Where things stand (written with my head in the sand)

Welcome ICLW'ers!! It's been awhile since I participated in one of these (life just seems to get in the way of me being a good participant). I've been loving reading the blogs I've been visiting and I hope you enjoy your time here. Visit the About Me tab to learn more about our journey---though here's a snapshot: We're loving up on our Little Monkey (15mos) given to us after our journey with IF, while unexpectedly expecting our little Pumpkin Seed in October.

So my commitment of blogging more now that school is out for the summer isn't quite going according to plan....though I blame the water heater flood, broken garage door and flurry of doctor appt's much more than my own laziness :-) However, I wanted to update you all on where thing are standing with LM's neck issue.

I've spent the better part of the week on the phone trying to gather insurance info, gather referrals, talking to Dr's, making appointments and, oh yes, listening to that lovely canned hold music. I've talked with his pedi on the phone (a first for me, having an actual doctor call me on her lunch break) and she supported our plan to get a pediatric ophthalmologist to look at his eyes and to get the ball rolling with our state's Early Intervention program First Steps to get him evaluated for OT/PT.

So, I set about making an appointment with one of the like 5 PO's in our state....long story short, we have an appointment in a month. While you gasp in the horror that these doctor's wouldn't immediately drop everything and clear their schedules to see my baby, let's note that the next best appointment....two months away. I'm sure my new administrators would've loved that---I imagine the conversation would've gone something like this: "I know that you're new and don't know me and that I'm about to have a baby and leave for nine weeks. Oh, and that I have to slip out a little early before contract time all the time because I have to go to the dr every week. Oh, and that it's like the second week of school---but I need to be gone because my baby has a crooked neck. Thanks!! Please don't hold it against me when you're doing our new evaluations that take attendance and student learning into our pay for next year!" So--in summary--I'll take waiting a month (partially because I have no choice but also because I don't think his eyes are the issue--though that would be the easy fix).

So then I embarked on the EI route---and while I got the ball rolling, I'm waiting for a phone call back to get the process going further. Once this happens, we'll have a meeting to talk about it all, schedule the eval, meet again after that to talk about what they found, then eventually start some therapy----hopefully before he turns three and is no longer eligible ;-) 

This is where the issue "at home" arose. I'm content to wait out the phone call back and appointment (while we do some neck stretches we read about). TH on the other hand--accused me of sticking my head in the sand and not being willing to "move faster" because I wouldn't accept his "short" research on pediatric chiropractors and take LM to one because "they're like the same thing as OT's and PTs". Now, maybe it's my skepticism (and please please feel free to share with me great experiences you've had) but I wasn't ready to jump on making that appointment until I had time to read things about it and learn more. He's my baby and I'm not willing to just let anyone touch him--especially if the pedi didn't mention it as an option. Of course, this caused drama because TH didn't understand why I wasn't willing to "try everything" immediately. I tried explaining that I've very overwhelmed by this whole issue and am struggling with the idea of my baby being "broken" (yes, I know he's not, but I'm hormonal), while worrying that this baby is growing crooked in utero (and yes, I plan to talk with my OB about my crazy concerns). I just needed time to process and research.

We compromised when he found a place related to our local hospital that does the evaluations--though, we have no idea of the cost. They, of course, needed a real referral and our pedi doesn't work Thursday's, so I'm waiting for either a call back saying the script is ready or a call from my pedi to discuss it.
So---we wait. Again. But, the ball is rolling (several of them).

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go brush the sand out of my hair while I go try to deal with our new drama about daycare (more later), trying to find a name for PS (it's driving me crazy) and putting together some furniture/sorting through the delivery of girl clothes from my SIL. Oh, and not doing the work I swore I'd get done over the summer to help the school year start off easier :-)

What a surprise...

I hate calling customer service lines. I hate the options to listen for/punch in, trying to understand the person (I inevitably get a bad connection) and everything else. To top it off---I get nervous trying to explain why I called and end up sounding like a fool as I stutter over myself. It doesn't matter if it is a simple request, question etc...the way I behave, you'd swear I was trying to pull a heist. 

We've been struggling with an insurance claim for LM---yes, since March. The hospital mistakenly filed the claim under his name even though he was still under my umbrella of insurance (and yes, it took multiple conversations to figure out the problem). There was a lot of back and forth between me and the insurance company & me and the hospital. I was starting to get worried I'd get stuck with the $4000+ bill because the hospital seemed clueless about it all!

BUT--for once, it was a great customer service experience on the insurance side. Every time I called An.them, the agent on the phone was helpful and *gasp* informative.  If they didn't know the answer, they didn't send me on to someone else with the inevitable long hold time...nope...they found the information themselves.  This last time, after realizing that the provider was going to have to write off some of the cost and the hospital was days away from taking out a hit on me, the customer service agent said that she would just put me on hold and call them herself to get it straightened out....and she did.  Bam! Just like that.

So for once, I had a great experience with customer service.  I honestly still can't believe they were that helpful..and made phone calls for me.  I know have extra time since LM is still napping and I didn't end up on the phone the whole nap as I imagined! And now TH will get off back about taking care of it :-)

It's almost enough to make me call a customer service line next time instead of looking for an email or online chat option.....almost.!