Dragon Park Pictures

New Bob Photo

Here's a new pic of my neurofibroma/schwannoma (aka Bob).
Taken 6/6/2009.

The Week From Hell

This week has been a rough one. I am so glad its over and I can try again.

It all started Monday, when The Hubs and I realized I really lost our only set of keys to our car. We moved furniture, scoured the house... No luck. I didn't even remember getting home the day before - literally had no memory of it - so I couldn't backtrack.

The Hubs managed to use our (free) Roadside Assistance to get our car towed to the dealership, and they made him a (free) key. Still, we had to reschedule JT's appointment to get his tooth capped and Audrey's teeth cleaned for Wednesday.

Wednesday comes. JT has NEVER spit out medicine. So when the hygenist asked if I needed the dentist to administer the conscious sedation (liquid meds) I refused.

Yep, he spit it out - the first 1/2 of it. I managed to get the rest in. They can't redose since they don't know how much *exactly* he swallowed.

So he was only partly sedated. It took 5 people holding him down to get it done... But it is done...We all survived!

Fast forward to Friday. I get a call from surgery scheduling that my insurance company rejected the pre-authorization, and said I wasn't covered until 1/1/2010. They said I had to wait until the start of the next calendar year AFTER my year anniversary (6/1/2009).

I lost it. The Hubs called the insurance company and then HR at Dillard's. Dillard's took over and told us they were sure I did have coverage. After a FULL DAY of going over the contract with the insurance company, they apologized and said it was a mistake. That some person manually sets you back up, and that person has been on vacation.

Riiiiiiiight. So a giant company like Great-West/Cigna has manual updates? And that person that talked to the billing dept knew *exactly* what they were looking at.

Thank God Dillard's went to bat for us. I am sure it would not have had a happy ending otherwise.

Again, thank God its over.

Praying that next week is better!

Here's our schedule:
JT has summer school M-Th 8-11
Tues - Neurology 3pm
Thurs - Cardiology 1:30pm
Fri - preop - 9am

7 years!

Happy anniversary to the most wonderful husband, daddy and friend in the whole world!

Also, remember the real meaning of Memorial Day. Thank you to all of our military personnel - past and present. May God bless you and your families and keep you forever safe. You are true heroes.

Hiking Pics

Counting Down...

Days 'til my insurance starts paying for medical costs again... 8.
Days 'til I see my neurologist... 17.
Days 'til I have surgery... 26.

These have been the longest 6 months of my life. And its almost over!

Don't you know the insurance company is going to poop their pants when they see my June totals! Surgery will likely be 6-digits, and my max out of pocket is 7 grand. Eat it and like it Great-West/Cigna!!!!!

Brushing

Add this to the list of things-I-thought-wouldn't-work... Only it DOES work. For JT at least.

Its called brushing therapy, and its kind of a deep pressure brushing with this special brush (pictured). The input from brushing actually calms JT down.

I gotta be honest... I love the OT, but I thought this was just a bunch of phooey... Until I started doing it at home.

JT started kissing us the week after brushing was started. He likes it, too (I don't blame him, it feels pretty good).

Who knows how long it will be effective for... But I am glad I was wrong! Sweet!

JT is done with the regular school year. We all went to his ice cream sundae party yesterday for his last day of school. He got a sweet award - for "Making me smile every day!". How precious! ESY is the 2-3 week of June and then again in July.

Oooo - and Bob's gone 4 weeks from tomorrow!

YAY!!!