I spent Thursday arguing with our insurance company. Tripp had knee replacement surgery Tuesday and while we thought he would go from the hospital into a rehab center, our insurance company decided he was recovering too well and too quickly to merit that kind of care.
Memo to over-achievers: play it cool while in the hospital if you want decent aftercare.
This whole experience - other than Tripp's surgeon Dr. Kavanaugh (who has also operated on Zach and Ben) - has been very negative. Loudoun Hospital was unimpressive. There were communication problems with nurses whose first language was not English. I'm all for diversity and equal opportunity, but in a sensitive area like direct, hands-on medical care, it certainly seems that there should be NO language barriers at all. There were also times when nurses didn't respond to Tripp's requests for pain meds in a timely fashion. And overall, except for one nurse on the night shift, there was a lack of smiles and good cheer.
So I picked him up Friday. It felt so wrong - having to stop to get prescriptions filled while he waited in the van (I'd show you the pictures of his surgery site with 34 staples and 2 1/2 times its size, but don't want to make anyone sick). Unanticipated problems at the pharmacy as our insurance company charged a $200 copay for these blood thinner shots he's supposed to give himself. And denied converage for the anti-inflammatory Dr. K ordered.
Talk about stressful. It's bad enough to see your husband going through this stuff, but to have him sitting in the car in pain while you try to sort through all these issues. . . .
But don't even say the answer is getting the government involved with health care. Just think of the damage they've done to our housing markets. Please, dear God, let us learn a lesson there. The real answer is to fire the HMOs - everything was fine before they stuck their money-grubbing noses into the insurance/doctor relationship. Now people get paid simply to tell health consumers NO! Think if the money you paid for insurance went only for benefits and not for the "gatekeepers" who serve no purpose at all other than increasing paperwork and frustration and insurance premiums.
But I digress.
Then there was the trip with Tripp down the final mile of country gravel road - kinda like driving on a washboard with gaping holes in it.
Tripp is settled, using Hattie's old walker, which saved us a little money (thanks Hattie :) He is in a lot of pain, but each day gets a little better. Friday was probably the worst day to come home as the kids were home from school for the weekend so it was - well, let's just say it was full of life around here. Which somehow seems more loud when you want to keep things quiet.
I took the kids - mine and granddaughter Trinity - to see Peter and the Wolf at Franklin Park Saturday. So perfect for children. Loudoun Ballet did a wonderful job.
Sunday we took the exchange student down the street to church with us. He is from South Korea and goes to Valley - catches the bus with Maddy, Jonny, Jesse and Daniel each morning. He spent a wild day with us when all the college kids were home and we had 20some people for Frisbee Football, dinner and celebrating numerous birthdays.
It turns out he is Catholic, so he wanted to go. The cool thing about Mass (well, one cool thing) is that it's universal. I think he was feeling a little homesick, but I'm just guessing.
Sunday afternoon we were invited to participate in the Special Olympics Equestrian Riding. Our boys were in it three years ago, but it got so popular that they started using a lottery system. For three years not one of my four boys has made it, which I figured out with the number of applicants and the way the results were posted - with our four boys' names all in a row on the waiting list - comes to mathematical odds of 600:1. But they insisted it was done fairly. There was nothing really i could do.
But Saturday we got a call that they decided when someone is absent they will let someone on the waiting list take their place. That makes so much sense. One can only hope it lasts.
Daniel was SO happy to be back in the saddle again. He has such an affinity for horses, natural instinct for riding - and it has an amazingly calming effect on him.
Today I am off to pick up Jonny to take him to a specialist recommended by his pediatrician, pick up Tripp's prescriptions, then home to check on Tripp before picking up the kids from school for CCD. Life goes on.
Will try to post a little more tonight. Thanks for all your prayers. We need them :)
I spent Thursday arguing with our insurance company. Tripp had knee replacement surgery Tuesday and while we thought he would go from the hospital into a rehab center, our insurance company decided he was recovering too well and too quickly to merit that kind of care.
Memo to over-achievers: play it cool while in the hospital if you want decent aftercare.
This whole experience - other than Tripp's surgeon Dr. Kavanaugh (who has also operated on Zach and Ben) - has been very negative. Loudoun Hospital was unimpressive. There were communication problems with nurses whose first language was not English. I'm all for diversity and equal opportunity, but in a sensitive area like direct, hands-on medical care, it certainly seems that there should be NO language barriers at all. There were also times when nurses didn't respond to Tripp's requests for pain meds in a timely fashion. And overall, except for one nurse on the night shift, there was a lack of smiles and good cheer.
So I picked him up Friday. It felt so wrong - having to stop to get prescriptions filled while he waited in the van (I'd show you the pictures of his surgery site with 34 staples and 2 1/2 times its size, but don't want to make anyone sick). Unanticipated problems at the pharmacy as our insurance company charged a $200 copay for these blood thinner shots he's supposed to give himself. And denied converage for the anti-inflammatory Dr. K ordered.
Talk about stressful. It's bad enough to see your husband going through this stuff, but to have him sitting in the car in pain while you try to sort through all these issues. . . .
But don't even say the answer is getting the government involved with health care. Just think of the damage they've done to our housing markets. Please, dear God, let us learn a lesson there. The real answer is to fire the HMOs - everything was fine before they stuck their money-grubbing noses into the insurance/doctor relationship. Now people get paid simply to tell health consumers NO! Think if the money you paid for insurance went only for benefits and not for the "gatekeepers" who serve no purpose at all other than increasing paperwork and frustration and insurance premiums.
But I digress.
Then there was the trip with Tripp down the final mile of country gravel road - kinda like driving on a washboard with gaping holes in it.
Tripp is settled, using Hattie's old walker, which saved us a little money (thanks Hattie :) He is in a lot of pain, but each day gets a little better. Friday was probably the worst day to come home as the kids were home from school for the weekend so it was - well, let's just say it was full of life around here. Which somehow seems more loud when you want to keep things quiet.
I took the kids - mine and granddaughter Trinity - to see Peter and the Wolf at Franklin Park Saturday. So perfect for children. Loudoun Ballet did a wonderful job.
Sunday we took the exchange student down the street to church with us. He is from South Korea and goes to Valley - catches the bus with Maddy, Jonny, Jesse and Daniel each morning. He spent a wild day with us when all the college kids were home and we had 20some people for Frisbee Football, dinner and celebrating numerous birthdays.
It turns out he is Catholic, so he wanted to go. The cool thing about Mass (well, one cool thing) is that it's universal. I think he was feeling a little homesick, but I'm just guessing.
Sunday afternoon we were invited to participate in the Special Olympics Equestrian Riding. Our boys were in it three years ago, but it got so popular that they started using a lottery system. For three years not one of my four boys has made it, which I figured out with the number of applicants and the way the results were posted - with our four boys' names all in a row on the waiting list - comes to mathematical odds of 600:1. But they insisted it was done fairly. There was nothing really i could do.
But Saturday we got a call that they decided when someone is absent they will let someone on the waiting list take their place. That makes so much sense. One can only hope it lasts.
Daniel was SO happy to be back in the saddle again. He has such an affinity for horses, natural instinct for riding - and it has an amazingly calming effect on him.
Today I am off to pick up Jonny to take him to a specialist recommended by his pediatrician, pick up Tripp's prescriptions, then home to check on Tripp before picking up the kids from school for CCD. Life goes on.
Will try to post a little more tonight. Thanks for all your prayers. We need them :)