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So um yeah, today was nuts. But I'll start from the beginning. My mom's best friend drove me to Duke (3+ hours one way) because my mom is at her New Teacher Orientation. My appointment was scheduled for 1:15 and I actually got called back a few minutes early which is rare for this place. The nurse went through all the typical check-in stuff, and told me the doctor would be in in a few minutes. He came in at like 1:55, and started talking about the medication switches he had done last visit, but I was so antsy that when he stopped talking I just said "Am I getting the Botox today?" He paused and said "Did we talk about that last time?" I said "Yes, it was just dependent on insurance approval." So he said he was going to check on that. He came back more than 20 minutes later and told me "We can't give you Botox today. The insurance approved it for Raleigh Neurology (my normal neurologist who told me to go to Duke or another headache clinic specialist)." I started bawling in two seconds flat. He went to get the guy who could help me get the refund of my copay, since I "wouldn't be getting any treatment today". This other guy came in and asked me to tell him what was going on, so I did. He said "Let's go talk to Dee Dee, our lady who deals with insurance stuff." She was this tiny, sweet little old woman who I guess must've been in a really compassionate mood because she was immediately like "I have a contact at Blue Cross (my insurance). We'll get this straightened out." She spent close to the next hour calling the insurance, figuring out what they needed to approve Duke to give me Botox, calling nurses to get it all organized and faxing stuff. We figured out that it was Raleigh Neurology's fault: not only did my doctor flat out tell me they weren't doing the paperwork to get approval for the treatment because they knew I was going to do it at Duke, but they got the approval on July 1 and never bothered to tell me so I could fix it, not even when I was in that office on July 16.
Miracle #1: this insurance lady knew exactly what to do and who to call because she just dealt with the same thing a few days ago.
Miracle #2: she came back from lunch minutes before I walked in her office.
Miracle #3: she found this contact no problem, and that contact was more than happy to help her (and me) even though she wasn't following specific company protocol. Dee Dee sent me back to the waiting room about 3:20 as she waited to hear back from the insurance contact so she could help someone else.
Miracle #4: the approval letter was faxed over to us at 3:45. It is next to impossible to get Blue Cross to do anything in a day, much less an hour!
Miracle #5: I was back in an exam room in ten minutes.
Miracle #6: my doctor, a very busy man being one of the best headache specialists in the country, made time in his schedule to give me the Botox, and I was checking out by 4:15.
Oh, and to boot, my ride's husband is off tonight and could pick up their daughters, and she was super patient and didn't mind rearranging her whole evening for this.
I'm already approved for my next treatment, too, which will be in early November.
We serve an AMAZING GOD, my friend. Absolutely amazing. He deserves all the glory.
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I hardly have the words to explain how much this humbled me, to see God show up like this. It was like He reached down and grabbed me by the shoulders and said, "See? Even when you think everything is going wrong, I'm still right there. I'm still more powerful than doctors and insurance companies and policies. I will take care of you." And let me tell you, I really did think everything was going wrong today. When my doctor told me they couldn't do the Botox today, I immediately started thinking about the fact that the next time I would be able to come back would be Fall Break...in early October, seven weeks from now, and seven weeks of school with this excruciating pain terrified me.
But then, God showed me why and how He is just so much bigger than fear. Fear lost all power when Jesus got up from his grave, and it still has no power today. God puts exactly the right people in front of us when we need them, even compassionate strangers who make it their afternoon mission to help you no matter what. He is faithful down to the very last detail, and even though I cried out of fear earlier, I want to cry all over again out of sheer gratitude that He went and lined all of this up perfectly for me when everything seemed impossible. I hear Him whisper a gentle reminder, "Nothing is impossible when you believe in Me." My God truly is infinitely bigger than even the largest of mountains that stand in front of us.
Situations like this tend to make me want to go into "fix mode", where I try and figure out a way to make everything right again...or at least what I think is right. But today, God confronted me with the truth that I can't fix anything that is wrong. It's all Him. ALL OF IT. I didn't do a single thing today. God put these people in my path who had the wisdom to do what I needed faster than I could have imagined it happening. He is in control, I am not, and I am so unbelievably thankful for that!
It will take 7-10 days to know whether or not the Botox is working. But you know what? I said it this morning before I knew any of this was going to go down like this, and I can say it even more confidently now: No matter what the outcome of this is, I know that I serve an AMAZING God and this is not the end for me!
To God go all the glory. He deserves every last bit of it.
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