To Sunfish:

[DancingLight]

Sunfish,

Just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you and wondering how your move went this weekend? Are you still in one piece? Did you get a lot of help getting set up in your new place? Were you a good girl and were you careful not to overdo...and let others do the work!?

Take care alligator...

Check in when you can and let us know how you are doing...

Emily

[Sunfish]

dearest em et al-

it made me smile so to log on and see a thread just to check up on me...thanks girl! i logged on earlier just to catch up on reading a bit but have been pretty crashed so haven't yet embarked on replies...i actually logged on now and was just going to post a quick hello to let you all know that i made it to cleveland. i'm pretty wiped but still alive and kickin...or, perhaps more accurately, alive and laying around?!

things started off well - NOT - on friday when i woke up with a sore scratchy throat...you know, the kind you get when you're either going to wake up sick the next day or else "kick it" and all will be well. luckily the later occurred and i think it actually may have been my allergies acting up with all the shuffling of stuff at my place during the last-minute packing. but that aside, the fun began...

after it took me three hours to get through to a live person (and a mean one at that), i was informed that there were no U-Hauls available despite the fact that i had a confirmed reservation from three weeks prior. it all worked out in the end as i was able to find a budgetmobile rather easily and for not much more money (and with decent customer service), but talk about a few hours of utter panic. i won't even go there....

and then i get a call on friday afternoon informing me that my insurance company won't approve/cover the wheelchair - yep, the one i already have - because i'm on medications that should alleviate the need. uh...yeah, ok. just what i need. and that i need to get on the appeal process right away with an appeal letter from a doc, etc...and the lady (from the durable medical place) seemed to think it unreasonable that i couldn't produce this that day. nevermind that i was about to move the next morning. or that it was friday at 4pm and doctors aren't exactly waiting around to deal with my needs. but whatever. i'm really pretty infuriated about the whole thing b/c it's so hard to have to keep fighting so hard for something that was so hard for me to accept in the first place. to then have my insurance company doubting the need - even though i know they're clueless - feels like a slap in the face. so...it will get resolved eventually i suppose, but it was NOT what i needed on friday afternoon.

friday - once again - proved that my symptoms aren't aggrevated by emotional stressors. i really don't need anymore convincing though!

my family's flight was delayed getting in friday night which i felt badly about just b/c it meant they didn't get to their hotel until almost 1am with the move the next morning, but my friend who picked them up is a nightowl, as are they generally speaking, so they survived.

the move itself, despite it being hard for me to sit back and watch, went wonderfully. i had a 17 ft truck FULL and it was all loaded in an hour and a half. my friends were amazing, including the star loader who is a real professional (UPS driver). i don't know him super well...i know his wife more as we're in a bible study together...so she told me he was going to come help but i had no idea what a pro he was. we had about ten people and i was amazed at how quickly things went. and despite a forecast of rain it was clear and just a bit overcast, around 80 in the morning, so pretty darn good for the last weekend of july.

folks commented on how well organized/packed my things were and that it made the loading easier so that made me feel good in that i was using my help as efficiently as possible. it was nice having the friends there for the pack-up too b/c it was cool to have a final good-bye right before leaving. and i was SO glad that the sufficient help meant that my dad didn't have to over-exert his bad knees. and i think my 20-yr old brother was relieved that he wasn't the only pair of strong arms for the loading...i'm sure he was worried about that!

and then before leaving my mother managed to make my apartment so ridiculously clean...it was greatly appreciated but over the top...not only should i get my security deposit back but a bonus for the cleaning that the maintenance won't have to do since my mom already did!

since things went quicker than expected we then pushed to drive further on saturday so that we only had about a half hour drive on sunday morning. i just drove about an hour of the time b/c despite my not doing the manual labor stuff it was still a super exhausting day. i crashed with feet-up & seat back for a lot of the drive, but on sunday all were glad that we'd pushed saturday.

some of my dad's friends and their kids & other assorted relatives in cleveland helped with the unload and were equally as wonderful as my buds in baltimore. and i probably appreciated it even more seeing that i hadn't seen these folks since i was a little kid, if ever, and b/c i was even more crashed at this point, pretty much laying around and directing boxes:-) again the weather cooperated and my mom and brother did a good initial unpacking of some of the boxes while i returned the truck with my dad (i had to go b/c it was in my name/ on my card). my family went to the store & stocked me with essential groceries & mom made the bed so while the place is still box-filled, it's livable until i can slowly start digging out bit by bit. my fam left around 7:30 last night and i hit the bed, unpacked a few clothes, and hit the bed again.

i haven't done a thing today aother than phone calls as i'm pretty wiped, but i'm here & survived the move. and my phone line got connected late this morning so i could get back online. i'm more in the lay down with the laptop mode than the unpack mode so i've been catching up on my reading & will try to get caught up on my posting too (watch out!).

thanks again for all your well-wishes for the weekend. despite a rocky start, things really went quite well. and i'm here. yippee

(long enough answer for ya, em?)

melissa, reporting from cleveland

[steph37822]

Welcome back to Ohio Melissa! Sounds like it went well! --Except the wheelchair bs which is still ridiculous!

I hope you are still taking it easy because it's back to being hot as heck!!

Take Care

-Steph

[Sunfish]

i definitely am steph...haven't left the apartment since returning the truck yesterday!

thanks!

:-)melissa

[MightyMouse]

If you're Ohio Melissa, that makes you Ohm... either a measure from of eletrical resistance, or a meditation.

Good to hear you arrived in the land-oh-Cleve. All my in-laws are there (what few we have). Happy unpacking! Nina

[cnm1]

Hi Melissa

Welcome to Cleveland!!! I am glad that you made it safely. Rachel and I would love to meet you sometime. I Hope the wheelchair thing works out - I have been talking to Rachel about one for college. She doesn't like the idea of meeting people in a"granny mobile".

