After Donn and I decided to let the response of the Center where Dr. K worked make our decision as to whether or not to pursue his services, I called the woman who had asked me to call my insurance company again. I chose not to mention anything my insurance representative had said except, “My Company said they will pay you the same as Medicare would pay you.” (I didn’t want to get into an argument about whether or not their Center participated with Medicare.)

“Oh that’s wonderful,” she said. “We can go forward with setting up the appointment.” She named a date less than two weeks away, which I knew was unusual when seeing a specialist. I was delighted and made the appointment, still a bit nervous.

 It turned out I had been nervous with good reason. The office person and the nurse who worked with me when I arrived at the Center were none to happy to be working with someone who had my insurance. One of them said, “This is taking me longer than usual because your insurance isn’t in our system. I don’t know what they’re going to do with you.”

The nurse was quite rude about the difficulties she was having and between the two of them, they must have asked me five times who had referred me.

But when Dr. K walked through the door, it was all worth it. He was just as kind and understanding as I’d remembered him to be. He examined me, asked some questions, then sat down with Donn and me, explaining everything about my pathology report and what I could expect. At one point he said, in regard to some point he was making, “You’ll have to trust me on this.”

I touched his arm and said, “I DO trust you. That’s why I’m here.”

When I told him our concerns about the insurance, he said, “I don’t want you to worry about it. There’s always a way.” I added, “Donn said we could make payments the rest of our lives if necessary.”

 He responded, “I really don’t want you to have to do that.”

After Dr. K left, his nurse came back and took my blood pressure again—it had been very high the first time she took it after all the hassle. She was amazed that it had dropped 30 points! I told her, “That’s the effect Dr. K has on me.”

(I didn’t mention that the very high reading was the effect she had on me, but I think she might have gotten the message.)

When this woman mentioned me coming back for the MRI Dr. K wanted before making a treatment plan, I told her Dr. K had said that if for some reason my insurance wouldn’t cover it there, I could have it done at the hospital in Greenville. She was not happy about that possibility and said, “Well, if you have it done there, you’d better bring it in early because it took us a long time to enter all the things you brought in today.”

I sighed and didn’t bother to tell her we had come 45 minutes early today but when I asked the receptionist if they wanted the disc with my imaging then, she had assured me they didn’t need it yet!

Two days later, the Center called to set up an appointment for my MRI which I assumed meant that my insurance had approved it, but still I was nervous until I I received printed verification from our insurance company five days later that they really had approved it.

 So the door to this doctor at this Center remains open as we walk out this journey by faith, one step at a time. Each day I read a chapter of the large booklet the Center gave me about what lies ahead. Each day I process what I’ve read, including the different kinds of treatment I’ll need.

Then I go back to I trust you, Lord. Just that. Not I trust you to do ___________ (this) or I trust you to do ____________(something else). Not trying to figure everything out for myself. Just I trust you. It seems like I’m being called to a deeper level of trust than I even knew existed. And as my trust deepens, my peace remains.

Father, I thank you that you open and no one can shut, and you shut but no one can open (Revelation 3:8). Help us trust you to open and close doors according to your will and purpose in the days ahead. Amen.