Chris, Abbey, and I traveled to Houston for Memorial Day weekend. Chris' brother, Matt (Uncle Matt-Matt) is leaving in a week to go to Ghana, Africa for two years with the Peace Corps, so we had a going away party for him on Monday. While I was in Houston, I noticed that I had something in my eye. No big deal, right? It was a white speck, right in the middle of my pupil. It didn't hurt, it didn't obstruct my vision, I hadn't seen it before... really, no big deal. All weekend, I tried to move whatever it was off of the surface of my eye (gently, and very few times, so as not to irritate my eye), but when we got home Monday it was still there. Tuesday, I made an eye appointment for today (Wednesday), so needless to say, I've been a little nervous for the past few days.
Today, I show up for my appointment, very nervous, and am waiting for the doctor to call me in. The receptionist checks my insurance, and lo and behold, our insurance company doesn't even recognize me as a patient. Awesome. The doctor goes ahead and calls me back just to get the ball rolling on the appointment and discovers that there is, in fact, a foreign body in my eye. Exactly what I didn't want it to be. I was hoping for a scratch, or anything that didn't involve the word removal.
Back in the waiting area, the receptionist is still on the phone trying to figure out my insurance. I've been almost in tears from the moment I heard the words "foreign body removal" because eye stuff REALLY freaks me out. The doctor pulls be back again to take some pictures of my eye, and then it's back out to the waiting area. Meanwhile, I have Abbey with me who is screaming, crying, hungry (I brought snacks and water- she just didn't want them), and oh yes, farting really loudly. Nice. Poor receptionist is trying to talk to my insurance company on the phone while my child is making every conceivable noise to distract the phone call.
While all of this is going on, I'm calling Chris to fill him in on what's going on, and while I'm at it, I let him know that without insurance, the "removal" costs $350. Seriously? For some numbing drops and a long q-tip... $350?? This is what I'm thinking/hoping the removal will be, by the way. Stay tuned for what actually happened.
When the receptionist gets off of the phone, she informs me that my health insurance doesn't cover optometry (knew that, that's why I have optometry insurance), but that optometry insurance doesn't cover eye health- just vision. GREAT!! Basically, while I'm standing in the waiting area with my screaming, farting child, I start crying thinking about how this foreign body is going to be in my eye forever, and if not, it's going to cost an arm and a leg. Or in my world, a new Coach purse... not like I was going to get one anytime soon, but now I'm sure it will be even longer!
In order to quiet my child, I give her every cinnamon breath mint in my purse, and at this point I don't care what you think of my mothering skills. It worked. It was the only thing that kept her from screaming, "BITE??! BITE??!" Mustering up the last shred of my dignity, I asked the receptionist if I owe anything for this (now, hour and a half) "visit". She said no, so I swiftly left so as not to start crying in front of her. I called Chris, crying, freaking out about my eye, and he told me to go ahead with the procedure.
My doctor felt so bad about the insurance people not being cooperative that he gave me a discount on the procedure (about $50 off), so I'm happy at this point... until the removal process starts. I go back to the room, and I see a small metal kit in my doctor's hands. Nothing good ever comes out of those small metal kits. He proceeds to open it, and inside is a small, sharp pair of tweezers (I'm thinking no way...), and a tiny, drill-like metal object that actually makes a whirring sound and spins. And that's what they removed the foreign body from my eye with. A tiny, blunt-ended, metal, spinning drill-like thing that made me start to cry from anxiety, and started the shaking uncontrollably almost immediately. It took about 10 minutes but he got whatever it was out, and don't worry, he deadened my eye with drops before he did it.
Let's hope this never happens again, because I really don't think I could have had two kids there with me. I want to lay down and go to sleep just thinking about it...
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