God bless the insurance company

Don't you just love the way the healthcare system works? And by healthcare system, I mainly mean insurance companies?

A few weeks ago, my wife went to the doctor, who recommended she have an MRI. It was scheduled for the next day, which was a Friday. Actually Friday night. Not that it has any bearing on the story. So she went that Friday night and had the test.

On the following Tuesday, we got a cheery letter from our health insurance company proudly letting us know that the insurance company was going to cover their part of the cost for the MRI. Gee, that's nice to know - four days after she had the test!

What if the letter had said they weren't going to cover it? Could we go back to the hospital and ask them to take it back? I don't think so. Those insurance people - always watching out for you!

But wait, the story doesn't end there!

As a result of the test, my wife needed surgery, which was scheduled for last Monday. Just an outpatient procedure, although I guess it is always serious if it is being done to you. Wanting to get everything over with and the problem relieved, we were glad that they could get her in so quickly. Especially since another doctor that was recommended to us couldn't see her until sometime in September! So the surgery went well, although since it didn't start until 4:30 that afternoon, we were there at the surgery center until 10:30 at night. And then a 45 minute drive home after that! Good thing I had planned on staying home the next day.

So that was Monday. And then on Wednesday, we got another cheery letter from the insurance company, once again letting us know that her surgery was covered. So now we don't have to go back to the doctor to ask him to put her back like she was, since we couldn't afford to pay for the whole thing without insurance!

Maybe I should give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they would have called immediately to say that we shouldn't have the test or the surgery ahead of time if they wouldn't cover it. And to them, maybe sending the letter was just a nice way to let us know that it was covered, something to keep in our records. But it all seems a little strange to me. Not the way things work in the world that I would like to live in.

So now, she's fine. And - she's covered by insurance!

Life's a beach!

I love the beach! Unfortunately, the closest beach is around 450 miles away, so I don't get there all that often. And in fact it has been several years since we last visited the beach. Not counting our time on an island during our cruise of 2003, the last time we went to the beach was 1997. 9 years?!?! Time to do something about that!

So we did. Last week we spent several glorious days at the beach at Gulf Shores, AL. Just the two of us - no kids this time around. Beautiful white sand. Rolling waves crashing into the beach. Seashells, seaweed, fish swimming by. And of course airplanes constantly flying by pulling advertising banners (Tracks: Ride the Wild Woody!) We spent several hours out there each day, and then on a couple of nights we went back to walk along the beach around sunset.

I love to be at the beach, hearing the waves come in and out. Or riding the waves so much that at night you can feel yourself still going up and down, up and down. Or just watching the people go by. It was like heaven on earth.

One problem: the sun. Yes, I wanted it to be sunny and hot. And it was. But Monty of the Fair Skin evidently doesn't tan quite as easily as he once did, which never was quite that easily to begin with. And evidently all those claims of sunscreen makers of their product being waterproof after 8 hours doesn't quite hold up. I had on SPF 45, and still got quite a bit of sun on our first day. Which made the other days a bit tricky to enjoy myself and not turn the same color as Hardcastle and McCormick's Coyote sportscar.

We got a beach umbrella and some more sunscreen. And we both would apply sunscreen heavily each time we got out of the water. Problem solved, for the most part. Except that both of us were already pretty red. But that didn't slow us down or keep us from having a good time.

On a good note, three good-looking college girls in small bikinis (turns out there were several such girls at the beach) stopped to talk to me. Of course, it was mainly to comment on how my back looked sunburned and whether I might be sore the next morning. But hey, I'll take any attention I can get!

With how much fun we had, and how nice the area was, I don't think it will be all that long before we visit again!