Starting Lent Off with a Bang

First off, thank you all for your kind words and prayers.

The one word I have been feeling the past week and a half is overwhelmed. If there was a state higher than overwhelmed, then I would be that.

It has been a tough time in the JellyBelly household.

It started with Mr. JB finding out that he could possibly lose three days pay from my surgeries. He had a letter for ten days, but he had to take an extra week because of my second-look laparatomy. Our school board has implemented a new absence system and they are really cracking down. He spoke to his old and current administrators and they were very helpful, but he had to speak to the superintendent of human resources so he could review his file. He spoke to him yesterday and he thinks that he was sympathetic to our situation. Mr. JB does not take days off, except to attend appointments with me or because he is too sick to go in. Please pray that he doesn't lose the three days pay, it comes out to be quite a substantial amount and we can't afford it at all.

On top of the stress of Mr. JB's situation and my crazy class I had to pay an additional $1600 in taxes for 2010. I was warned by my boss at the Ministry of Ed. that there was a possibility that I would have to pay back for my income taxes, and I did pay $700 when I filed. The reassessment was a total shock and we had to dip into money that was earmarked for my medical bills in Omaha.

Which brings me to the biggest surprise of the day: We went to an accountant to help us with out taxes this year because of all of my medical bills and we also wanted to know how much we had to buy in RRSP's (they're the equivalent of 401K's) to offset having to pay income tax. The accountant needs an invoice stating how much money we paid to the hospital and PPVI.

Mr. JB got home first and he was able to leave a message at PPVI and he was lucky enough to speak to someone in billing at Creighton. We thought that it would be a straightforward conversation, but after an hour and a half and speaking to three different people we found out that we owe A LOT more than we had been told when we left Omaha.

Health care bills are totally new to us. When I get sick I show the doctor or hospital my health card and I don't see any money change hands. We got the unfortunate surprise that our payment to Dr. Hilgers was a lot more than estimated (like $9 000 more), but we thought that we had a clear idea of how much we owed the hospital.

My were we wrong.

We found out tonight that we owe the hospital $18 000.

Yes, that is after already paying over $22 000.

Out of our own pocket.

Needless to say, we felt sick. We both cried and I spent a good half hour in the fetal position sobbing.

We have set up a payment plan that is going to force us to tighten our purse strings, but I am beside myself.

Mr. JB spoke to our financial planner and he assured him that there is a way to pay for this. We are also gainfully employed and own a house and our cars, so we won't qualify for financial aid, we did get the paperwork, but we won't qualify, I'm sure.

I feel so much guilt for having my surgery. Mr. JB assures me that it was for the best since I am feeling so much better physically, but if my stupid body wasn't so broken we wouldn't have had to incur all this debt.

I feel like God is punishing me for something, and I have no idea what it is. I've tried so hard to follow the rules and to follow His will, but the both of us feel so abandoned right now. Nothing seems to be going right.

So, I've had so much to offer up for my Prayer Buddy. As we spoke to the various people on the phone this evening I offered so many prayers for you.

I really hope that there's a light at the end of this tunnel.

I don't know how much more I can take.