gijanet
Well-known member
Just a quick update (quit laughing already) on our continuing dental saga........
We are now on our 4th ped dentist (grrrr! unless he tries to pawn us off on yet a fifth one.........geez! You'd think Katie's a leper judging from the way nobody wants to touch her!)! He is scheduled to tackle Katie's pulpectomy (sp??) and fillings (5 + now, but that's another long story in the big city) tomorrow (Wednesday) at Cook Children's.
We had pre-op today with the anesthesiologist..............can you believe it? For fillings!! We've battled with the insurance company, who will cover the facilities and anesthesiologist - well, THEIR share anyway, but will NOT cover a cardiologist being on call..............geez! Why are we doing this in the hospital to begin with??? Hmmmmm.........could it be heart-related possibly?? (Insert cuss word of choice here! I’ll not do it for you. Remember, I am being good lest I want a five year old repeating it!)
And, of course, they won't touch the dentist's charges (and our dental insurance is null and void in this case - no one on our provider list would do it - not any time this century anyway……….uhhhh, let’s see……….5 year old, mechanical valve, coumadin, history of HIT and arrythmias……..minimum of 5 cavities……………oh, yes! Why we DO have an opening for May 21st of 2008 for a consult!!! GRRRR!). Speaking of charges, the dentist was kind enough to give us a discounted estimate of $2K..................so who needed a new house anyway? (the dentist, I presume, or we are paying for his summer cottage at Cape Cod. JANET!!! PUT THOSE PLIARS DOWN NOW AND GET THAT THOUGHT RIGHT OUT OF YOUR DEMENTED HEAD!!!!)
Also battled with our ped card who wanted to stop Katie's coumadin and bridge her with Argatroban (with a minimum 5-7 day hospital stay to lower her INR and then raise it again) because of the HIT, so I had to send her the ADA's chart for dental procedures (thanks, Al!) that are safely performed while fully anticoagulated and a few other sites posted on vr.com, but we won that one, thanks to you, our valve family, and me. (Note to God here: I am NOT bragging on this one, merely stating fact. Please do not consider this yet another opportunity to try and teach me humility.)
And to top everything off, Trip has the flu and has been sick as a dog, poor thing. You'd think he had the plague cuz the rest of us are trying our darndest not to get it. I'm trying hard to be the warm, loving, sympathetic mother that y'all KNOW me to be, but somehow the gas mask, chemical suit and rubber gloves that I don to enter his room, and my incessant fumigating him and anything he touches with lysol, tend to detract from that loving aura just a tad........I guess I really could stop asking him to hold his breath the entire time I'm in his room..........heehee!
(BTW, Katie and I had OUR flu shots, but Trip and Don didn't due to the shortage the first go round...........as for the second round, well, they spent their rountuit coins and just never quite got round to it. Bet Trip doesn't balk at the shot next year!) Anyway, with our luck, Katie will be running a fever tomorrow morning (she already started with the runny nose today)..............pray it's not so and that everything's a go................
Thanks for letting me whine. Sorry I've been out of touch lately, but it is hard to come update and read everyone's posts when all I really feel like doing is putting my head through a brick wall, or repeatedly trying to anyway...............ya know the old saying? If at first you don't succeed, WHAM! WHAM again!
(This brick wall syndrome can be replicated, btw, through any conversation with any insurance representative on any given day. Take the one I had a couple of years ago, for example.
ME: “I’m calling to check on my daughter’s pre-authorization for out of state open heart surgery.”
Rep: “Will this be a major surgery or a minor one?”
ME (somewhat stunned upon hearing this revelation): “You mean we have a choice? Why we want the minor open heart surgery, of course!”
Rep (Not amused): “Well, we have to ask in any elective surgery. [Elective???] Will this be inpatient or outpatient?”
ME (again, truly amazed at my discourse with this demigod of medical knowledge): “Why, actually, we were hoping to find a ped heart surgeon with a drive-through window service. Could you help us out here?”
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!)
Hopefully, life will begin to resume some facade of "normal" after this ordeal (geez! I can't even keep a straight face typing that one.............MY Life! Normal? Hahahahaha!)
Any prayers you want to send our way for smooth sailing tomorrow (or for most of y'all, today) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks as always for your continuing love and support. Gotta be up at 4 AM as we're first case. Hugs. J.
