I have had many instances when I was sticker-shocked. It seems as years go by that I am much more frequently stunned by costs of everyday items. As my last post on this humble blog was about my back issues and the pains I have gone through to get help, this seems fitting as a follow-up…
…Friday, March 18th, Six O’clock AM
I am stepping through a maze of sterile, soft fluorescent-lit echoing hallways of a hospital to report for spine surgery while J. parks our car. I have an empty bag of a stomach and the dull mid-forties aged eyes of a man denied his morning coffee. I hear my shoes squeaking on polished utilitarian tiles and notice my tell-tale rhythmic limp of compensated steps from chronic lower back pain exacerbated by denied analgesic over the prior night. I hear beeps, whirs, clicks, alarms, rustling uniforms and bed sheets within a depressing mix of high-tech modalities, patient mutterings and staff in the morning’s business begun. And I hear my heart; feel the light throb through my arms and underarms, along my neck to temples and on to the core of what I am synaptically. About one and a half hours later I am unconscious and prepared for surgery.
I am not yet willing to tell of my horror in the recovery area and during days spent in hospital. I don’t want to relive it—ever—and I haven’t got the whole scope of what happened yet to report fully. So, now I will skip to the mail delivered yesterday so we can end this tale with my intended topic.
J. had taken me to visit my mom yesterday, to get away from the house I hobble around in as I heal. We intended to go earlier in the day, but I got wrapped up in guitar and we were hours later with our trip there and back. J. swung to the mailbox with the car and we brought the mail in with some needed purchases after our time with mom. Right off, J. noticed the addressed mail for me was from the hospital. The envelopes were opened with much curiosity tainted with the sour-sweet scent of fear anticipating costs I would be paying over the next five or so years. The sum was worse than we’d expected.
- Room Charges: $3,633.00
- Pharmacy: $253.01
- Med/Surgical Supplies: $3,163.50
- Lab: $260.50
- Radiology: $919.00
- Operating Room Services: $8,580.00
- Anesthesia: $2,142.00
- Physical Therapy: $398.00
- Occupational Therapy: $360.00
- Recovery Room: $668.50
- Professional Services: $143.00
- Surgical Implants/Supplies: $34,170.00
- The total bill: $54,690.51
Profession Services, what the hell is that? And the killer on the bill: Surgical Implants/Supplies. I am gonna guess—until I meet with the surgeon and clarify that item Thursday during a follow-up—that the charges are for the surgery itself and not just the borrowed cadaver bone and titanium hardware used in my spinal fusion. If the charges are only for those items, then there will be blood drawn—and not the kind that does anyone any good!
I will only pay a percent of all this once my insurance has paid the bulk; yet, with my income I will be paying this for at least 5 years or more. So, the sticker-shock is here. I am counting on the benefits I reap from this experience to allow me to make more income and pay my debt a bit quicker with a much stronger spine. One needs a good spine to take on years of debt!
©2011 Stumpar Scribbles
