GI Update: Phone Calls Galore

I promised something happier today, after yesterday’s GI Update, and I promise I’ll post a yummy recipe next.  However, I know some of you want the latest installment in the saga of The Littlest Apple’s feeding tube.  Or maybe you don’t, but I’m going to share anyway because I need to vent.  The rest of you can just skip on to the next post.

First of all, you’re probably wondering how The Littlest Apple is doing….

He’s doing great!  He slept soundly all night long (unlike me…I was awake at 3:45am with a huge knot in my stomach thinking about all of this).

He’s mostly back to his normal self.  Lots of talking, running around, getting in to stuff he shouldn’t be.  And even a little bit of giggling and laughing.

He didn’t pull his tube out last night.  In fact, he’s become FIERCELY protective of his tube.  He’s very worried about it getting pulled out.  He doesn’t really want us touching it or messing with it, or trying to feed him through it via syringe (which we’ve done twice).

As for the administrative stuff….

Today, I called 29(!) home health companies.

I talked to my insurance company 4 times.

I talked to the doctor’s office 3 times.

I talked to a social worker and vented to her about all of this, too.

I still didn’t get anything scheduled.  I never actually found a home health company covered by our insurance to provide the specific services we need (and I was calling companies from a list provided BY THE INSURANCE COMPANY!).

BUT,  right around 5pm (on this Friday afternoon) I had a small breakthrough.  I figured out what I need to do to make things happen.  Essentially, I am going to pick a home health company I found helpful and apply to our insurance company for a waiver/exception, showing that despite extensive searching, I can’t find the services we need unless I go with an unauthorized provider.  And hope they agree with me and allow the exception, covering our expenses.

So here’s what has to happen: I need to get a doctor’s order for home health care services, which the doctor’s office hasn’t provided yet since we didn’t have a home health care company determined.  Then I need to get that order to the home health company I have selected.  Then the home health care company has to apply for a waiver from our insurance company.  Then that claim has to be reviewed and approved (Please Lord, let it be approved!!).  THEN the home health care company can start ordering the stuff they need to help us and come out and train us!

Piece of cake, right?

I’ll be starting that process bright and early Monday morning.  We’ll see how long it takes to get through all of those steps.  I’m currently hoping to get things finalized sometime before The Littlest Apple starts college.

I’ll be taking the weekend off from thinking about all of this (as much as possible) and enjoying some quality time with my two favorite guys, but I’m hoping to share some non-GI posts tomorrow.

If you are a new reader, and wonder what is going on with The Littlest Apple, start reading here.