Surgery #5...Tomorrow

I am having minor panic attacks but I should be ok! took Valium this morning and will probably take another one tonight. I am also going to try to have an acupuncture session tonight to help calm my nerves! Will keep you posted.

Fighting for out of network reimbursement

Its funny how time flies and how little free time I have. Over the past week I have finally been able to make some real progress on my appeal to UHC for the amount that I was reimbursed for my out of network expenes. this was for the hand surgeon in August and my hip second opinion in August as well. I'll give you a hint of how things went...I did not get 70% of what was billed by the doctor as UHC makes you think you will. Check out this link to see what really has been going on with UHC concerning out of network reimbursement.

http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/psa/ama-uhc-lawsuit.pdf

PS- In summary, the resolution of the class action litigation provides for UHC to pay a total of $350 million to fund the settlement for health plan members and out-of-network providers related to out-of-network services from March 15, 1994 through November 18, 2009. The settlement will be entirely funded by UHC and no recovery of funds will be sought from any self-funded customer plans.

T-10 days

I can't believe my surgery date is just around the corner, I feel like I scheduled this ages ago, but yet here we are. I am eerily calm these past few days, I think once the whole snafu with the blood work was worked out I felt better. There was another issue with the letter form my gsatro, my OS office said they think it should be within 30 days of surgery. It is 33 days before surgery. I am not getting another one, this is going to have to be good enough, I am putting my foot down. They told me its possible that my surgery will be cancelled if the anesthesiologist has an issue, I am willing to take that chance! So the countdown begins now!

Aetna's policy #0736 is UNFAIR and UNETHICAL

As many of you can attest to firsthand, Aetna is still not covering FAI surgery and still calling it "experimental", despite hundreds of peer reviewed articles that say otherwise. Although I do not use Aetna, I feel for all of you who do, and are not able to have your surgery paid for. Below is a link to a petition started by fellow FAI sufferer Ryan. Please take a few moments to look over the information and sign the petition if you agree.

http://www.change.org/petitions/aetnas-policy-0736-is-unfair-and-unethical

Sodium

Well, the good news is that I was indeed dehydrated, my new labs showed that my sodium levels are normal!!! So, the good news is that I don't have some crazy hormonal issue, the bad news is that I have no excuse to get out of this surgery!! 17 days to go!

The Stress is Killing Me

I am so sorry that I have not been keeping you updated with what is going on with my hip, but since we are 3 weeks away from surgery #5, I figured I'd better catch you up.

A few weeks ago, my OS office told me they would need a letter from my gastroenterologist saying it is ok for me to undergo a "low risk" surgery, since I have Crohn's disease. Keep in mind that they have never asked for that before. Fine, I took care of it. My gastro also wanted to run blood tests. As an added side note, the week I went to see him I was really sick and completly abusing Mucinex and Robitussin! I emailed him for the results of my bloodwork and was rewarded with this message: "your sodium level is too high. You cannot have surgery with these levels. You are probably dehydrated, drink lots of water and we will do the test again".

You can imagine that that email did not help my stress levels in the slightest bit. I was also leaving on vacation the next day, so I had all the time in the world to worry but no time to get the test redone!

Today I finally went for the blood work, I did notice that the first time my blood came out sluggishly, probably due to dehydration. Today it flowed nicely! Keep your fingers crossed that it is ok this time!

Vacation is a wonderful time to relax, rest, and de-stress. I did all of those. unfortunately there is absolutely no carry-over. When you get home all the shit you left is still there for you to deal with.

Today was also my second pre-op appointment. I was hoping that this appointment would calm my nerves but it didn't.

The message I left with is that my OS is really confident about this surgery (apparently he hasn't always been this confident in the past!) and a lot of my questions will not be able to be answered fully until he actually goes in, sees the damage, and repairs it. His repair will also dictate a lot in terms of how the rehab will go.

So I was hoping for a lot of concrete answers, and a little bit of inner peace. I got none. I did get to try on the new hip brace he is using and decided to get one. He also wants me using the CPM machine for 2 weeks post-op.

I wake up in a mini panic attack every morning. Dec 1 can't get here fast enough!