Life Isn’t Error-free

In the years since my husband, Tim, became ill, I’ve been learning how to understand and navigate the different processes with his medical practitioners. It feels like learning a foreign language, except that if I make a mistake, the consequences could be dire for Tim’s health. Even silly little mistakes feel huge.

Recently Tim needed to have a minor procedure performed, one we would pay for out-of-pocket. We had three discussions with the doctor and staff about what the charges would be. Tim had the procedure, and then we stopped at the front desk to pay. After we’d been home a couple of hours, the phone rang. The doctor’s office was calling to tell us there had been made an error, and that we needed to pay more, although not much more. So not that big of a deal, and yet it felt immense at the time, and it wasn’t even my fault! I suddenly just wanted to put my head down and cry.

But instead, I hung up the phone, took a few deep breaths, and reminded myself that we all make mistakes sometimes.