Louise

[Ernie]

Hi,

Welcome to your new home. I hope you will be able to settle in easily.

Ernie

[JaneEyre9]

Hi Sunfish,

I am a new member here, but just wanted to welcome you to Cleveland. I'm a lifetime resident and a grad student at Case! I read from your previous posts that you are going to go to school here. Congrats first of all, and if you want to talk, I'd love to get to know you. I could offer personal experience when it comes to dealing with a disability at Case. I've been doing it since Janurary of 2000. (I went to undergrad there too.) Best of luck getting settled in. Please feel free to email me.

[corina]

Hi Sunfish,

I'm glad your move went smoothly! Your parents and friends are the best to help you like that!

I'm sorry to hear about your problems getting the wheelchair paid for. There are times that I want to face those people and ask them: face to face: do you want to change lives???????

So, I hope things will work out!

Were you able to do some unpacking?

Corina

[Eillyre]

Glad things finally worked out on your move, Melissa!

Hope you're slowly recouping from all that activity -- my move from my apartment in NYC to my parents house in NJ was really fatiguing, so I sympathize! Attack all those boxes slowly!

When do things start up for you? Do you have a pretty reasonable period of rest before then?

Angela

[Guest Julia59]

Welcome to Ohio! Your only 2 hours away from me----in good old Toledo------

I'm glad to hear you survived the move and your still in one piece---

What a bunch of wonderful friends you have, so supportive and helpful.

And your mom and dad were a saving grace to you also. And that brother of yours stuck by his sis---didn't he........... My mother in law was also a cleaning bug when we moved out of out last house and moved into this one. She saved us a lot of work. She just turned 78 last week.

Just take it one box at a time Melissa----------- ---and don't over do it.

Good luck----and blessings to you.

Julie :0)

[Rita]

So great to hear your in your new place. I hope that everyone there is friendly and somewhat understandable. But if there not you can always complain to us about them........Ha Ha .

I hope that you begining school is a great experience just make sure not too over do it and rest when neccessary, or any time you get a chance. Hope that the docs there are also very helpful.

I should be going back to vady soon and I'll send a big hello for you. Things just won't be the same without you to room with even though I really didn't stay long.

Good Luck,

Rita s

[Sunfish]

thanks everyone!

reading your messages always give me such a lift. and even when i'm not on the board i think of you all telling me that it's okay - even good - to be taking it slow, still be "recovering" from the flurry of activity, etc...it's like i keep your thoughts, comments, & wise words in my back pocket for whenever i need them!

<<Ohm>> i love it nina! a new nickname can i be both a measure of electrical resistance & a meditation at the same time? pretty please? (you made me feel smart too b/c i actually remembered Ohms from physics...and from my yoga class too ) if you ever want/need to escape your inlaws when you're in town let me know...hopefully by then i'll be unpacked!

louise, thanks for the local welcome. i would love to meet you & rachel sometime. i'll PM/email you to figure something out. (after the unload sunday we got carry-out from tommy's...yum yum).

ernie, i hope that i'll settle in easily too. so far so good with the easy part, but i don't know about the settling yet...unless settling into my bed counts

janeeyre (kristen if i remember from your intro?), talk about a small world! it's so great to "meet" you and hopefully we'll be able to meet in person too. i'll definitely be emailing you to get the inside scoop on things at case. also on the local medical resources...

corina, you seem to want to be nicer than i do about the wheelchair approval. i think if i saw them face to face i might slap them in the face. not really...but it would be tempting! i have been able to unpack a bit today...and organized some of the kitchen stuff that my mom & bro already did.

angela, i don't have anything here other than confirming the disability stuff at school & other "settling in" stuff (i.e. new bank, DMV, docs, etc.) until orientation starts on the 22nd, so there is thankfully some breathing room. i knew that having time was mandatory as there's no way i could be settling in and starting school at the same time. thanks for the reminder to take it slow...

julie, sounds like my mom & your MIL would get along well:-) i'll probably be making a trip to my fam's in t-town sometime between now & the start of school to touch base with my old primary care doc there so that she can help me out with things until i get connected with cleveland docs. maybe sometime when i'm in town we could meet. i'll probably be there more often now that i'm two hours away as opposed to eight. and yes, the fam & friends really did come through...something that hasn't always been the case so it was a huge blessing.

rita, thanks! and don't worry i'll definitely come and vent on the board as needed i owe you an email but am playing catch up at the moment so it'll come soon. i think i told you but i'm not making my follow-up trip to vandy this coming week as it's just not worth the energy. i actually sent bonnie some things for her "activity box" that she'll bring you - it didn't come until after you had left - so you'll have to keep your eye out.

again, thanks everyone. you guys (er...gals) are great!

melissa

p.s. i found out why the wheelchair was denied by the insurance...a letter from the durable medical folks indicated that i am "able to function normally while on medication." if you read the whole paragraph it also says i can't stand or walk for more than a few minutes but they took the one sentence & used it to deny, saying that meds are controlling things entirely. i will say that the letter was written poorly, but gggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. it was pure carelessness that could have been avoided but now i just wrote a letter for my old primary care doc...at her request, hehe...that she'll read over/edit/submit...i must admit it's pretty good and official sounding. i wrote something myself to submit with the appeal too...actually from me...and have to make sure they don't sound too alike!

[corina]

You go sunfish. Ohhhhh I hate it when they just pick out one sentence and make their statement on THAT. I've been experiencing that over and over gain.

Let them know you don't accept this!!!

Corina