Mail delivery

Six days a week the mail shows up at our house In the summer it comes through the mail slot in the front door (which sometimes scares the cat when it wakes him up from his nap). In the winter, we seal up the mail slot and hang a little mail box in our front entry way.

We get the usual assortment of bills, junk mail, catalogs, and sometimes real correspondence from people we know. But I get the medical stuff too. By medical stuff I mean the hospital bills, health insurance claim statements, and appointment schedules. Usually a few times a week.

Yesterday was an unusual pile of mail. My husband got a letter from his mother. We got one catalog to recycle. I got:

- one appointment reminder for an upcoming blood test
- two hospital bills
- eight insurance statements
- one list of my next ten appointments
- one notice from the bank about an upcoming CD rollover

I felt like a sick person... The blood test notice belongs with my other blood test notice which is due after July 11. I will get the both on July 11 so when I go to the doctor on July 14 I'll get the results and their significance.

I looked at the hospital bills. If I was a good person I would go find the corresponding insurance statements and match them up but the insurance has a habit of reviewing and changing payoffs and then the hospital audits things and sends me a check back for my payments and I get all confused so I am not a good person. I'll just pay them eventually.

I scanned the insurance statements to see if the dates agree with when I had appointments. Eventually I'll enter them in my medical expenses spreadsheet so I can claim a deduction on my taxes. However one didn't look right - it was coverage for a dental appointment. I didn't have a dental appointment in June. I thought I would be forced to call the insurance company to figure it out. But I googled instead. He's not a dentist, he's a cardiologist and he read my recent test results - so that does make sense.

I have another ten appointments coming up over the next month or so. Thank you for sending me a reminder. I wouldn't get there without it. I also know that I'm sure to get another reminder as soon as another appointment is scheduled, always showing the next ten appointments. the only difference is the time period covered. Sometimes ten appointments is one month, sometimes its several months but there are always ten.

I'll figure out the bank thing later. In the meantime, I'll be a professional patient, as always.