All Expense Paid Trip, NOT!
How I wish it’s an out of town trip or a trip abroad that I will talk about here but sadly not. It’s one of my many trips in the hospital for the entire 31 years of my life. I was just 3 days old when I first had my navel operation due to severe infection and from then on I’ve been a frequent “visitor” of this place already. Of course if I have a choice, I will choose not to. But my health just refuses to cut me some slack. There is not a year that I have not been in and out of it. I don’t know why but that’s just the way it is with me. I even forewarned my husband Ryan my boyfriend then that if he really decides to marry me, he will be married to my illnesses for the rest of his life also. But he said he didn’t care, I just don’t know now if he’s thinking of changing his mind already. 
Anyway, so last Friday I went and see my oncologist, my real oncologist this time and not just the reliever who stutters when asked of direct questions. We waited in the lobby for just an hour while watching Kingkong on the big flat screen TV. I love that movie so much that’s why when my name was finally called, I felt irritated. I know that I could always rent or download it from somewhere to watch it again but it’s just not the same anymore, the momentum is lost. 
When I went inside her office, I was greeted by Dr. Charity’s welcoming smile. The first thing that she said to me was “What does a beautiful woman like you doing in my office?” I have to clear my throat on that (ahem!) Apparently, Dr. Who Stutters (when asked of difficult questions) did tell her regarding my outburst the last time I was there. He might have warned her that I’m fragile and that I’m to handle with care, ha! ha! She was so motherly and very soft spoken. It’s like I’m talking to an older aunt and not a doctor! Don’t get me wrong, I think she really is nice but she was so sweet that I was expecting ants to crawl all over my body any moment. I was freaked out in a pretty good but somewhat weird way. She endorsed me to the Derma specialist for my re-biopsy but unfortunately she’s not accredited by my company so we have to shell out everything first and file for reimbursement later on. Good luck to us! Because the one that I filed eons ago for the first biopsy I had must be still in the In-Out tray (with dust and mites when illumined by sunshine for dramatic effect) of HR because until now there’s no feedback yet whether we’ll still get our money back or not.
So since we are left with no choice at all, we went to the Derma specialist who is the exact opposite of my oncologist. This one was rather intimidating, indifferent and exuding with not self confidence but superiority complex. I can’t blame her; you will get numb when you are presented with cancer patients almost single day of your life. You’ll get bored with their predicaments and their sad little stories already. But I will never be that way if I were I her shoes, I think. So I avoided being emotional and just stated my case matter-of-factly instead. That’s called mirroring, thanks NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming), thank you trainers err…I mean enablers! To cut the story short she asked me to lie down and took out her injection (with the longest needle that I have ever seen I swear!) and started sticking it in my left thigh. I wanted to scream because of the extreme pain but I decided to remain calm. When the anesthesia finally took effect, she got a small knife and started slicing my skin in circular motion then lifted off the skin sample needed and that’s it. I was watching the whole time, though; it was a bloody procedure I didn’t mind at all. I wasn’t frightened. I felt no fear but was quite worried because my husband suddenly turned white as a sheet of paper and his hands were very clammy. He’s scared of needles and even more petrified at the sight of blood! The Dr. even asked him if he wanted to lie down on the next bed, ha! ha! My hubby can be real funny sometimes without really intending to. Here comes the real bloody part, when the doctor told us that the 3 diameters of skin costs P4, 500! We felt as if all our blood rushed through our heads all of a sudden. Wow! Luckily, we bought enough cash for that. But just for that because when she told us that the Immuno Histochemical Staining costs P8, 900 we nearly fell off from our seats. Who in their right minds bring almost 15k of cash in their wallets every day, huh? No one! We thought it was just an ordinary check up because we were not informed beforehand that they are planning to repeat everything. The last time we have talked, the biopsy was the only one that needs to be repeated but we were not told that it would be that day already and now all the staining needs to be done again too. Bravo! Clap, clap, clap! They could have asked us to bring a lot of cash that day but NOOOOOOOOO they did not even bother to tell us that. Okay so I made negotiations with her, I told her if it’s possible that the biopsy be prioritized in the meantime and we promise to give the cash they need for the IHC the next day or come Monday. She agreed at first but then she asked if we’ve got our credit cards with us. I don’t have mine but hubby has his. So we decided to go to the cashier and pay for the procedure and Alas, Hubby’s card was declined! He remembered that he exceeded his limit for that month already when he had change oil and bought new tires for the AUV. Paying for the IHC that day was totally out of the question. So we decided to just pay for it the next day. But we’ve got a new dilemma, there is still a Reader’s Fee worth P845 and I only have P550 and hubby has…nothing. When asked how we are planning to pay, hubby answered cash thinking that he was being asked how he wants to pay the IHC and not the RF. So the ever proactive cashier already made an OR for cash when hubby finally understood the question. We were like paupers! We have never felt so humiliated in our lives! I’ve asked a good friend of mine to transfer at least a thousand bucks in my Smart money account like pronto and he did. Thank you dear friend! But then the cashier decided to cancel the cash transaction and made an OR for credit card instead. So after all the hassle that we’ve gone through the RF was finally paid thru hubby’s Credit card which was declined for P8, 900 but accepted for P845 of course. Hurray!
On the way home we felt harassed and embarrassed at the same time because of that experience but we decided to just laugh it off instead. We have another one for our Wall of Shame, all thanks to St. Luke’s Medical Center, the world class hospital! Oooopppsss…am I not supposed to say its name? Why the hell not? I think there is no end to their brouhahas and shenanigans. Read my first ever memorable experience with them here. Can’t wait for my new adventure! NOT!
One Response to “All Expense Paid Trip, NOT!”
Subscribe
Tinago mo credit card mo, ano? Ha,ha,ha,ha! Just kidding. Tama ka, just laugh it off. But then again, HR should know all of that. You are a paying patient and should be treated accordingly. Anyways, my prayer is for you to get real well so that you do not have to step into the doors of any hospital again!
God bless!