Update on Thumb 2.0*
* Credit to my friend, Bill, for versioning my thumb.
Recovery of my thumb incision continues apace. I ripped off the dressing a week ago Sunday and flexed my thumb. Test results: Pass with no clicking. Tomorrow I will return to the surgeon for him to remove the stitches.
I was cautious moving my thumb until yesterday when I must have been overcome with excitement in cleaning around the house. Gripping is still painful and sharp pain at the base of my thumb reminded me that it’s not 100% healed and I need to slow down. Good thing I still have use of that second thumb.
Another action I’ve taken for granted is putting pressure on my palm, as in downward-facing dog pose — adho mukha svanasana. As part of my overall recovery, I had committed to Adriene Mishler’s new 30-day yoga practice for January. That’s off for now. Instead, I’m taking longer daily walks.
“Ah, the cycle of bureaucracy!”
At my son Alexander’s and girlfriend Adi’s encouragement, I watched an episode of Futurama: Season 2, Episode 14, How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Hermes is a Bureaucrat, Grade 36. He could absolutely play a starring role in my insurance stories. The similarity between this spoof and the real thing is uncanny.
Hermes delights in stamping documents from his inbox, stapling these tall stacks of paper together, and transforming them into fresh documents for the inbox.
In the intro to the episode, he receives communiques from the Central Bureaucracy through a pneumatic tube:
Hermes reads letter from Tube 1: Attention Hermes Conrad, you are about to receive a letter from the Central Bureaucracy!
Tube 2 arrives and Hermes exclaims: My God it’s from the Central Bureaucracy!
In my immunotherapy authorization episode, the auth expired in early December even though my doctor-ordered treatment was incomplete. The oncologist’s office initiated a new request for authorization and a mini flurry of activity and documentation production ensued.
Over the recent holiday season, I received multiple mailings concerning the immunotherapy authorization.
December 22, 2022
Coverage for this service has been denied for the following reason(s):
<Many words and sentences that seemed to describe a puzzle that followed no logic, namely that I had to show disease spread through a scan insurance wouldn’t authorize. They based their decision on a policy bulletin I was familiar with. My interpretation of that policy was different.>
January 3, 2023
Acknowledgment of Expedited Appeal Request.
This request does not meet the criteria for an expedited appeal. An expedited (rush) appeal is a request for review of a decision not to certify urgent or ongoing services, when a delay in decision-making might seriously jeopardize (put at risk) the life or health of the member or jeopardizes the member’s ability to regain maximum function. Based on this description, this appeal request does not meet our criteria for an expedited appeal.
<Ouch>
January 5, 2023
Packet from the Customer Resolution Team
Sheet 1: My name and address
Sheet 2: Cover letter from a Complaint and Appeals Analyst alerting me to the contents of the rest of the packet, but without noting the decision itself.
Sheet 3: We have overturned our decision on your appeal. <They based this new decision on the same policy bulletin used for their denial.>
A closing question of mine is: Does Futurama base its storylines on insurance company protocol? Or is it the other way around?
I ran this article through an openAI detector to verify its originality. This article scored 97.7% real.
Enduring your health challenges, you’ve kept your wry sense of humor intact. That’s healthy for all of us. 😁
You are much prettier. Glad you are healing up!