Transfer Complete

So I had to evaluate for myself exactly what a blog is and why I felt the need to start one. I don't know that I could define the word 'blog' as it pertains to society these days, nor would I want to. However, I do understand (I think) what it's purpose is in regard to my need to have one.

You might have read this blog yesterday and remembered reading something entirely different. That is because you did...read something entirely different. It was pointed out to me (by someone who shall remain nameless, although I think you can guess who I am referring to) that certain information didn't need to be floating out in cyberspace for some "creep" to read. I asked myself what the big deal was. I wasn't putting personal information out there and sending emails en mass to people I didn't even know. I mean, it would have been a freak occurrence for some stranger out there to even do a search for me and find this blog spot. But, I digress.

So I will write a blog, and hopefully through the course of things, it will be a kind of therapy. I'm not implying that I need therapy, I am simply agreeing with all those guidance counselors, who through the years, told me it was therapeutic to journal. After all, that's what this is - a journal.

So let's get down to brass tacks. What kind of a saying is that? What are brass tacks and why do we need to get down to them anyway? Yesterday did indeed begin as it normally does, save the one change that brought us to early service where we attend worship (Saturn Road Church of Christ). That change being a visit to the Texas Center for Reproductive Health. What is reproductive health? Would it not make more sense to phrase their title in such a way that it more correctly defines what they do? Maybe they could call it the Texas Center for Individuals Wanting to pay an Exorbitant Amount of Money to have Children. Don't get me wrong, we weren't able to have kids without help from these people and I for one am glad they were around and that we lived in an area that had this kind of a doctor nearby.

I guess what frustrates me is the cost of the entire process. Who makes up these numbers anyway? What compels a group of people to sit down around a table and start spewing out amounts they think are fair to have children through the assisted process of invitro fertilization? I want to meet the person(s) that said, "$16,000 for the procurement/harvest of mom's eggs mixed with dad's DNA. Yeah, we think that's fair. Let's not tell them about the pain it will cause to mom or that we really can't guarantee it will work." Who are they fooling? Me, that's who. We paid it alright. And we would probably do it again if necessary.

But when I sit back and rationally think about the state of health care in this country, it makes me sick. My wife spent over an hour on the phone just a few days ago arguing with 3 different people as to how much of a particular medicine (one she needs for the process to which I referred) she was authorized to have. The word 'authorized' really ticks me off. ARE YOU KIDDING?! The doctor said she needed a certain amount, so she should get that amount.....NO QUESTIONS ASKED!!! I know my wife isn't the first person to need that amount and won't be the last, but somehow United Healthcare decided to play God and make such an issue out of it that my wife was left in tears. Don't even get me started on why Walgreen's pharmacy wouldn't break up a box so she could get the amount she needed and not force us to pay more than was necessary. The other thing I am curious about is why it took 3 different people to get an answer. It just reinforces what I have said all along, that these companies 'function' (for lack of a better word) on a different planet and one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. I would say let's move to another country, but there really isn't another choice, is there?

How sad we, as a nation, have become. Socialized medicine...not for me!! But our alternatives aren't much more appealing, either. WOULD SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF THIS MAZE!! I'M TIRED AND WANT IT TO END!!