It's Like CASTmas Eve!

Sweet Gummi Mary! I can hardly sleep! It's the night before CASTmas! The Pony is HOPEFULLY going to get a cast on his two-weeks-broken ankle on Thursday! That's what we hope, anyway! I feel like setting out a plate of cookies and milk for his orthopedic specialist! The crutches are leaned by the recliner with care, in hopes that a hard cast soon will be there... to swing along without fear of bumping that ankle.

Oh, you know it wasn't easy. And it's still not a sure thing. I KNEW there was going to be a problem again, even after Farmer H got that fax number for The Lady Named for a Part of the Female Anatomy to send The Pony's permission-to-treat form to the new doctor.

WEDNESDAY

1) Farmer H went by the new doctor's office around 10:00. They had NOT received anything for Pony.

2) The Pony called The Lady Named for a Part of the Female Anatomy at 11:00 to ask if she'd faxed the form. "No. I have it right here. I'll do that now." CLICK.

3) Farmer H told The Pony to call back at 2:30 to see if she had faxed it yet. He did. Got the machine.

4) Farmer H called the new doctor at 3:30. They said a form had been faxed, but only with permission to treat, and not a declaration that the USPS would be responsible for the bills. However... they were willing to treat The Pony, and use his health insurance as a secondary payment option.

5) The Pony got a notice that his case had been reopened after administrative closure, because it had taken so long without a follow-up diagnosis by a real doctor, not a nurse practitioner. Three pages of instructions, and a form asking for details of his accident. He will need a statement from his doctor declaring whether his injury could have actually been caused by his details of the event.

6) Farmer H put a bug in The Pony's ear about how he should have been trying harder to get these people to complete his forms. So unfair. The Pony was on the phone with them 3-4 times per day, asking what he needed to be doing, and even hobbled back to Urgent Care with forms (they refused to fill out) on the day AFTER he broke his ankle.

7) Farmer H further stated, "I hope they didn't FIRE you for not coming to work!" Even though the day after the break, we took the form from Urgent Care stating "Only light duty work, no walking, until seen by a specialist." Something to that effect. I read it, can't remember exactly. The Pony has a scan of it on his phone. USPS has no light duty work. The other ankle-breaker had the same thing. They offered to case the mail for others' routes, but standing, reaching, and lifting is required.

Anyhoo... I don't know why Farmer H went from a blustering lion, ready to rip off heads, to a tail-tucked puppy, worrying about job security. As that four-page form The Pony got about his re-opened case said, his employer was not contesting the claim, but further information was needed. Which is probably also delaying his continuation of pay.

Oh, and Farmer H further revealed that his brother told him, "I've had four worker's comp cases, and three of them needed a lawyer. Do NOT pay for the doctor yourself." Of course, Farmer H's brother was not working for the federal government. Thus the lawyer, and not union arbitration (or whatever that word is I'm forgetting).

AND, Farmer H ran into his own personal nurse practitioner in the Devil's Playground, and she said that NOBODY wants to deal with the post office worker's comp claims, because they always mess things up. That her office has sometimes called them 6-7 times a day trying to get the information. She also said that The Pony's ankle should probably be okay, since it's been immobilized, and he's not walking on it, and for sure it's started to heal already.

You can bet that there will be a grand celebration here at the Mansion if The Pony comes home in a cast! Too bad the fireworks stands are closed now.