The Joy Of A Double Hernia

The plan had been to push a follow up post to this one because if you come at me I just might come at you too. Never know if you’ll be gifted with a shot between the eyes because some men are capable of all sorts of mischief.

But then I thought I might put Johnny aside for a moment and relive the joy of a double hernia or rather the memories of it I shared on Facebook.

I had two hernias repaired last August. My health insurance is considered to be pretty good and yet it still left me with $2k to pay the hospital and several miscellaneous bills to the docs involved.
Today I got a nasty note from the hospital threatening to send me to collections because they say I haven’t paid them.
I can provide proof of payment but it irks me to no end to have to set aside time to call and find out if this is a clerical error or something else.

Things like this are why I have taught my kids to double check the bills they receive because things happen.

I reminded them to give some grace for unintentional human error and to be professional in their response/inquiry to getting things fixed.

“Every story has a beginning, middle and end. Your request for resolution should follow that and include the necessary details to get things fixed. Don’t start by yelling or threatening anyone. There may be times where that is where you go, but if you start at 10 there is nowhere to go.

Give yourself some room to play with and give people the opportunity to fix it. Oftentimes it is that simple, and if it is not, well give yourself room for progression.”

Had the kids seen all that was involved with the hernia situation they might have asked if I was following my own advice because there was a time in which I might have raised my voice.

Maybe.

Health Can Take Your Wealth

Overall I have been pretty lucky because my general health has been good and I have had pretty solid healthcare for most of my life.

Because your health can take your wealth…in a hurry.

It doesn’t take much for the doctor visits, tests and treatments to add up and if you aren’t of a certain means you can find yourself in a bad place.

I know this from experience so I can speak to it and about it.

Thought about it all when I was rolling through another workout at the gym and felt like someone was kicking my ass.

Fortunately that someone was me and I was very aware that I was trying to push past some limits. But it got me thinking about a bunch of things, primarily that I must have aged a little bit because I never thought twice about some of this before.

Used to jump off of roofs, out of trees and all sorts of places without thinking much about it.

When I was playing pickup ball I never thought twice about diving on the floor for a loose ball or jumping over a chair if I was trying to get that orange orb.

Can’t say I never think twice about it now because sometimes I do. Cuz some things take longer to go away than they once did and occasionally I wonder what happens if some aches don’t heal as I hope they should.

There are moments when I can feel some of the injuries in my hands, moments where my fingers remind me there is a cost to sprains and dislocations.

It is usually after some sort of repetitive exercise that it comes across so I don’t see it as impinging upon my ability to live my life.

But I know there is a cost to some of that which I have done and experienced. So I keep up the hand exercises and figure when people stop asking me to open up the jars with the tight lids I might need to worry, but not before.

For now it is just an awareness.

Mortality slowly eats away at my image of invulnerability, but not so much that I fear to live.

Nah, I just make a few adjustments and go about my business. But I don’t ignore the clock, no sir and no ma’am.

Some things may change eventually and I want to have a few experiences again and or for the first time while I can because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, even if you think you are mostly superman.