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For two months, we waited and waited to receive the hospital bill from The Lime's ER visit.  I almost pooped in my pants when I saw the charges billed to our insurance and nervously anticipated what our portion would be.

We finally got the bill a few weeks ago and it wasn't as horrendous as I was expecting, although it still was a financial blow, especially before Christmas.  It's a crying shame that even with insurance, hospital bills are as much as they are.

I wanted to call the hospital and dispute some of the charges but the woman I spoke to (twice) said nothing was individually billed, it was all sort of a big lump.  After speaking to her twice, I was too nervous to call back in hopes of negotiating the bill.  LaVor has big boy underwear and said he would call back but hasn't had the time, since their business hours are the same hours he's working.

I was feeling extra brave yesterday, after setting up the Christmas tree and finding a majority of our lights no longer work.  I also lost several ornaments to a certain three year old who couldn't keep his hands off of everything.  Decorating the tree is probably one of my least favorite Christmas activities but I did it and thought I'd continue doing things I don't like; negotiating.

I'm afraid of the word "no", even though I've grown up my whole life with my dad saying, "the worst thing someone can say to you is no."  "No" isn't the end of the world yet it feels like it is to me.  So when I had to see if the hospital would accept a lower dollar amount than our statement said, I was deathly afraid of their response.  But I borrowed a pair of LaVor's big people underwear and dialed the number I had dialed two times before.  Sure enough, the same lady answered.  I explained the situation and she put me on hold, came back and said her supervisor was out but that she left him a message and would call me back as soon as she heard something.

A few hours later, my phone rang and The Lime beat me to it, hanging up on the caller in the process.  I called right back and heard the following, "I just heard back from my supervisor and he said it would be fine to adjust off this much and have you pay this much." What?!?! You mean I postponed and sweated and feared for nothing? My crummy morning had simply been brushed under the rug and I was now hearing angels singing. Talk about a Christmas miracle!

So now The Lime not only got a trip to the ER but he'll get a Christmas, too.

I guess it was all worth it