Monday, February 06, 2006

Eye Eye, Doctor

Last week I noticed a little bit of pain in my left eyelid. I thought that maybe it was a low-grade infection of some sort, and it didn't hurt much, so I thought I would take the hands-off approach and see if it would go away on its own. When I woke up Friday and looked in the mirror, I was pretty freaked out. The inside corner of my eye was swollen enough that it made me look mongoloid. Despite the earlier nonchalance, I don't feel like eyes are anything to mess around with, so I decided to see if I could get an appointment to see the eye doctor. I did get in to see the doctor, and it turns out I have something called blepharitis. The name make it sound a lot worse than it is! I have been applying warm compresses to my eye, and I think this has helped. At this point only my lower eyelid hurts, and there hasn't been any major swelling since Friday.

The doctor prescribed an ointment to put on my eyelid, but due to my stupidity about the nature of COBRA health insurance coverage, I haven't purchased the ointment yet. I finally got it through my head that even though my insurance payment wasn't due until March 3rd, that payment is for the period of February 1st through the 28th. So, I am waiting for the check I sent on Friday to be credited before I pick up the ointment (which will make it about $65 cheaper!). I have to make sure to send in my next payment so it gets credited before March 1st so I won't have any interruption in coverage. It sure would be nice to have automatic health insurance coverage.

On Friday afternoon I called the company back that had left a message on my answering machine about a potential job opening. This time I didn't get voice mail. As it turns out, they wanted to do a pre-screening phone call before they decide who to bring in for interviews. I have to say this caught me a little off guard, so I'm not sure I gave the best answers to some of their questions. They asked a couple of tough ones like "What salary range are you looking for?" and "Why did you leave your last job?". I don't know what to make of the fact that the woman I talked to was very encouraging about my answers even when I didn't give the 'right' ones. For example, when she asked if I had any experience with Solidworks software, and I truthfully said "No", she said "Oh, that's OK." I also threw out a salary range figure (which you should try to avoid unless absolutely backed into a corner), and she said that the range I gave was right in the range they were looking for. It could just be that it's her job to be encouraging so that you feel like you can 'open up' and answer their questions. So, I will have to wait and see if I get an interview. I have to be a little more prepared in the future with a 'script' in case I get any more phone calls like this one.

3 Comments:

Blogger kristen said...

I'm not good on those type of question calls. Maybe she was just really being truthful, that your requirements are in the range and that that one part of the job, isn't the most important.....I hope something comes from it!
I also hope your eye starts to feel better, even without the ointment.

2/06/2006 3:00 PM  
Blogger hollibobolli said...

That damned COBRA - now you've got me freaked out about when stuff becomes "active."

You don't mess around with eye stuff.

Big on the eye eyes!! Wait, those were aye ayes!!

???

2/06/2006 5:06 PM  
Blogger Michelle said...

Good luck with the job thing.

COBRA is incredibly confusing and I worked in Health Insuance for 10 years. It's like they try to make it unclear.

I had blepharitis about a month ago and the warm compresses worked but it hurt!

2/07/2006 9:22 PM  

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