Rescued!

Hooray! I have been rescued from insurance hell!

This morning the hospital's patient financial services office (and these days, I have discovered you see NO ONE before you meet these folks) discovered that I have indeed been approved for the Cancer Resource Services Program at my insurer (translation: they can treat me now and get paid).

Therefore, I have now been scheduled for:

• an MRI this Friday at 5:30pm (tip from Erica at the doctor's office: don't eat or drink too much beforehand, as I will be lying immobile in a metal tube for 60 minutes -- no wonder those patients occasionally freak out on HOUSE! originally, they were all booked up until February, but Erica got me on the list)
  
• pre-op tests on Monday morning such as X-rays etc. where they make sure I'm healthy enough not to croak on the table (well, I had originally scheduled the 26th off for Chinese New Year, which I do every year, but I hadn't quite planned to spend it THIS way... oh well, at least I don't have to go to the office afterward)
  
• pre-op mapping on Thursday the 29th where I report to the Nuclear (!) Medicine Dept (I think this also includes a last-minute review with the patient, so they understand exactly what's going to happen; actually, wedged me in just now --> I *heart* Erica!)
  
• lumpectomy on Friday the 30th (depending on how many lymph nodes they will need to remove, I may be there overnight; otherwise it will be outpatient surgery)
  
• Chez Mom on the 30th/31st - TLC and homemade soup :-D
  
• Post-op follow up visit w/doc on Tuesday the 10th :-)

I've been working on my mom's healthcare proxy and living will lately, since my brother-in-law's health had reminded all of us to get cracking on those things, but it's a little disorienting to get those forms given to ME in terms of using them FOR me!

Okay, on to more entertaining topics, like last night's adventures at the pottery studio, where apparently, everyone was having so issues with trimming their foot rings (the bottom of the pottery, where it rests against the table, etc.) which you do while the piece is flipped upside down on the wheel.

I turned my bowl (above) from an "innie" [as is normal] to an "outie" [um, oops!] and after conferring with my ever patient teacher Sara, even re-tapping it into the correct shape would not be enough to salvage it, due to other factors.

It did gave me a chance to do a cross section and see how evenly (or not) I threw the piece, and while the walls were okay, the feet & surrounding area were way too thick. See how superthin-like-a-fashion-model the floor of the piece is? Not good if everything else is not the same thickness, as Bad Things may happen in the kiln during firing, due to the varying moisture levels.

One of my other friends went right through the floor of her bowl, resulting in a clay doughnut. ;-)

Yes, every week I am reminded of what one novice student once muttered years ago in bemusement: "Man, I never realized there were so many steps where you can f*ck it all up!"

Okay, lunch time is OVAH.