The Money Tree

I wish I had a money tree. Remember when you were a kid and you would talk and dream of a "money tree"? It would grow in your back yard and you could snip a little off and buy WHATEVER you wanted without having to hound mom and dad for a few bucks. Or remember when you wanted that really "sweet bike with shocks, pegs, lucky" (famous line from Napoleon Dynamite) your mom and dad would sweetly say to you "baby I would love to get that for you, but money doesn't grow on trees now does it?"

Well, Sometimes I think I AM a money tree! Well, most of us who are recovering our children would feel that way. A tree that is barren most days but you can sometimes see these tiny little buds growing. Wanna know what the first thing is that pops into our minds when we see those little tiny buds?? "Awesome, I can get those really sweet Jimmy Choos", or "I can FINALLY go upgrade my old computer", or "I really AM going to be able to pay my bills this month" or "Cool, I can have a Girls Night Out!!" NOPE, none of that!! What we think of is "Thank you Lord for providing and coming through for me on this journey!!! I can finally afford to send my son to ABA Therapy" "I can try Chelation, HBOT, TCM, MB12, Valtrex, PILL CAM, etc." "I can start setting aside trust money for when he gets older and I am no longer alive." That's what we think about.

Well I tell this story, because sometimes I feel like my tree has "just enough". We can do most of what we need to do, but the tree is still barren. Those tiny little buds when they start growing are quickly snapped up and the dream of that "new" treatment is gone. Today is one of those sorts of days. You know like when IKE hit Houston last year and tore the gentle flowers from our trees. Well, some of my little buds were snipped off today. Now let me stop and clarify again, I don't blog about money because we a looking for a handout or for you to feel pity for us. If you know The Eichenberger's, we are your average American family with a nice home, a nice car, and a little bit extra to go on a few vacations a year. But there are days on this journey when I feel like the sap is draining from the tree! And, like I have said before you gotta know the journey to appreciate the outcome. Two big blows in the "treatment budget" happened today.

First off, remember the fun pee story?? Well when we sent that off to the LAB we sent $99 and our insurance information. Awesome news, when I picked up the mail yesterday, there was a $500 check and an EOB from BCBS (insurance)! I'm thinking SWEET they covered it!! Woo hoo!! Now all I have to do is send the check to the LAB and that will be that. Well I picked the mail up today and there was a bill from that same LAB for $1,018. (To analyze pee?? You have GOT to be kidding me!!) Now we have paid $99 and have a $500 check to send them. So that leaves me with still owing????? Yep, about another $400!! What the heck!! I am an optimist, so I say to myself, well at least they covered $500, it could be worse, and I could be sending them another $900. But still, I had NO IDEA this was coming. So, snip snip snip from the money tree!!

Second, we got our follow up "notes" from our visit last week. I don't really know why they call them "notes" it's more like a "document" or "manual". It must have been 100 pages!! I sit down with my highlighter and a note pad to take "notes" (Yes, REAL notes that I can use and understand!!) As I get to the bottom of the page the VERY last line, says "please be sure to contact Anissa Webb to schedule your 6 week follow up." Holy COW!! ALREADY??? This guy costs $300/hr. I thought the follow up would be something like 3 months. You know long enough to work through all the "instructions" we were given. But it's all good, the bright side is we will have a chance to talk through everything and catch up on how the treatment is going. So it's a good thing, but snip, snip, snip again!

I leave you with one last note from the money tree....we sent off the claims to BCBS today and we need some fertilizer for our tree!! I like to think of prayers as fertilizer for our soul, helps us grow mentally and spiritually!! Plus it gives life, without it seeds wouldn't grow and flowers wouldn't bloom. So, tonight, tomorrow, Sunday whenever you say a little prayer, help us with some fertilizer and please PRAY PRAY PRAY that these get covered! If they do, we should get back around $600!! That would almost break even for the day!! Between the $400 to the LAB and another $300 to TH, that's $700, if we get $600 back we are only down about $100. That's not too shabby!!

Until next time.... peace, love, hope and prayers!

T

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:33-34