Sunday, November 20, 2011

Wheelchair fitting

I have a wheelchair fitting early tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect. They are coming to our apartment so I don't think that they will be bringing a bunch of wheelchairs and seeing what I look the best in. The only thing that I can picture this being similar to is a dress fitting. 

I don't need a wheelchair all the time. Even when my flare was at its worst I was still able to walk (except for when I wasn't allowed to eat). I'm walking and standing much better but my stamina isn't totally back yet. I am getting a wheelchair now because insurance is covering 100% of the costs. Then I will have it ready for when the next flare up hits. We "borrowed" a transport chair and that really helped but it isn't a long term solution. Most people start with a cane then move to a walker and then onto a wheelchair if they need it. The problem for me is that both of my legs can be bad so a cane doesn't do much to help. I tried a walker but that was a mess, I kept tripping over my own feet. So it is easiest for me just to skip right to a wheelchair when I need extra assistance moving. It's a tool that can help me and I try not to fight using it. The wheelchair will be there for when we visit museums or things that require a lot of walking. Plus, I want to skip to the front of the line at amusement parks (just kidding). I should be able to get a nice lightweight non-hospital looking one so I can lift it in and out of the car by myself. That's the goal anyways. 

I have not heard anything back about my appeal yet but I anxiously check the mail every day for a reply. Hopefully the saying "no news is good news" applies here. We are switching insurance companies at the beginning of the new year so it is really important that I get approved now otherwise I will have to go through the same thing again with the new company. 

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Some pretty good news

The appeal is done! Hopefully it is good enough. Now I just need to wait up to 30 days for an answer. 

I recently found out that I'm managing my Celiac's disease (the reason i cant digest gluten). We also got some more answers on what has been causing my stomach issues.

My eyesight is still 20/20 and I have no eye issues. I'm so grateful that my MS hasn't and isn't affecting my vision. Did you know that they can now measure your visual acuity (vision clearness) with a machine? You watch a fuzzy barn move and it can tell you if you need glasses. The tests all went well but it kind messed my eyes up after. 

I have been taking Magnesium to improve my muscle and nerve function. I'm not sure if it is helping that or if I'm just slowly getting over this flare up but it turns out that it is really helping my heart. About two days before I found out I had MS, I found out I had a heart condition called Mitral Valve Prolapse. It generally isn't a problem for people but I have a family history of heart conditions so it was a bit more concerning. That and my arrhythmia was very pronounced. The medical students were impressed with how cool it sounded. Anyways, the EKG showed no arrhythmia and I passed no problem. The heart monitoring before the Magnesium showed many irregularities. Now I need to find a new trick to impress the med students with.

And my liver is either functioning very well or slightly bad. Not all the test results are back and I'm not totally sure how to read them. 

The Packers are still on a winning streak and I watched a full game. Plus the silly looking trucker hats are gone. 

So all and all pretty good news. 

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Group Meeting

We went to a MS group meeting. Every one else was 2 or 3 times our age. One lady actually referred to us as babies. There is another group that is meeting in December for people in their 20s and 30s and I'm hoping that group is more my speed. I'm glad we went to the meeting but it was kinda weird. It just didn't feel very welcoming. I guess I was expecting the meeting to be like AAA meetings are shown on tv. Hello, my name is Katie and I have MS. And of course there would be donuts. There were a lot of snacks but no donuts. It seemed more like a PTA meeting.

There was a yoga instructor who specializes in MS exercises there as guest speaker so that was cool. I have been thinking about signing up for his class so it was nice to learn more information. I still think yoga is very weird. It is a nice stretch but not really a workout. I didn't find it super relaxing but it is kinda hard to when we are mediating and a guy starts eating a crunchy snack. This was the same guy who was complaining that he was too full to do all the exercises. So then you decided to eat more? ?

My kind of Yoga
Yoga is not an ideal exercise for me. It is hard for me to sit still or quiet my mind. I like the classes were the instructor is telling you to push it not take it easy. I kept trying to do the moves just like the instructor was, pushing to do them perfect. This is apparently the opposite goal of yoga. I didn't understand all of the directions. How do you relax your eye muscles? Pretty much every time he would say to focus on your breathing, I would end up holding my breath. I think I'll end up joining the yoga class but mostly because I want to work out but there aren't really any other exercises I can do right now. The class did seem to help alleviate some of the numbness in my foot.

At the end of the meeting some people came up and talked to us which was nice but they seemed to be pushing pretty hard to make sure we would come back. I'm glad I checked it out but don't know if I'll go again.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Insurance smurance

I'm working on my appeal to the insurance company to try to get them to cover Gileyna. I have a rough outline thingy but am having trouble making full sentences and paragraphs never mind a full letter. At least there isn't a word limit because it is probably going to be pretty lengthly. Hopefully i can make it concise. Blah, I don't want to deal with this.

I'm pretty sure the insurance company is jerking me around. We are $12 away from the max out of pocket amount. And now claims seem to be taking much longer to process. We should have already reached the max out of pocket but now claims are disappearing or being reduced so we are still $12 away. I'm happy that the insurance company is negotiating with the doctors for lower prices but why haven't they been doing that the whole time not just when they are about to have to pay?

I'm supposedly no longer being audited but I have heard that before so I'm not holding my breath. Yesterday, the insurance company hung up on me. After being shuffled around a few times and being put on hold for over an hour, I was disconnected. Not sure if it was intentional or not but I was done dealing with that.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Oh joy

Sometimes I just need to remind myself that I'm fortunate to have insurance. . .

My insurance has decided that Gilenya is too expensive to cover. They want me to try two other medications before they will cover it. When we looked up the cost of my potential medications it didn't list this requirement so that's fun.

I can appeal this decision if I want but the doctors have already appealed and lost. Even if I don't decide to appeal this means that the soonest I can get started on any medication will be in three weeks. And that would be if everything went smoothly. I'm really frustrated by this delay but I guess I should have seen it coming. The magic pill just seemed too good to be true. I don't want to start another medication but I don't think it is a good idea for me to delay starting a medication. I will have to wait until I receive the letter with more details before I can decide how to proceed.

Oh and my insurance is auditing me. They think that I have alternate insurance. I don't. I responded to their questions and was told that took care of it. When I was on the phone inquiring about why they had doubled billed some of my claims I was informed that I'm still in the process of being audited. Apparently they are auditing me because they think I qualify for Medicaid which I don't.

I think I'm beginning to understand why people call the company "Inhumana". So much for "guidance when you need it most".