Gloria Y. Nichols/me vs Arlington Rehab/Carter Korey

When mom was in the ICU, hardly breathing because of pneumonia, and we knew it was only a matter of time, there was a moment of lucidity and she said to me, "be prepared".
When she passed, we were unable to give her the funeral service she deserved, with a grand Ruby plan from Funeraria Paz, but too far away to let it matter, we had a private cremation and a memorial service 40 days later.

But the "be prepared" did not mean her passing. It was what happened next. Arlington Rehab sent me a bill which I belieeived to be wrong. When we brought mom to the rehab center, Tricare was paying only the first 60 days and Patty and I said we would have to take her out if her Medicaid was not approved. Thankfully, it was and the way it works is, medicaid pays the rehab any amount after mom's pension is deducted. Which means that regardless of the rehab cost, the payment would only be her pension check minus any amounts paid for her insurance and personal needs.
The amount in the bill was too much. I told the accounts person that there was a mistake and to please check. With arrogance she said everything was correct.
From this came a series of calls and counter calls and then a sub poena as instead of calling me in to settle and check it out, they hired the services of a seeming ambulance chaser, a lawyer who also did not want to check my request. After two years of wrangling and threats from the lawyer, and my pleas for checking with medicaid, I had many sleepless nights and payments to my lawyer whose forte is not this kind of ridiculousness where he could not get the other lawyer to give me the billing. Instead there was a series of statements from the rehab and each time I questioned the bill, another came with a change of the bill when I pointed out there were errors in that they did not acknowledge the payments I had made. It became a series of changed statements and each one still reflected the wrong amounts.
The lawyer did not want to check why I was asking for the Medicaid statements. Sleepless nights and threats and requests to now look into patty's income status and her entire life aside from mine made me do what I should ahve done from the beginning, go to Medicaid.
Surprise, the woman said no one ever checked with them for the past 2 years....and that there was an error and it was corrected. And that why were we being charged for the month of GYN's death when Medicaid paid it in full knowing that her pension check would not be paid for that month.And then another round of statements again changed each time I pointed out the error. i still lost the case but for the correct amount. That was so exhausting and scary as the ambulance chasing lawyer continued to bully me and instead of writing me for payment plans went on to shut down my personal account and then file an arrest through the cook county sheriff. Finally, with the grace of God and as we celebrate GYN's 94th birthday, it is over.
Now I wonder if justice can really be served. They wanted to bill me the wrong amount and did not want to check. And billing me for when they were paid in full, stinks of fraud. And that if they checked my request from the beginning, I did not need to pay court fees nor lawyers fees. Smart lawyer, each time he re sets this, he got paid. I would have had to pay his fees if I did not show that the bill was wrong.
Sigh.
Anyway, after two years of stress, thank goodness its over. And we are celebrating GYN's 94th at a Polish Buffet, having decided to choose a cuisine from a place she has visited. She enjoyed her trip to Poland, just when Pope John Paul II was named Pope and Poland was still a communist country.

Mom in church

It is February, superbowl Sunday and no one is at mass. Frank is one of a few in the choir who showed up and was given a chance to sing a solo for the first time. Frank who has known mom, GYN since we first started going to St. Mike's. Frank who has always looked young, vibrant, happy. Frank sang and I started to tear up, mom would ahve been so proud. As I looked to the left of the pew, I realized why i never sat there by the aisle, because I always reserve that place for her and know she must be there. Tonight, she definitely was there. I had to tell Frank and it was amazing that even he knew that mom was there, he also felt her. She would have been so proud and so was I. When I went to him, he already knew....he also felt her.

February Blues Superbowl Sunday at mass

Not even 50 were at mass last night but Father Tom gave a homily that struck a chord in me. I keep telling this story of going to a charismatic bible reading group with my late MIL Leonor, to please her and to bond. Being Catholic, but in a non-religious school, I knew the bible stories but not the books. Besides, at this time I was already infected by Johnny Midnight's question of WHO WROTE THE BIBLE???
Anyway, Father Tom gave this excerpt from a book where all the religious, good guys, holy guys were all waiting to get into the pearly gates, then a rumor wafted through that HE was going to let everybody in. This drew anger and indignation amongst the group and they got angry because they have been good all their lives and then when it came to entering heaven HE was allowing everyone in......so in that moment of anger, they damned themselves. They did not recognize God. So in that little seminar where I behaved like the good daughter in law eager to embrace the Lord, my MIL introduced me to the head of the group. I enthused that it was interesting and that I was also inspired by the fact that Jeanne Young, a bad girl turned Charismatic, spreading the word of the Lord, was so prominent in this movement and I was touched by her ability to reach both Catholic and Christian groups. The dude then said, " Yes, BUT we want her to focus on the Catholic groups and not the Christian groups" DING DING DING, I kids you not, I felt a curtain falling in front of me and heard a big THUD, I can still remember it after all these years, with goosebumps, too. And a voice yelling GET OUT OF HERE. I blinked and smiled , went back to the afternoon session struggling to renew my interest, left and never went back.
And here comes Father Tom and his amazing story. An answer to my search. Of course, bible readers will note that the Prodigal Son and the workers in the vineyard all have that same theme, Love. And that the Lord will forgive and let everyone in because He is Love. But if you are really deeply into anger, have taken a life, then the universal TIME OUT is in place until you can get in there. But in the end, we all have to die, there is no great leveler than this, it is an equalizer. It is in our hands where we go after. Right?