Drama

Happy Monday everyone,

Things with us are okay. We've hit a minor set back with our surgeries - after going through everything that we have done to prepare... we've found out John's company excluded the proceedure from our insurance plan. Which means that currently - there isn't any coverage for us to have the surgery. (The surgeries cost $25,000 a piece) We're working with John's boss, and vice president to see if the company will help us. They have the ability to write an exception to the policy for us, and are trying to figure out how that is done.

It has been a struggle for us because it is very hard to understand why companies pick and choose what their employees are covered for medically. One arguement that I have heard is that there aren't enough employees that benefit from the proceedure to warrant the costs, but in my opinion - I pay for others to be covered for things that I don't use as well... for instance - organ transplants or heart surgeries... I haven't needed those services, but gladly pay for it to be covered to save someone else's life. Therefore, why can't we raise the costs of our insurance minimally to save mine?

Our surgeon that we originally chose is retiring as well - he won't be doing any more proceedures after October... so we're in the process of figuring out where we'll go once we get the insurance mess worked out.

In the meantime, I found a show on TLC that is called Big Medicine. It's a show about two doctors here in Houston that work out of Methodist Hospital, and have a program that chronicles their patients and surgeries. It is a good show if anyone is interested in looking it up and watching it - they just did a surgery on the show that aired on Saturday afternoon on a 600 pound man... and I'm really interested to see how this man's life changes... he's 26 years old, and hasn't been out of bed in 7 years! (he was up to 850 pounds or so, but they got him down to 620 or so before surgery.)

At any rate - I applied for John and I to be a part of the show. I had to write a one page letter to the producers and send them pictures, but I told them our story - and who knows maybe we'll get picked. I don't know if the show covers the costs of the surgery or hospital costs, but if it does - then even better!! The doctors on the show are really neat - it's a father and son team that both do the weight-loss surgeries. The son seems to be the best fit for me - as he's much more of the type that is compassionate and will hold your hand through the hard times. His Dad is more matter of fact and might be a better fit for John.

We'll see what happens, and we'll keep you all updated as things progress.