QC03-02 Go West or South?

August 23, 2010 (Mon) Fayetteville, NY to Carlisle, PA (469/772 miles) - The rain stopped sometime during the night, although there were some splattering on the roof early this morning - probably from the trees. The sky has been overcast all day. Dave went to work and Shane off to "camp". Jennifer had some work to do so we expected a relatively quiet day. Didn't happen!

We got a call from Bom's doctor mid afternoon. In spite of his beliefs and what he had told us, she will need surgery on her ankle after all. The X-rays revealed that there were some bone fragments that need to be removed and a stabilizing pin inserted. Joy spent some time on the phone with Jeanne (owns assisted living place) and Bom's doctors. We also learned that there is a problem with Bom's secondary health insurance, but by the time we found out it was too late to begin to work on it. Even though Bom has friends and excellent care, we thought she needed family with her for an operation and hospital stay so we loaded up Q - what little there was to load - and started for Florida.

Carlisle, PA is a lot further from Syracuse than we thought. There was a lot of construction areas on I-81 slowing traffic and the concentration of trucks was unnerving to say the least. On two occasions Hildene told us that we were passing wind farms but we didn't see them - too dark. We pulled into the Carlisle Flying J at about 11:15 (way past our bed time) and fell into bed.

Q0626145 Flying J truck stop, Carlisle, PA

August 24, 2010 (Tue) Carlisle, PA to Walterboro, SC (657/1429 miles) - It was fairly quiet during the night - for a truck stop. But then, maybe not. We were exhausted and slept soundly all night. We ate breakfast and got off at about 7:45 (cloudy 63°) and crossed the Potomac River into West Virginia just before 9:00. Phone calls to the insurance company had to be made so we stopped at a rest area. After a 20 to 30 minute phone call during which Mark navigated a long complicated automated menu that insisted on repeating itself and would not tolerate interruptions until he was finally able to reach a human being. He had to again answer identification questions and give out all kinds of authenticating information plus give, in great detail, the reason he was calling. Only then was he told no information would be given to him. None. Nada. Not why she had been turned down in the  pre-approval process. Not even if she was a member of their plan, active or inactive. He did learn that there had been no requests for benefits - which indirectly answered a couple of questions. After hearing many, many "I'm sorry sir, I can't give you that information.", or "She has to be on the line for me to answer that, sir, I'm sorry", he was grudging told that the hospital or doctor's office could get the information. OK, That's a start. Joy called the surgeon's office. They said they would get on it and if there were any problems, they'd call.

The Orangeburg, SC Walmart seemed like a good place to stop. It wasn't. When we asked at Customer Service if it would be OK to spend the night, they didn't know. "Check with management, that woman in the Yellow jacket over there." The woman in the yellow jacket looked at us as if she didn't know what we were talking about. She said she'd check with the store manager. She went off and never came back. We left in search of an other Walmart. The atmosphere in the parking lot seemed uncomfortable anyway. And there were no other motor homes parked there for the night. The Walmart at Walterboro, NC is much more what we are use to. There are a couple of other motor homes nearby and several 18 wheelers. We didn't even go in to ask for permission. 13 hours and 657 miles on the road. We were in bed by 9:30 (80°)

Q062802 Camp Walmart, Walterboro, SC

August 25, 2010 (Wed) Walterboro, SC to Englewood, FL (379/1803 miles) - We started the day with a flat tire. Actually we started with showers but when we got back from our courtesy shopping in the Walmart we discovered Q had a flat tire. OK, instead of breakfast in a nice scenic rest area down the road we'd eat while we waited for the road service truck. So we started a rushed no-atmosphere breakfast. The truck came half way through breakfast, 15 minutes after we'd called roadside assistance! The fellow changed the tire for us and we followed him to his home base so he could fix it. It was a bad valve stem (which he fixed for free). Although we got up at 5:00 hoping to see Bom in the hospital at a reasonable hour, we finally got off at 8:37 (74°)

Since we hadn't heard from the doctor's office we assumed the insurance issue was resolved. It wasn't. Thus began a marathon of 5 calls (at least) to the insurance company, with the requisite 15 minutes of menu navigation, personal identification and problem explanation each time, where Mark was reminded yet again (and again) of his inadequacy. "Sorry, sir, we can't give you that information." at least 15 times. "But I need to know why Mrs Annich was refused coverage." or "How can we get the resolved?" "You'll have to get her on the line for us to give you that information." "She's 98 years old and in the hospital for surgery." "I'm sorry sir, I can only give that information to her" "But. . . ." "I'm sorry, sir." "Stop saying you're and work with me. What can I do to get this resolved?" "I'm sorry, sir, I can't help you. It's the law." And so it went. She finally gave up the phone number of "Human Resources" which turned out to be a euphemism for the company handling Bom's (actually her husband's) pension benefits. The number given turned out to be wrong resulting in another call to the insurance company (yup, 15 minutes of garbage before getting to ask for the number again.

The problem is finally being worked out, with no thanks to the insurance company. The system is broken!!!

We got to the Venice hospital about 7:30, saw Bom - she's in good spirits and no pain from her broken ankle - and came on down to Englewood. Another long day!

August 26, 2010 (Thu) Englewood, FL (2) - It rained off and on during the night, sometimes quite heavily. Mark got up when it started and closed the windows. But he neglected to close the bathroom vent. So, a wet bathroom this morning. The soggy rug will take a long time to dry (and smell sweet again) in this humid and rainy weather, expected to last through the weekend.

Bom's operation was a success. She may be able to go home tomorrow or the next day and should be able to walk OK again, a concern up to now, after several weeks of healing. We will stay on a few more days to be sure she is well situated for her convalescence and to follow up on the insurance issues.

Q063281 Jeanne Walton's yard, Englewood, FL