Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Keeping your Injury frugal

After flipping over the handlebars of a bicycle, then having it flip on top of me in early July my health-injury-fruigality was put to the test.

This is what worked for me...it might not work for you

  1. Wait to determine if the injury is bumps, bruises, etc. or something that needs treatment. I decided to sleep 1 night and reevaluate in the morning.
  2. Check with your insurance provider if you have a question about treatment. I was out of town and knew that might be more tricky with insurance.
  3. Urgent care or ER? For me the difference was several hundred dollars for what would probably be very similar treatment...a splint, brace, or cast. Urgent care it was.
  4. Keep your priorities straight. I had a helmet on, a bruise on my knee and a throbbing, stiff elbow. For an accident on a road bike on the road at a decently fast speed I am very thankful nothing else was injured. I got hurt near the Mayo Clinic, a highly esteemed hospital. But they don't have an urgent care clinic. So instead I went to a very small county hospital. I was in, seen, x-rayed, treated, wrapped with a splint and out in under an hour and a half. I don't get to say I received treatment at the Mayo Clinic but I did save several hundred dollars with what I can imagine would have been the exact same outcome.
  5. Think ahead. I left the urgent care with copies of my x-rays to take to my doctor back home. I was on the phone a lot with my insurance, doctors offices, etc. to have a treatment plan when I got back home. I also realized I will very likely have a cast on my arm for well over a month and that alters my daily life a lot. Started figuring out how to stock up on big bags for my cast when I shower, meals I CAN cook with one hand to avoid eating out etc.
  6. Do what the doctor says. Adding anything to this injury is the last thing I want to do. Doing it right and following the first time will always save money, time, pain, and frustration.
  7. Don't waste time. Most tasks take me at least twice as long to complete one handed. I'm trying to choose what needs to be done very carefully.