It has been a very eventful few weeks. Let me tell you about it.

Injury

The week before Thanksgiving, I got up one morning with a sore back. I attributed it to my rotten mattress set, which is really only fit to use as torture on captured despotic dictators, especially when I sleep on my back. I went through the day with manageable pain. Then while I was cooking dinner, I felt something pull, drastically increasing the pain. The next morning, not only was my back in pain, my right leg down to the knee was in more pain than anything else. I reasoned that I had pinched a nerve while cooking. (Note to self: Be careful with them cast-iron skillets.) It’s been 2 weeks now, and my leg is still in pain, though to a much lesser degree. Soaking in a tub filled with 211-degree water has been a major help.

Red Tape

This has been more painful than the back & leg. I’m referring, of course, to government red tape.

When I started my business, I was using the COBRA option to keep the insurance from the old job. In less than a year, the premiums became too much, and I spent the last few months of 2018 with no coverage. In October, we started trying to get the Mrs. on Medicare and Medicaid, as she would obviously qualify with her multiple disabilities. Now, 14 torturous months later, we are no closer than we were on October 1, 2018.

The actions of our case worker seem to indicate that she has FAR too many cases for one person, and the best way she sees to deal with that is to reduce the number of cases – and the easiest way to do that is to comb the application for any possible reason to deny the case without having to work it. She asked for documentation on what I had earned in my business. We sent the info in. FOUR SEPARATE TIMES. We would get a “if you don’t provide the documentation requested, your case will be denied” form letter, and we’d send the stuff in again.

It’s been a tough year, and revenue has been very low. We have had our church pay some bills for us, we did a couple of GoFundMe campaigns, and family members have thrown some gifts and loans our way. Our case worker’s latest attempt to get out of working with us was, “hey, you don’t make enough money to pay your rent.” “Uh, yeah, that should help clarify in your mind we need this insura

nce.

“How are you paying rent?” We had some family & friends help. “Then you have to provide documentation of all the help you have received.”

OK, I see what you’re doing there. You think we’re raking in thousands under the table and lying to you about the amount so we can get free or greatly-reduced insurance we don’t qualify for, so you throw that requirement at us and we’ll go away, right? Keep trying to get rid of us, honey. My mother once said if she ever met a mule, she would send it to me for stubborn practice. Good luck with that.

Whenever I hear a government solution (Medicare For All, government-mandated affordable housing, etc.) I tell this story. The LAST thing anyone in the US needs is to have to go through the government. It’s more painful than shoving bamboo skewers under your toenails.

Hope

In spite of all this, we are determined and hopeful. We are Christians, we believe everything in the Bible is fact, and that God is going to deliver. He is going to deliver insurance solutions and more business to me. We will meet our obligations and flourish, because God said so (Jeremiah 29:11). We refuse to give in to the temptation to quit. This is also where being so dadgum stubborn is an advantage for me.

I should add that we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I ordered a box holiday meal from a local grocery store, and as you can see, it came out fabulous. We’re going to do the same for Christmas, except we’ll go with prime rib instead of turkey. Carnivores of the world unite!

After being laid-up thanks to the back & leg, I’m getting back in the swing of things and will be blogging regularly again. And as always, if you or someone you know needs a VA, here’s what I can help with and  give me a holler.