20 August 2021
Today began with a knock at the door before 9 a.m. from Mowbry's Tree Service. PG&E, the local utility famous for starting wildfires throughout the state, has engaged them to prune trees threatening power lines. And we have such a tree that cuts a free haircut every two years.
I welcomed them to the estate and chatted with them a while after Ben the RN came by for the 9 a.m. dressing change.
By some miracle, he brought along a handful of large pads that should get us through the weekend.
I asked him what I could possible do with no Mediplex. He didn't know. "We'll find a way," he said. And he does, fortunately.
I had the bright idea to call Byram while he was here to confirm the medical necessity but the customer service rep said it wasn't necessary. The problem is that they still haven't received authorization for the order.
But Cat the Physician's Assistant authorized it on Monday.
Well, it turns out she places the order with Kaisser's Durable Medical Equipment division and, when they approve the order, it's placed with Byram. So it isn't that Cat's authorization didn't reach Byram; it's that Kaiser DME didn't authorize the order.
The Byram rep gave me a number to call DME but that went nowhere. Joyce left them a message.
Meanwhile the guys from Mowbry did a nice job on the tree. Three of them. One guy uses climbing equipment to get up the tree (which is about two stories tall) and the other two guys put out green safety cones to mark the fall zone from which they remove the branches that come down.
I chatted with them a bit.
They're from Baskersfield and Fresno in the valley and love this foggy weather. By 10 a.m. in the valley, it's 110. It hit 111 in Bakersfield the other day. They can't even be outside in that.
I joked they should work at night but they said it's 100 at night, too.
They spend the week up here, staying at a hotel in San Jose. And they're working Saturdays so going home for the weekend to see the family isn't easy.
I joked with Ben that we had just thrown our first Covid party. The tree guys, him.
He laughed. But, you know, we're still up a tree.