Category: Random Thoughts

Dr.'s Visit

It’s been a while….i was on vacation last week – and what a great vacation it was!

anyhoo…so i went to my neuro yesterday for a regular follow up and nothing really to report.  he confirmed that the MRI shows no progression (good news), he was disappointed that i haven’t seen any improvement in my gait from the Tysabri (bad news).  Also, the last time i was in to see him he said that they would draw blood to test for the the presence of the antibodies that causes the brain infection – well they never did that.  I assumed that 1 of the vials drawn during 1 of my infusions was for it.  I was wrong…so that test still needs to be done during my next infusion and i’ll get the results beginning of October.

At that point, if the antibodies are present, i will be at higher risk for developing the infection and decisions will need to be made about whether to continue and tempt fate or discontinue and go on something else – decisions, decisions (as if it weren’t bad enuf that i had to decide if i even wanted to start on Tysabri in the 1st place). If no antibodies present, i’m in good shape and can continue on Tysabri.

He asked me if it’s working and i had to be honest and tell him that i had no clue.  I suppose it’s working because i have no additional lesions on my brain or spine and no exacerbations recently, but other than that, i can’t be sure.   I was hoping for a walking improvement – so many people say great things about Tysabri, “it’s the most aggressive drug on the market…blah blah blah”, but if you ask me, it’s on the same level as all the other drugs available – oh well...wha yuh go do?

Dr.’s Visit

It’s been a while….i was on vacation last week – and what a great vacation it was!

anyhoo…so i went to my neuro yesterday for a regular follow up and nothing really to report.  he confirmed that the MRI shows no progression (good news), he was disappointed that i haven’t seen any improvement in my gait from the Tysabri (bad news).  Also, the last time i was in to see him he said that they would draw blood to test for the the presence of the antibodies that causes the brain infection – well they never did that.  I assumed that 1 of the vials drawn during 1 of my infusions was for it.  I was wrong…so that test still needs to be done during my next infusion and i’ll get the results beginning of October.

At that point, if the antibodies are present, i will be at higher risk for developing the infection and decisions will need to be made about whether to continue and tempt fate or discontinue and go on something else – decisions, decisions (as if it weren’t bad enuf that i had to decide if i even wanted to start on Tysabri in the 1st place). If no antibodies present, i’m in good shape and can continue on Tysabri.

He asked me if it’s working and i had to be honest and tell him that i had no clue.  I suppose it’s working because i have no additional lesions on my brain or spine and no exacerbations recently, but other than that, i can’t be sure.   I was hoping for a walking improvement – so many people say great things about Tysabri, “it’s the most aggressive drug on the market…blah blah blah”, but if you ask me, it’s on the same level as all the other drugs available – oh well...wha yuh go do?

Skechers Shape Ups

 

They apparently tome yuh backside, legs, calf muscles and while doing all that also improve your posture.  My sneakers were laughing(on the sides) so they were on their way out and so i decided to a buy a pair of Skechers.
Well!  Me eh know if they will actually do all of the above – that’s not why i bought them.  what i do know is that they actually have been forcing me to walk properly – heel to toe.  My feet tend to drag alot so i don’t always do the heel to toe action – in fact 1 of the things that my PT wants me to concentrate on is lifting my feet and walk heel to toe – even tho it may feel like i look weird.  i think  i have the heel to toe action because the sole of the shoe is curved (and soft – it claims to sumulate walking on sand) so if i didn’t walk properly i might have problems(?).  Hell if i know!   I remember that Dee mentioned Skechers Tone Ups to me once before but I’d never done anything with that info. 
Of course G and I went to the shoe store together to buy them because we both wanted to be sure that i could actually stand and walk in the damn things because of the shape.  – when she saw me walking in the store, she said, “Yuh mean after all this time, all we had to do was buy some skechers?!?!?”
Well now here i am with the Shape Ups and i believe it was money well spent.

interesting

i spoke to my doctor’s nurse at the MSCA about something else today and mentioned to her that the claim was denied because the MRI was not pre-certified.  When she heard that she seemed quite distressed (i could almost hear her tsktsk-ing) but then she looked in my file and found the APPROVAL from Aetna along with a reference number!

hmmmm…

Insurance Claims

so i got a notice in the mail from Dekalb Medical which is where i went the last time i fell.  the notice stated that it had been 30 days and they hadn’t heard from Aetna as yet re:payment.  The balance on the account was somewhere between $1500 and $2000 (for a CT Scan) but when i looked at the bottom line “Pay this amount” it was 0.00 so i breathed a little easier.  well that prompted a call to Aetna to find out what the problem is!

First thing i did was check my claims online and sure enough i saw that it was denied – great!  Anyhoo, so i made the call.  Come to find out that it was denied because it wasn’t pre-certified (approved) by Aetna…and then the lady said if it isn’t pre-certified the only time it might be paid is if the doctor diagnoses it as an emergency.  So i said, “well it was an emergency – i’d fallen and was in the ER.”  i was told that since i was coherent I should have told the ER nurse/doctor to make sure and pre-certify the scan before anything was performed.  I told the woman that that was the dumbest thing i’d ever heard.  I mean who has time to think about those issues when u are in an ER and worried about whether or not you’ll come out in 1 piece or what they are going to tell is going on in that body.

while she was spouting off at the mouth, i continued looking at my claims and noticed yet another 1 was denied – the last MRI.  i asked her about that one – and again she told me that it wasn’t pre-certified.  Now that, i’m mad about.  The MSCA had no business doing it without it’s being pre-certified – they ALWAYS do it.  Now y they wouldn’t do that this year?  who knows! 

On the upside, i haven’t gotten any bills from either place (YET?!?)…so I haven’t gotten my panties in a bunch or putting on my armour to go to battlle with anyone – YET!!!

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