O.K. So My Mind Was On Other Things

Today I am studying a particularly important lesson. More on that later.

I did a completely boneheaded thing today. I know, I know. Those of you who know me best are thinking, "Yeah... so... what's different?" Just hear me out.

So the last two days have brought two extremely good pieces of news. More on that later. Confused and annoyed yet? Good! Patience, my friends!

At 12:55 today I received an e-mail with one of the aforementioned pieces of good news. At 1:00 Marissa's Occupational Therapist came over. After a few minutes of chatting and letting her know of our good fortune (o.k. don't be jealous, she got to find out before all of you, calm down!) she asked me if we could go outside for a little bit of Marissa's therapy session. You see, Marissa has sensory issues that we are trying to work on. She has a hard time feeling certain textures such as playdough and grass. They just don't feel good to her. But if we continue to work with her and those textures, she eventually gets used to them. She can play with playdough now! Thus, the reason for going outside to play in the grass. I said "no problem" and we picked up Marissa and our toys and headed out the door. As soon as I shut the door I realized what I had done... I had locked us out of the house!! I had left Marissa's suction machine inside and the therapists car keys were inside as well. Neither the therapist or I had our shoes on either! My mind was clearly not where it should be!!

I quickly called Jeremy and had him leave work to come let us in. You can imagine how embarrassed I was, as well as feeling bad for making Jeremy leave his busy job to come rescue us! It turned out to be a very good O.T. session and Jeremy saved us in 1/2 hour flat. My Prince came riding up on his white stallion (or green Jeep as it were). As the therapist was leaving, I apologized and thanked her profusely and she said "Don't worry about it. It's a good thing we like each other, huh?" :) So there's my bonehead move for the day!

Oh yeah... our good news... I almost forgot! ;)

1. We finally made it to the end of the Medicaid Waiver wait list! We have been waiting for Medicaid to cover our out-of-pocket medical expenses for Marissa since June 2007. We don't qualify for Medicaid because we make too much money (really??) but the waiver program only looks at Marissa's income, which is zero. The problem is there is a long wait list to get into this program. We finally made it onto the program yesterday, so now we don't have to stress so much over the high cost of Marissa's medical care, therapies, equipment, and supplies. YAY!!

2. Jeremy's contract renegotiated with a brand new company who pays a lot more than the current contract for the same positions. Starting Sept. 30, Jeremy will be employed under the new contract, in the same position he is in now, for A LOT more money!!! He got a very substantial raise!! That is the news I received before Marissa's therapy session today. So you can imagine where my mind was and why I might have been a little preoccupied!

Which leads me to the lesson I am studying today...

Locked

Unlocked

Before I end this post, I would like to call your attention to a very important amendment that is going to be on November's ballot. It is Amendment 51 and it calls for an end to the wait list I was talking about earlier. We are blessed in that we got to bring Marissa home after only 2 1/2 months and that we had a sturdy savings account and help from family to help cover the medical costs. I know of families whose babies have lived in the hospital for a long time, sometimes over a year, for no other reason than they needed nursing care at home and could not afford it, nor did they qualify financially for Medicaid. We can do away with the wait list if we vote yes on Amendment 51. My good friend Jen put it this way...

"Like most government programs this bill does come with a cost. In order to fund these services a 2 cent sales tax would be added to every $10. In my mind it's like spending $100 at the grocery store and dropping 20 cents in the can on the counter for a local charity. In my mind, this program is
worth the cost. "

Please go to endcoloradowaitlist.org to find out more about this very important amendment and pass the web site on to your friends.

Thank you