Keziah recently told me she doesn't like the photo of her I have on the wall, and asked me to take a new one. So, while I borrowed Leslie's lens again (I won't rant, I won't rant, I won't rant...not yet) for Clark's newborn shoot, I decided to grab a couple of photos of Keziah. Seriously, I know she's mine, but is she beautiful, or what? I was so happy with the shots I got, and she was pleased too.
I realized when I posted the update of Jubilee yesterday, I never mentioned why she was having surgery. Jubilee had a chronic runny nose as a baby and toddler. Every day for years, her nose was draining. We hoped she would out grow it (Adalia also had a runny nose for her first three or four years, but it eventually went away). When Jubilee turned six, and began reading, I suddenly realized how many words she cannot pronounce. She speaks like she has a bad cold (plug your nose and talk...that's what Jubilee sounds like). I then remembered my mom talking about how my brother Neale always talked like that...until he got his tonsils and adenoids out.
I took Jubilee to our family doctor, who first wanted to rule out allergies. After two weeks of nasal spray and no improvement, we headed to the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor. The x-rays he ordered showed that Jubilee had almost no air passing through her nose (along with the other symptoms, Jubilee breathes strictly through her mouth and snores every night). Thankfully her tonsils were fine, and didn't need to be removed.
Yesterday after the surgery, the ENT said her adenoids were "huge". Which was a relief. You'd hate to go through that only to find out they were "kinda big" or "moderate sized". And just to be clear, her adenoids were not enlarged (i.e. swollen or enflamed) just large.
So yesterday after the surgery we headed straight for the pharmacy to pick up her prescriptions (pain meds and a nasal spray). I made sure they had the prescription (it was called in) then loaded my cart with popsicles, yoghurt and ice cream for Jubilee (they go through the throat for adenoid surgery, so a sore throat is a normal part of recovery). When I headed over to see if the prescription was ready, I was told the woman was on the phone with the insurance company...they were refusing to cover the prescription because the amount of pain medicine the doctor prescribed was "more than the plan allowed".
Pharmacist: "If you want to wait, we'll resend the request and you can pick the prescription up later, or if you need it now, you can pay for it and if they decided to cover it, they'll reimburse you".
Me: "My daughter just had surgery and is out in our jeep crying...I can't wait until later to pick up her prescription".
And so I paid and left (and by the time I got back out to the jeep, she was actually smiling...and happily awaiting her next popsicle...but she was crying when I went in).
Now, we pay $1,000 a month for this insurance coverage and have to fight them for almost every claim we make. From doctor's visits to prescriptions, they always have some reason why they "don't cover" whatever it is we need.
My children's dentist prescribed a special toothpaste for my cavity-prone children (who's teeth we brush and floss every night) and the the insurance company wouldn't cover that because it was like two milliliters more than they "allowed". I heard the pharmacist on the phone that time. She said, "That's the size the toothpaste comes in...what do you want me to do? Squeeze some of it out?"
*sigh*
Once again, I am so thankful to live in a country where medical care is an option. A country where it is safe to take my child to the doctor. A country where I can choose my own doctor...however, I refuse to be thankful for an insurance company who makes me fight every single bill and who has "policies" I can't argue with about how big a tube of toothpaste is or how many doses of pain medication the doctor is "allowed" to prescribe. It seems to me, the doctor, who just operated on my daughter, knows more about her medical needs that the insurance company's book of policies.
Jubilee is now up and around for the day and feeling pretty good! It looks like she is in for a smooth recovery.
