Sunday, May 12, 2019

bureaucracy and medical devices and rain



You might remember that I spent about two weeks last February filling out the application and submitting it and all the supporting documents which amounted to over 80 pages for the Texas Land Office's Homeowner Reimbursement Program for damage from Hurricane Harvey. Well, last week I was finally contacted about my application and a meeting was set up for me at 2 PM Monday a week ago for the second phase. I was told to bring the five documents that proved my identity, ownership, residency, income, and any monies already received even though I had already submitted those documents. I arrived at two to find there were three appointments made for 2 PM with only two representatives available so being the last to arrive I had to wait about 45 minutes til they could get to me. I handed her the documents and she asked me if I had anything that proved I was living in the house at the time of the flood, my driver's license and voter registration not being sufficient since I could have had a change of address between then and now, she says, even though these were acceptable when I first turned in my application and I have no idea what would suffice). She took them but said they might question it later though when I got home I saw that my driver's license has an 'issued on' date on it that precedes Harvey and obviously FEMA was satisfied on that account. Then she asked me how many invoices I had (42) and how many I wanted reimbursed (all of them minus the money I had already received from FEMA). Then I had to sign all the releases again that I had already signed when I first submitted the application. Then she tells me that I should hear from them in about another month for the third phase (second phase being this meeting and first phase the initial application).

What's the third phase, I asked.

Submitting the invoices, she answered.

You mean the invoices I already submitted?

Yes.

If I'm doing all this again, what the fuck was the point of the 2 hours I spent in their office in February transferring the application from paper to on-line and submitting all these documents? I think I'll go over all the invoices and receipts and select ones that add up to what I spent after the FEMA money was used up in case those are just the ones they want. I know how much it came to because I already added it all up.

It's a good thing I'm spry and limber with all these fucking hoops they keep making me jump through. 

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Sunday was two down and one to go in my three weeks of wearing this monitor. When it arrived I stomped around for two days because it was not the one they told me I would get but I finally pulled up my big girl panties and attached all the electrodes and for the first week and a half I was proud of myself for being a big girl. Now? 

I am totally over this fucking thing and ready to be done with it. 

I mastered sleeping with it after the first couple of nights by wearing a tight undershirt and tucking the battery pack under my pillow where it's out of the way. I have to replace the electrode patches every three days and after the second set I had welts and raw spots from them and called the company to have them send me the non-allergic electrode patches. I managed to get the third set on relatively unaffected skin while I waited for the new ones which arrived in time for the fourth set. I'm still having episodes with an occasional day free and they seem even less severe for the most part so I'm hoping that when I finally do see the electrophysiologist he's going to just pat me on the back, tell me it's not that bad, you can live with this, keep taking the medication, and send me on my way.

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Last Friday a week ago we got 2 1/2” of rain. The following Tuesday we got another 1 1/2”. Last Thursday evening a large system of waves of thunderstorms and heavy rain passed through and finally let up around 9AM Friday  giving us 4" and we got another nearly 1 1/2” Saturday. That's almost 9 1/2” in 9 days and we didn't even get the worst of it. North and east of us got pounded and flooded. We're getting a break today but they're predicting more rain for next Tuesday and Wednesday. The storm Thursday night brought in much cooler temperatures and it was downright chilly and very pleasant today and would be perfect for working out in the yard if it wasn't so wet and the dirt sticky mud. I did pull out all the poppies in the back flower bed since after the pounding Thursday night whatever seed pods that were left and the dead plants themselves were pounded into ground and mostly turned to mush. The remaining flowers on the larkspur were also pretty much done in but I've left the plants til they go completely to seed. Most of the clasping leaved coneflowers too. Things are going to look pretty bare until the summer bloomers really get started up. More zinnias will go where the poppies were but the seedlings aren't ready to transplant yet.

We're having intermittent sun today and seeing as how it's Mother's Day I'm going to be just as lazy today as I've been all last week but come Monday I'm once again swearing off social media and see if I can't get started on some art work, at least cleaning off my work tables and getting organized. Well, after the kittens get settled in. On second thought, make that Tuesday.




19 comments:

  1. That's a lotta wet coming down. Perfect for shutting yourself up and getting down to art, and kittens. I cannot imagine where you will sequester them!

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  2. You have had a rough few weeks. I remember when our house flooded by 36 inches we had to move out and a few months later "they" actually came to flooded house with us...the government, that is, and we mostly just talked about the damage and they sent us the money. It was a nightmare, but I had an infant and maybe that got me faster service? So sorry for the total nightmare you are going through with this, but envious of all your flowers. Yes, we are getting nothing but rain this week!!

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  3. It smells of tactics, wearing you out to the point where you just give up.
    In fact, I do believe it is a tactic.

    At least for now, you can concentrate on kittens, that should hopefully calm your heart rhythm.

