Tuesday, December 14, 2010

I have to talk about blessings

Lately I have had ear aches and ear itches. This morning I actually woke myself up because I was itching my ear in my sleep. I was putting off going to the doctor because of finals and yesterday I hosted my work Christmas party. So this morning I went to the walk-in clinic at Walmart. Here are all the ways I pre-judged it.
~It's going to be full of dirty, sick people.
~The people who work there are going to be rude from having to deal with the sick people.
~It's going to be dirty.
~The doctor really isn't going to care about me.

This is how the visit went. First I got online to look up what these clinics were all about. And apparently Wuestoff Hospital (our county's main hospital chain) is putting them in all the walmart storefronts as a way for people (even with insurace) to be able to get a quick doctor's appointment even on weekends and evenings. It's not a state-run health clinic. It's a doctors office in walmart. And it was brand new!

When I got there I filled out the patient forms and handed them in and was followed by a woman who was there to get sea-sick patches for a cruise she was taking. We chatted while the very nice desk lady checked us both in, and within 15 minutes I went back and met the nurse practitioner. She looked in my ears, nose and mouth and felt my glands and asked me lots of questions. (I have a sinus infection)Then when she realized I didn't have insurance she gave me coupons for my nasal spray and ammoxacilin because it's free to fill! All for $49. (I called an E.N.T. and they said just for a first-visit consultation it would be $306)

I always thought having no insurance would be a major burden. That I would be unhappy with my clinic visits and go un-cared for by busy, underpaid care-givers. But these people were really helpful and caring. And it was so affordable. Other than the fact that in an emergency we would be screwed over by a high ER bill, having no insurance has not turned out to be a burden at all. In fact, I pay less for birth control than I ever did before. It's free, too!

All this to say, God is truly blessing us and today I felt very thankful for all the ways that He shows me He is watching out for me. He wants me to be healed and he wants Kyle not to be stressed about doctor bills. I will always be "the sickly wife" to Kyle, but with this cute little clinic, I won't cost much!

1 comment:

The Kopers said...

That's great about the clinic - but why aren't you on dad's insurance? i thought they just changed the law and you can be on his until you're 26 even if you're married. you can kyle could both be on tricare through your dads' still. have you looked into that?