Just Another Day in Paradise - Part 4

Just got back from Bradford. There are only two places in Alabama that will work with Blue Cross on this kind of care. However, they only take patients who are in need of detox. The business office lady offered 10 days of treatment for $2500. I closed out 2 of my IRAs to pay that. So, he's got treatment for 10 days. I got the number of outpatient services in order to start working with them now about insurance.

I called my sister to see if she could lend me some money. She wasn't in, so that's when I decided to close my IRAs. She called me back and I got the "too easygoing" lecture from her (got another one shortly after that from my ex-mother-in-law) and that I needed to take care of myself. She probably would have lent me the money, too, but that's water under the bridge. My sister says that I should stay home and not go to Atlanta tomorrow. I still have my hotel reservation, though, and I really want to go. If I don't go, I'll end up just moping around the house or working.

As I was typing this, I got a phone call from Bradford. My son is doing pretty good (still some denial issues, e.g., "I can quit anytime"), but he's cooperating and adjusting well.

Just Another Day in Paradise - Part 3

Insurance lady called me just a little bit ago. She couldn't get anything worked out with Bradford. She's now looking for some place that will take my son and accept my insurance.

Just Another Day in Paradise - Part 2

Added after I got home:

One of the business office people from Bradford called back. They want someone from the insurance company to call them tomorrow to try and work this out. The lady that I talked to at the insurance company afterwards said that she would call them first thing in the morning, and if they couldn't get it worked out, she would try to find another program. I cried on the phone during both phone calls.

My ex-mother-in-law called, and even though my son didn't want her to know, I told her. I also called my sister and my mother and told them. Everyone is pretty upset with my son, and even though I don't think they meant to, they made me feel even worse about being a terrible mother.

Just Another Day in Paradise - Part 1

I get a phone call from my son last night at about 9:00. He's calling me from the police station. He's been arrested for underage drinking, underage possession of alcohol, and possession of drug paraphenalia (marijuana pipe). Apparently, he decided that it was a good idea to sit in one of the pavilions in a public park and drink and get high. For some reason, no one that he was with was arrested. Maybe because the stuff was in his car.

He tells me that I can pick him up in about 30 minutes from the juvenile detention center. I get there and it's much longer than 30 minutes. Nothing like seeing your child brought in wearing handcuffs. I fill out the paperwork and we meet with the juvenile officer. She's going to send him to court and she wants him in a substance abuse program. They give him a drug test there and he tests positive for marijuana and opiates (Oxycontin????). They have people from Bradford come out and evaluate him and they agree that he should be admitted that night. After much drama, angst, and tears, he voluntarily agrees to go. By this time, it's 1:00 am. They let me take him to Bradford myself, as I need to make a quick stop to pick him up some shower, shampoo, deodorant, etc. By the time we finish filling out the paperwork at Bradford, it's 3:00 am.

When they arrested him, they didn't impound his car, but it was still sitting in the park. The park was about 3 miles from our house. I got home about 4:00 am and thought about walking to go get it, but decided to call a cab instead. I finally manage to lay down at 5:00 am for about 3 hours.

I take some clothes and his prescription medication to Bradford before I go in to work. My friends at work that I've told ask me why I came in at all. Well, in the first place, sitting at home by myself worrying didn't look too appealing to me and secondly, the insane work deadlines aren't going away. The combination of lack of sleep, stress, and worrying has caused me to cry several times at work.

The thing that may have broken me is to get a call from Bradford at 4:00 pm. that my insurance won't pay for treatment. None of the options that they gave me were going to work, IMO: 1) pay 1/2 today and 1/2 within 5 days of the total payment ($9,000), 2) fill out a credit application to finance my son's stay (probably not going to work considering how hard it was for me to finally get the truck loan), or 3) wait 3-6 weeks to get him in a state program. And, BTW, they need an answer by noon Friday. I go to see our HR person in tears to try and figure out what to do. She gives me some phone numbers to call. Those phone numbers lead to other phone numbers, but I finally talk to someone who can access the notes for Bradford's inquiry today. The BC/BS guy is telling me that the insurance will pay 100% for 30 days for in-network inpatient treatment and 70% (with a $500 deductible) for out of network treatment. Bradford apparently asked about coverage for residential treatment, which BC/BS defines as going for treatment 8 hours/day and then going home. What BC/BS will cover is inpatient care, which is what I thought Bradford was. Of course, by the time I get this information, the people that I need to talk to at Bradford are gone for the day.

