CGMS soon to come!

Ahhh the new calender year of medical insurance. How sad that I look forward to a new year mainly because my insurance benefits will be renewed! We can now have the Minilink CGMS
sent out without paying out of pocket. A brand new $1000 toy that is waiting to make our numbers better. Less finger pokes! (eventually) Have I mentioned that Maddison is checked at LEAST 12-15 times a day? Do you know how ridiculous that is? Activity for Maddison this Christmas vacation has given her numbers from 34-384 in just hours. And 280-67 in just 20 minutes. Three times this happened in the last week. I can't deny my kid her trampoline, her scooter or running outside with the dog just because she has 1.8 units active. I can't always give an extra snack and make it all right. Some times the juice doesn't catch it. I pray that the Minilink will.

I am scared to death of this thing. I am fearful of the amount of time and work I will have to invest to get it figured out. To get it to make sense, to know the ins and outs of a new medical device. So, I will be wearing the CGMS myself until I understand it better. I just couldn't hook Maddison up without knowing what the hell to expect. We are already running out of "real estate" on her little behind because of the pump sites. Is this thing even going to be beneficial? Is it going to be a nightmare? Will I want to throw the thing in the pool like I did the pump the first few weeks? I have heard all the horror stories of bad sensors, bleeding sites. Rash, irritation, bad readings, numbers that are totally off. I can tell you I am very skeptical, but I believe it is also only as good as the user itself. (most of the time) So tomorrow is the day! They will be sending our package on its way and it will be here Friday.

Did I mention that in 2007 our medical expenses exceeded $3,300 for prescriptions? That is for two with Diabetes in one household. That doesn't include the $1800 I paid out of pocket for my portion after insurance on my insulin pump. Josh's company picked up the $1800 for Maddison's pump as a courtesy/medical hardship. I could never thank them enough for their generosity! Then there was the $1400 in office visits. $1200 we paid to Phoenix Children's Hospital for the 3 days Maddison spent when she was diagnosed. WOW! It really sucks to see that your medical expenses are so high. And now, I am fighting our insurance over pump supplies. You see, our policy covers "disposable medical supplies" at 100% but of course, they are denying bills for pump supplies as DME (Durable Medical Equipment) Well, guess what UHC.....I have been an Insurance Appeals specialist for over 11 years and I am not about to play your games. I can start to save every pump site change if you would like to see that these are indeed a disposable medical supply. So, tomorrow I will have to call them yet again and make my point clear. The cost difference is extraordinary if we were to pay for 24 site changes a month according to how they want us to pay. It is just not going to happen. I will soon let you in on my victory :)