We are now on our 4th ped dentist (grrrr! unless he tries to pawn us off on yet a fifth one.........geez! You'd think Katie's a leper judging from the way nobody wants to touch her!)! He is scheduled to tackle Katie's pulpectomy (sp??) and fillings (5 + now, but that's another long story in the big city) tomorrow (Wednesday) at Cook Children's.
We had pre-op today with the anesthesiologist..............can you believe it? For fillings!! We've battled with the insurance company, who will cover the facilities and anesthesiologist - well, THEIR share anyway, but will NOT cover a cardiologist being on call..............geez! Why are we doing this in the hospital to begin with??? Hmmmmm.........could it be heart-related possibly?? (Insert cuss word of choice here! I’ll not do it for you. Remember, I am being good lest I want a five year old repeating it!)
And, of course, they won't touch the dentist's charges (and our dental insurance is null and void in this case - no one on our provider list would do it - not any time this century anyway……….uhhhh, let’s see……….5 year old, mechanical valve, coumadin, history of HIT and arrythmias……..minimum of 5 cavities……………oh, yes! Why we DO have an opening for May 21st of 2008 for a consult!!! GRRRR!). Speaking of charges, the dentist was kind enough to give us a discounted estimate of $2K..................so who needed a new house anyway? (the dentist, I presume, or we are paying for his summer cottage at Cape Cod. JANET!!! PUT THOSE PLIARS DOWN NOW AND GET THAT THOUGHT RIGHT OUT OF YOUR DEMENTED HEAD!!!!)
Also battled with our ped card who wanted to stop Katie's coumadin and bridge her with Argatroban (with a minimum 5-7 day hospital stay to lower her INR and then raise it again) because of the HIT, so I had to send her the ADA's chart for dental procedures (thanks, Al!) that are safely performed while fully anticoagulated and a few other sites posted on vr.com, but we won that one, thanks to you, our valve family, and me. (Note to God here: I am NOT bragging on this one, merely stating fact. Please do not consider this yet another opportunity to try and teach me humility.)
And to top everything off, Trip has the flu and has been sick as a dog, poor thing. You'd think he had the plague cuz the rest of us are trying our darndest not to get it. I'm trying hard to be the warm, loving, sympathetic mother that y'all KNOW me to be, but somehow the gas mask, chemical suit and rubber gloves that I don to enter his room, and my incessant fumigating him and anything he touches with lysol, tend to detract from that loving aura just a tad........I guess I really could stop asking him to hold his breath the entire time I'm in his room..........heehee!
(BTW, Katie and I had OUR flu shots, but Trip and Don didn't due to the shortage the first go round...........as for the second round, well, they spent their rountuit coins and just never quite got round to it. Bet Trip doesn't balk at the shot next year!) Anyway, with our luck, Katie will be running a fever tomorrow morning (she already started with the runny nose today)..............pray it's not so and that everything's a go................
Thanks for letting me whine. Sorry I've been out of touch lately, but it is hard to come update and read everyone's posts when all I really feel like doing is putting my head through a brick wall, or repeatedly trying to anyway...............ya know the old saying? If at first you don't succeed, WHAM! WHAM again!
(This brick wall syndrome can be replicated, btw, through any conversation with any insurance representative on any given day. Take the one I had a couple of years ago, for example.
ME: “I’m calling to check on my daughter’s pre-authorization for out of state open heart surgery.”
Rep: “Will this be a major surgery or a minor one?”
ME (somewhat stunned upon hearing this revelation): “You mean we have a choice? Why we want the minor open heart surgery, of course!”
Rep (Not amused): “Well, we have to ask in any elective surgery. [Elective???] Will this be inpatient or outpatient?”
ME (again, truly amazed at my discourse with this demigod of medical knowledge): “Why, actually, we were hoping to find a ped heart surgeon with a drive-through window service. Could you help us out here?”
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!)
Hopefully, life will begin to resume some facade of "normal" after this ordeal (geez! I can't even keep a straight face typing that one.............MY Life! Normal? Hahahahaha!)
Any prayers you want to send our way for smooth sailing tomorrow (or for most of y'all, today) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks as always for your continuing love and support. Gotta be up at 4 AM as we're first case. Hugs. J.
