May 29

Have you ever had a day that's more than a day? It's a milestone, a watermark, heck it's a movie (complete with A, B and C plotlines).

Welcome to May 29.

The C plotline was this: Mama needed her M-11-Q filled out. This is an annual form that her doctor fills out and authorizes Medicaid to give her Home Care Attendants. Without it, no help. Sooo... kind of an important form, eh?

Anyway, the form is usually filled out in April, but about the time we should have been following up on it I was in the hospital. So our caseworker called us up in a panic to tell us that we needed to get the form filled out and filed by guess what date. (Yup, May 29).

Only Mama's current doctor does not fill out M11Q's. (What the...?) So I had to get her a new doctor (lots and lots of phone calls) to find someone who would see her and fill out the form tout de suite.

Nice.

The B Plotline: You remember how where I work was going belly up? Yeah. Well, after many (MANY MANY) weeks of nothing but rumor, speculation and innuendo, we got a hard deadline: GUESS WHAT DATE! Yup May 29. Going to be our last day at work. Much emotion, good, bad and short, went around. And! And! *I* was chosen to be retained/transferred over to the other division. So the morning of May 29, I was the only one who had a job. Of ANYONE in my little division.

Nice.

The A Plotline: You remember how I had to still be pregnant by a certain date to qualify for paid maternity leave? Yeah. By now, you know the date. May 29.

Nice.

So. Who wants to hear what happened on May 29?

As has been his habit, H took me to work. He held my hand extra hard and extra long and I kept breathing hard in and out. It was so hard to believe that I was actually going to be able to make it. I was giddy when I punched in that morning, humming Queen songs to myself. I was the champion.

H went home to take Mama to her doctor's appointment, and I tempered my good mood. I was the only one in a good mood. One co-worker remembered that it was my anniversary and congratulated me, but most didn't care about me. Heck, more than a few were a bit hostile to me. "You know they only hired you because you're pregnant," one spat out at me.

Nice.

H does not usually take Mama to appointments that need forms: I do. Same for appointments in the city. I arranged for NYC transit's Access-A-Ride to pick H and Mama up. Except that H did not understand that you have to be there EARLY, and missed the shuttle bus. He called me in a panic: what do I do now? Mama cannot walk far, H had left his wallet at work (so, no ATM card or the like) and only had about $20 on him. Cost of car service to the appointment? $24. What to do! What to do!

I remembered that we had emergency cash stashed somewhere and off they went. H called every half hour or so with a new emergency. Where's the Medicare card (lost). The Medicaid card? (lost). Where's the M-11-Q form? Etc.

Periodically, at work, one of the fellas that we work for (our division provided support, let's say) would come in with a problem. I was the only one who cared to find resolutions. Everyone else... well, it was the last day. What did they care?

At the end, I was so drained. I asked my boss if I could go home early and was told NO. H agreed to come get me and I sat outside my building shell shocked.

I haven't told the story well. But. it was a heckuva day.