any more $60. I can't even get my regular prescriptions filled because we spent the money for copays elsewhere. It's okay, the only thing I'm completely out of is the Lidoderm patches to make my mummy hands, but still...it's just frustrating when BCBS changes up their stupid rules in the middle of the game, delaying sending me the bed I need, which of course is the whole point.

So I'll keep transferring between bed and wheelchair the unsafe way, wiggling around between a bed set at one height, and a wheelchair that's a different height.
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