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  4. In answer to Sabine's comment- hell yes, these are tactics. Make it so ridiculously hard that 90% of the people who qualify for these funds will get so fed up with the process that they just give up.
    You, Ellen, do not give up. I just admire that in you so much.
    I'm also very proud of you for wearing the monitor.
    You are, quite frankly, a badass. That is one of my highest compliments.

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    1. I think there is some of that attempt to discourage but she did say they have a new computer program and so that's why everything has to be done over though I didn't have to do the application over, just the things that need to be scanned in. but I do not give up as long as I think I have something to gain. their bullshit just makes me more determined.

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  5. Yes, this fucking weather. I give you a lot of credit, sticking with the medical device for more than a week (I wouldn't) and being able to sit through bureaucracy that is such complete and total bullshit without going ballistic. It's almost unreal that they can deliver the news as if it makes sense. Obviously, the federal government (or any level of government) is very loathe to part with money. Even though it's ours.

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    1. I try to remember that the person I'm dealing with isn't at fault and getting snippy with them just isn't in my best interest. I did snap at one of the FEMA workers when I was dealing with that but I went back and apologised to her. apparently there is a new computer program and all the data that had been scanned in has to be resubmitted.

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  6. When I had to wear my monitor I broke out so bad from the electrode pads that I bled. I put my monitor leads under my pillow and up at the end of the waterbed between the wood and the sheet. I hated hearing the thing beep all the time and it drove Lucy crazy at night with the flashing lights in the dark room. I have to go for the second ECHO with contrast this time on next Monday afternoon. Not looking forward to it. Today(Monday) is supposed to be nice and then tomorrow it turns rainy again for a few days. Mother Nature is bipolar and off her meds again.

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    1. yeah, my chest is not a pretty sight...red splotches and little scabs though the new ones don't seem to be causing any new trouble. no flashing lights or beeps on mine but this monitor/battery pack is still a big pain in the patottie.

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  7. I do agree that the whole three phase thing is designed to frustrate all applicants, and I'm so impressed you will persevere and not let them get away with it. And good for you for persevering with the heart monitor, too. May it work out as you wish.

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    1. well, apparently they got a new computer program and the data entered on line stuck but everything scanned in was lost. why they are doing it in two phases is beyond me unless they want to winnow out those who don't qualify before they bother scanning in their receipts and proof of payment. but yeah, I just get more stubborn and dig in.

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  8. I know that I would would become mad as a hatter if I had to go through all the bureaucracy you do. The rain has been constant here for 14 months and it has been a bugger to deal with all the time. However, others like you have had it even worse.

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  9. Golly, that rain is much like it’s been here. I was unable to do any gardening for a good week, but it’s finally dried up today.
    Bloody bureaucracy. I am going through a process of applying for permanent residence in the UK, nightmare!

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  10. I wondered how you made it through all that weather.I'm sorry about the garden, but I'm glad you didn't have any terrible flooding. I hate that you're having such trouble with the post-Harvey bureaucracy, but we all know that the primary business of any bureaucracy is maintaining the bureacracy. Hang in there.

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  11. I'm glad you figured out how to sleep with the heart monitor. After my hip surgery when I had to wear all this equipment the only way I could sleep was with good drugs. Ha!

    I know you will prevail with all that paperwork - you are mighty!

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  12. Sadly, there are a LOT of people who are not as honest as you. Considering how difficult financial planning of any kind is, I suspect that at least half of the people who submit claims either are trying to defraud the process or are simply not able to manage the math - which itself is depressing. There is clearly a finite amount of money available so we have to ask: "Do we accept the hoops and get a full accounting or do we loosen the process so that everyone gets less with some getting money they shouldn't?" The reason they ask the same thing over and over again is to root out the frauds. It is very difficult to maintain a lie over time without changing something. Even more so for that half of the population that has a below average intelligence...

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    1. I'm sure that's part of it and to avoid that we had to submit invoices and either bank statements or charge card statements to back up every invoice to prove we paid out what we claim but the representative did tell me they have a new computer system and apparently it is only the scanned documents that have to be re-submitted. I didn't have to do the 30 page application over which is what took so long the first time.

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  13. Dealing with The System is always Drama and a Headache! The inefficiency and incompetence of the bureaucracy of it all could drive one insane if you didn't have a sense of Gallow's Humor about it all! I do agree with Dr. John that there must be some method to the Madness to expose any fraudulent applicants, doesn't make that less stressful and irritating to those legitimate applicants who have to endure the Dog and Pony Show it often becomes though. I'm an adept Hoop Jumper having raised Special Needs Kiddos and a Disabled Veteran Husband, and when my Parents were still alive, assisting them with the Geriatric Hoop Jumping, which I'm now at the Season of Life to endure myself.

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  14. Good grief! They DO make it as difficult as possible to make claims, don't they? Maybe that discourages people and saves them money.

    Hope the worst of the rain has spared you.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.