September 4, 2014

On Tuesday, September 2 Joe went back to school.  I took Ben to his Primary Care Physician to have his back checked out.  There was a certain unevenness to his back - enough to warrant getting an x-ray.  I asked if we could get the x-ray at Dr. Gebhard's office instead of Community Hospital because when we got Joe's xrays at Community Hospital we had to get them re-done at Dr. Gebhard's.  But found out today that we can't just go to his office and get x-rays without an appointment.  So I am waiting on the new orders for x-rays from Community Hospital.

Today I called Community Hospital to pre-register Joe for his MRI.  Roseann (at Community) calmly informed me that each MRI cost 2696.00.  We are getting 3 - MRIs.  However our insurance will discount that 35%.  WOO HOO!  I totally get why you need someone to go with you to doctor's appointments or to hear news like this, because I was about on the floor by now.  After the 35% discount I only owe $5258.00.  However - now here's the good news - I only need $3851.00 to meet my deductible for Joe.

So long story short, after a call to my Insurance Agent and to Children's Hospital of Colorado and to my insurance company - we figured it was best to go on COBRA until January 1.  If Joe has surgery in December, my insurance will totally cover it for him because the MRIs will allow us to meet the deductible.  See there always is a silver lining.

I had a great talke with Nurse Elise with Dr. Eriksons office and it was very encouraging.  Children generally miss 2 to 4 weeks of school depending upon the type of chlid they are.  I was like Joe is the type of child that DOES NOT want to miss school.  This may give us a little leeway with the date of the surgery if he truly could be back to school in 2 weeks.  We'll know more at the September 30 appointment when the doctor has had a chance to look at his x-rays himself and his MRI results.

She also said Joe should be totally fine to go on the Europe trip in June.  She did indicate it might be a good idea to bring the nurse along with him.  :)

Today was rougher than normal so I took a photo of the flowers at Safeway to brighten my day.