I must admit that for the past several weeks our hearts have been a bit more heavy than usual. Insurance is what I like to call a necessary evil. Evil because it can be sooooo hard to get correct answers from the random person answering the phone on the other end...evil because there's always exceptions, limitation, and flat out stuff the won't cover! Necessary because without, we'd be toast/broke! (and for that reason alone, I am soooo grateful for it...even if it has an evil side too!)
A few weeks ago, I contacted the insurance dept out at the Mayo Clinic and told them about our current insurance. She took down all Claire's info and called our insurance company to see how/what they would cover for a transplant out of state. The next day she called back and said that they couldn't accept the insurance. Our insurance may pay for what was needed, but it wasn't in the Mayo's system to accept that out-of-state insurance. That would leave us with the remaining 20% of what Claire's transplant will cost, as Claire's Medicare covers 80% of her transplant no matter where we go. Well, 20% doesn't sound like much until you get it next to at kidney/liver transplant. The estimate she gave us for the remaining 20% we would be responsible for was between $40,000-$60,000. And that's if everything goes peachy perfect! That causes your heart to sink a bit.
Jared and I then began preparing our minds for the thought that if we absolutely wanted to have Claire transplant at the Mayo, it would be much more feasible for us to simple move out to Minnesota and get insurance out there that would cover the remaining 20%. We were 'heavy-heartly' ready to start packing our bags. But we kept investigating to see if there was something, anything we could do to allow us to stay here and still have her transplant out there. With guidance from the Spirit, we were lead to talk with someone directly at our insurance company who actually knew A LOT...and who seemed very confused when we told her what we found at by talking with the people at the Mayo. So she decided to investigate a little bit herself and see what the deal was.
After a week and a half, she called me back and said she thought everything was going to work! She talked with the same lady whom I spoke with earlier out at Mayo and there was a misunderstanding of what insurance we had and how a transplant could be covered under that. The lady at Mayo was going to double check with her supervisor and give us the official go-ahead if all was well. Friday we got the call that our insurance here would indeed pick up the remaining 20% for Claire's transplant performed at the Mayo Clinic! And we don't even have to move!! Wow, what a huge rush of gratitude filled my now much lighter heart! Answered prayers. Blessings. Nothing short of a miracle.
Second lightening of the heart.
Jared lost his job a few weeks ago. The company he was working for was based in Australia and was trying to get too big too fast. Therefore, they had to let some employees go in order to get some things restructured. They said they'd like him back in a few months after they get some things worked out...but ya can't just sit around and twiddle your thumbs for 2 months!
So Jared started networking. Turns out one of the other employees from this company who also was let go was friends with a guy in Hawaii who wanted him to come work for him. Jared connected with this guy in Hawaii and between the 3 of them, they're going to start their own trading room ((that's what his previous job had been too...moderating a trading room...calling out trades)). After working out all the kinks, they got things up and running this week and already have a decent size 'room' to get going with. It may take a few months before we know if things pan out but for now something is always better than nothing.
Another blessing. Jobs are always a good thing to have. Answered prayers once again.
Thank you for your prayers.
Still no word on Claire's lipids/cholesterol. We'll test them again the first of January to see if the medicine is helping. I asked the Docs at the Mayo if they had seen such high levels on other patients doing so much dialysis and they hadn't!! I was shocked. She was shocked too that her levels were that high...and wasn't quite sure what the solution was either. One of our friends in the Ward is a pediatric cardiologist and he's going to get us the name/number of a specialist who may be able to help in some way. We'll keep on truckin' along with this issue!! The story's not over yet!!
Claire took her first steps!! ENJOY!
