Sometimes Good Things Happen

They really do.  We have had two good things happen over the past week.  Let's start with yesterday's minor miracle.

It has been three weeks since I turned in financial assistance paperwork for help with some of my hospital bills.  The amount was a little over $8,000.  Considering the fiasco the first time around (USPS lost all my paperwork and I had to redo it), and the look on the financial counselor's face when I turned it in, I wasn't expecting much.  I was supposed to call last week to see about the status of it, but got sidetracked by other things (which I will explain below).  I didn't call on Monday because it's an observed holiday, and Tuesday was just too loud around here (no school, and my son's friend was over here).  So I made the call yesterday morning.

After dialing the number and hoping the lady wouldn't answer (prolong the bad news.....my mind is weird), she came on the line, took my information, and said, "Oh yes, you've been approved."  My mind shut down.  I had to have her repeat it all, confirm the amounts, and pretty much just slowly tell me that my balance was $0.  After snapping out of the mind fart, I thanked her profusely, hung up the phone, and proceeded to bawl for a good ten minutes.  I just felt this tremendous weight lift off of me.  Stressing about that bill these past two months was crippling me, mind and body.  I have a feeling that now my random aches and pains (along with some new and not fun headaches) will disappear.

Then the cynical side kicked in, and now I'm freaking out about snafus and "what-ifs".  What if the financial counselor doesn't tell the billing department about it?  What if it was already too late and the billing department got fed up and turned me over to collections?  What if, what if, what if.  It is maddening.  I'm supposed to get an itemized statement with the balance zeroed out, and I probably won't fully celebrate until it is in my hand.  Still, I can't help but feel a little gleeful at how it turned out, and I'm probably just freaking out for no reason, which I always do.

The other good, no wait, scratch that.  The other FANTASTIC thing that happened occurred last Thursday. My husband successfully defended his thesis.  He can now put a PhD after his name.  I can't even begin to tell you how I felt watching him talk about his thesis in front of his committee, his professor, various people, and our lovely friend (who drove frickin' three hours to be with us).  It was awesome to see him handle the questions and criticisms.

After he defended, his committee huddled in a room with him to go over stuff and criticize further.  I know that sounds awful, but our friend and my husband's coworker assured me that it is normal.  His professor finally walked out, shook my hand, and said, "How does it feel to be married to a doctor?"  I was ecstatic.

I can't even put into words how happy and proud I am that my husband is now a doctor.  It's not even the title itself, but the fact that I know just how much work and time and effort has gone into this whole grad school endeavor. He has spent countless hours writing, writing, writing, then writing some more.  There have been late nights, early mornings, hours of waiting for one thing or another to finish, only to be disappointed by the results.  I've seen him fall into bed completely exhausted from everything.  I've seen him struggle to get up in the mornings and try to get through another day.  Yes, there were times I'd get mad, times I'd feel like he was ignoring me or our son, and times when I finally snapped.  Looking back, that probably wasn't the best help for him.  I am fortunate, though.  It didn't seem to affect our relationship too much, although we've had some whopper fights in the past, with both of us stubborn about our points to the bitter end.  Sometimes though, you just have to let it go.  And we do.

I guess I'm rambling now, which usually means it is time to close off a blog post.  Now it's shower time and more discussion about jobs with my husband, because we really need to get him employed before the end of January.  So if anyone knows of any teaching jobs in the Sciences or has connections about Cancer Biology, let a bitch know. *shamelessly pseudo-networking*