Ugh to Bills

I'll warn you that this is a venting post! We have had so many bills for stuff lately. It started in January with Mike's trip to the ER. I don't know if I ever wrote about it but he was having stomach issues. He'd been into the doctor several times and they did x-rays and lab work but never found anything. He called me at work one day and said he was in so much abdominal pain that he couldn't walk. I took him to the ER and they did tons of lab work and a CT scan of his abdomen. The CT scan was considered abnormal because it looked like his intestines were thickened and he had fluid in his pelvis. They couldn't tell us much more than that so after several doses of morphine, we were sent on our way.

After the lab work started coming in, they sent him for a colonoscopy. They were thinking it was either Crohn's or ulcerative colitis. Both would be life-long conditions and we prayed that they wouldn't find this. The colonoscopy, thank God, was completely normal. It still didn't explain why he was having stomach issues. Over the course of the next month, his symptoms slowly got better.

It was lovely getting that bill. We have insurance through my job which sucks. It's really expensive and the coverage is horrible. We met his $1000 deductible and then some.

Then, the kids got into the explorer and switched the 4WD button on and off a gazillion times. The explorer would randomly switch into 4WD low and wouldn't come out of it. They broke the transfer case which is the most expensive part that the Ford dealership has. A brand new one is $1500 and a used one was $900. It's been a good car for us as we really haven't had to put much work into it. It was Mike's college vehicle so it's getting up there in age and miles. We didn't want a car payment so we opted to fix it. The bill was over $900.

Then, I had my CT scan done. I met my $1000 deductible. My bills for my surgery are starting to roll in. I'm not sure what the tab is going to be but it's going to be expensive. While I was recovering from surgery, the explorer's brakes started grinding so we took it in. It was another $650 to get the brakes fixed.

The kids had some dental work today (I'll do a separate post about that) but that bill is going to be $400. Seriously?!?

Okay, I feel better now. Sorry if you actually read through it all!