Testing, testing, 1,2,1,2...

June 25, 2012

Today is my annual stress test – FINALLY! Because of insurance policies and the new relationship my cardiologist has with the hospital, what used to be a one-time visit, complete with doctor consult, test, and review of the results, has turned into a 3-visit ordeal. All this is a result of distorted reimbursement practices with insurance companies. Here is the problem…

When the stress testing was done in Dr. V’s office, he was allowed to bill $305 for a $300 test, and given his staffing, equipment and no-show costs, a losing proposition. The hospital on the other hand can bill for 10 times that amount. To their credit, Dr. V’s group went through a long and hard decision process, knowing the impact it would have on us patients. Now, you are not allowed to see the doctor to get the orders written for the test, and have the test on the same day. Nor will the doctor see the test results the same day it is completed. And THAT scares me – my triple bypass need was identified during my test in 2008, Dr. V. immediately pulled me off a bike ride I was supposed to do that afternoon, and two days later, I was in the hospital. This time, I am roughly two weeks away from the 4-year anniversary of my triple bypass surgery, which was 4 years after my heart attack. So you see where my mind is going…

Just to be able to stay in business, over 80% of the Austin-area docs are now affiliated with the hospitals in town. But this could turn into a patient’s nightmare. While I know my docs are a very passionate group when it comes to patient care, I don’t expect to see that same level of concern from the medical behemoths.

Back to the timeline…

not being an emergency, from calling to request the test to seeing Dr. V.   5 days;

seeing Dr. V to getting a call back from the test registration clerk                 7 days;

test registration to test date                                                                                     5 days;

test to Doctor’s review                                                                                                ?

…yeah, not so good. We’ll see…

Into the Summer Heat…

Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.  - Shel Silverstein

So the month of June brings a number of activities into my life that I have never done before -completing a trail run; hosting a wedding shower – and some things I will repeat – kayaking the Danskin women’s triathlon, riding the Atlas 4000 ride and completing the Pflugerville Triathlon.

This was the 3^rd year in a row that I have kayaked the swim for the Danskin Tri. I enjoy the opportunity to get out on the water when I can, and this was a chance to give back a bit. There are a lot of first-time triathletes doing this race, so I feel like I owe somebody for being there as volunteers for my races. After the last swimmer is out of the water we usually have to hang around a bit before they will let us drive out, because all the bikes are out on the road course, so I went up to the finish line to cheer for a bit. I listened to the interview with the pro who had won the race, and then wandered back to my truck.

This is also the 3^rd time I have ridden the Atlas 4000 ride, but this time it had a little twist. With the 121212 challenge, Kristi MH and I decided we would turn the 70-mile route into our June century. We both rode from our houses to the start line, and then in the middle of the ride route we added an additional loop to get us over the 100-mile mark. It was a bit windy this time around, but we got it done. I was also very happy that none of the aid stations along the route ran out of ice. It was very refreshing to be able to actually drink something cool throughout the ride.

One of the volunteers at our Tri Camp in April suggested doing a trail run. He was originally going to sign up for this Rogue Running Ranch run, which took place at a big trail run/mountain biking ranch in Burnet, so a number of us signed up as well. I signed up for the 10K and dragged out the old road shoes. This was a very interesting experience – running/walking on huge slabs of rock, through the trees, crossing small creeks which were running down the rocks, climbing down some drops – definitely different from the usual running in my life! But it was fun, and given the right pair of shoes, I may be inclined to do another one after IMAZ.

Seems to be a month of 3s - on Father’s Day, as I have done for the previous two years, I participated in the Pflugerville Triathlon. This time, however, was preceded by a minor motorcycle accident the day before. No broken bones, no major blood loss or anything like that. It was a very slow (2-3 miles an hour) turn across very soft tar (because of the 100-degree weather) and I basically just slid off the bike as it spun around. So I was pretty much just sore in general. Given that, I didn’t expect much in the way of my finish in the tri. But I managed an improved finish time for the 2^nd consecutive time, going from a 1:43 in 2010, to a 1:41 in 2011, to a 1:37:22 finish this time around. The swim and the run were slow as usual, but I had a good time on the bike, with a 19.8mph average. And this year, I felt better coming off the bike, in that the hips did not feel like they wanted to lock up on me right off the bat.

The annual stress test is this week too; hopefully, no surprises there. I REALLY don’t want to mess up the IMAZ plans.

This coming weekend, we will be having the Austin shower for Amanda and Matt. Since they are getting married in Frisco, north of Dallas, I don’t expect many of the Austin friends will make that drive, so we wanted to be able to share this exciting event in Amanda’s life with the folks here. Beer and mimosas… I am just saying.

Okay, back to the regular training schedule.