Someone at work just told me to go home and get some rest. That sounds good in theory, but I'm pretty sure that I won't even be able to sleep, no matter how tired I am. I'm a compulsive worrier.

I'm tired

Having to work on Saturday sucks! I put in 10 hours today, trying to get caught up on my work (and I didn't quite make it). I'm so far behind because it seems like I spend all of my time helping other people and doing other people's work. My boss says that I'm too nice. I find that hard to believe sometimes because I always feel like I'm in a bad mood. I guess I can attribute that to stress, overwork, and being tired all the time. Our deadline is August 19 and I know that work is just going to be a bitch until then, and I'll probably be a bitch most of the time, too. I did fill out an overtime request form, so if my boss signs it (and he usually does), at least I'll get paid for the work. It would suck just "donating" that time to them.

Well, Dancing with the Stars is over and John didn't win. Sorrow! I crossed the line into fangirldom a bit that night and sent him an email through his web site. I haven't heard anything back from him yet, though.

Beauty and the Geek is over, too. Chuck and Caitilin ended up winning. The last episode was sort of boring for me. Richard did surprise me with how well he played the piano, though. I read a lot over at Television Without Pity and they have a thread for Beauty and the Geek and Chuck has started posting there. He comes off much better there than he did on the show, IMO.

Reality TV

Not only am I an American Idol junky, I also seem to watch a lot of reality TV. So far this summer, I've been watching The Scholar, Hell's Kitchen, Beauty and the Geek, Dancing with the Stars, and Hit Me Baby One More Time.

So far, my absolute favorite has been Dancing with the Stars. I haven't missed an episode yet, and the season finale is next Wednesday. I love the cheesy music and the cheesy hosts. To me, this is the perfect show to watch during the summer. My favorite contestant is John O'Hurley. I never watched Seinfeld where he played J. Peterman, but I think I fell in love with him the very first time I saw him dance. To me, he just oozes sex appeal and I think he's been consistently the best dancer. My second favorite contestant was Joey McIntyre. I'm a little old to have been a New Kids on the Block fan, though I did know who he was. He got voted off Wednesday. He probably wasn't the best dancer in the competition, but his performances were always entertaining and fun to watch. Videos of all the performances can be found here.

Another reality show that I've been watching from the beginning is The Scholar. I think it's cool to have a TV reality show that focuses on academics. Granted, the challenges and questions seem ridiculously easy to me, but maybe that's because of my advanced age. My favorite contestant is Scot. It just seems to me that he marches to the beat of his own drummer. He's already secured a place in the showdown, so I can breathe a little easier. I think there's probably only two more shows in the season, one to compete for the last spot in the showdown and then the showdown episode.

I missed the first episode of Hit Me Baby One More Time because of this, but I've seen all the other episodes. The idea behind the show seemed good, but, in my opinion, the execution failed. I don't know if it was because of the acts that were booked, the annoying host, the lack of viewing audience voting, or what. In some cases, the artists had aged well, but in other cases, they really hadn't. I'm not sure if they're going to do another season, but I think they'll have to do some major re-work to make this more appealing to me.

I missed the first couple of episodes of Beauty and the Geek, but after reading about it, I decided to give it a shot. It's actually pretty entertaining. They're down to the last two couples: Richard and Mindi and Chuck and Caitilin. I find both Chuck and Richard annoying for different reasons. Chuck just seems to a be a humorless know-it-all and Richard is hyperactive and annoying. If I had to pick a favorite contestant, it would be Mindi. She must be a saint to put up with Richard without wanting to deck him.

Hell's Kitchen is another show that I came late to. I started watching it after a co-worker raved about how good it was. I'll have to admit that he was right. I absolutely adore Chef Gordon Ramsay and he can yell at me anytime. Of course, I'm now leary about eating in restaurants after seeing what goes on in the kitchen!