I've been away for a couple of weeks, because I went 'under a bus'. I've had this conversation with myself since I've had to pay for my own health insurance [13 years now]... 'What if I went under a bus?' I've always been healthy. I rarely see doctors. Emergency room trips are few and far between, yet I've always paid for health insurance because of the 'under the bus' premise. What if I went under a bus? My parents would insist on being involved, and lose their retirement. I could never stand for that.
Hence, I have always paid for health insurance on the principle of 'what if I went under a bus'.
So last week, I did. On November 26th, I hailed a cab for some friends at 2:00 in the morning. He rolled down his window. I rested my hand on the doorframe and told him it was a fare to Queens. He said no. I reminded him that it was against the law to turn down a fare once he'd stopped. He floored the gas. I was dragged for 10 feet and discarded to the pavement, head first, like a midsummer insect. I broke 6 bones in my face. I had pretty serious surgery to reconstruct my face.
Never broken a bone before. Never had to have surgery before. Never had to stay in a hospital before. Never had to deal with the hell of wondering whether my insurance [mind you, paid from the belief of 'what if I go under a bus'] will actually cover all of this, because there were several days between the "emergency situation" and the actual admittance for surgery.
If I hadn't had the surgery, I would have had permanent damange to my jaw and right eye. It had to be done quickly before the bones healed.
What reason could there possibly be for an insurance company to have an issue with this? Would they like chronic jaw issues where bones need to be rebroken? Would they like a sinking eyeball requiring, again, rebreaking the bones?
But whatever the insurance issues, for anyone who has never had surgery, I highly advise doing your best to avoid any situation in which it might be necessary...
Most horrifying experience of my life.
Worst fucking week of my life.
But I must thank the folks who did the surgery, as they competently did their jobs.
I'm only as together as the loose tissue in my right face: 4 titanium plates, muscle bleeding, lacerated tissue offerings from my eye every morning...
life.
I'll write more about this and more coherently... I just wanted to say hi & let you know what had happened...