Patient In A Medical Pickle

At the start of August, after watching, waiting, and resisting, I dutifully started to seek medical help for my condition. Naturally, I was ready to be done as soon as possible. Not so fast! I had to wait. Six weeks. There were necessary appointments in the meantime. Then, a few days ago, I finally saw the surgeon. More progress, but not done yet. My appointment with the surgeon was very straightforward. I explained the situation. He examined me. Then he told me we’ll do surgery; his office staff will set it up. Great! Well, it’s not that easy. I’m now in a cart/horse pickle. The surgeon’s office will not schedule the surgery without insurance approval or financial aid set up first. I must talk to the hospital for this. My wife, thankfully, is helping with this part. She called the hospital financial dept. to get started. We learned that the surgeon’s office misunderstood our financial status since we fall into a sort of gray area. We’re not strictly “self-pay” and we don’t have…