Day 68 - Just Another Day In Haloville

Not much news at this time. Unfortunately, this has all become quite ordinary and routine except for the pain. I'm sure Jan will disagree. We are just counting down the days and trying not to jinx it. I've got a reminder set to go set up the insurance and paperwork a day before the scan so Jan doesn't have to wait around beforehand. I want this to go as smoothly and quickly as possible.

Her neck muscles are giving her more trouble than anything. I attribute most of this to, are ready for it, the ill-fitted halo. Her neck has to support the halo in addition to her head. The muscles from the base of the skull just behind the ears are so tight they almost feel like bone!

Her right arm is hurting, too! I can't explain all the new pains she's having. She has been taking half of a narcotic pill on the odd occasion when Tylenol and valium will not give her any relief. She averages two halves a week of late but she asked for another narcotic last night even though she took Tylenol instead. If it gets worse, she'll wind up with more pain at the end than immediately after the accident. If it keeps up, I can only suggest calling the Bilkmore Neuro Clinic. Of course, it will be two days later before she gets a reply.

On another note, the salvage yard that bought my car tracked me down. They have pictures up online for prospective parts buyers to view. I have one of the most telling shots here with a link to my Google photo page if you wish to see more. Some of them are hard to look at when you remember Jan was sitting there.

Here's the album on Google Photos.

Day 66 - TWO WEEKS TO GO!

YES! We are in the home stretch!

This is the Aspen collar Jan will be wearing for some period of time after the halo comes off. It may not look very comfortable but then it is all relative when you have been BOLTED INTO A HALO FOR 12 WEEKS!

The NP previously said she would have to wear the collar for six weeks without taking it off for anything except showers and then to not move her head. She even said we should have two collars, one to shower in one and one to transfer to once done. I'm hoping the doctor is more reasonable.

Wearing a collar without any neck movement seems like a step backward in treatment. If the bone is healed, she needs physical therapy sooner, not later. The doctor will explain it thoroughly and to my satisfaction or I'm not leaving. The NP was terrible at communicating reasons, only repeating what the doctor allegedly said. Well, this time it will be the doctor so there can be nothing lost in translation.

Jan has, what I deem, an irrational fear that the doctor won't remove the halo at the March 4th visit and will force us to return on the following day to keep the appointment with the NP for actual removal. Yeah, not on my life! By all accounts, it takes less than 10 minutes to get it off safely!

Day 64 - Presidents Day

The nine-week mark has passed and we are starting the 10th week. Halo time is 80% complete as I type this. Just 16 days to go. Calcium infusions via yogurt and vitamins continue! We tried out the magic bullet with some smoothies made from yogurt and fruit. They turned out fair but Jan says the formula needs something. I suspect the lack of liquid from yogurt made them thicker than usual, too!

The Valentine's Day dinner on Saturday was very nice and Jan is glad she went. Earlier in the day, I had warned Tessa to let Jan get the door if anything came up because a few weeks ago I had ordered a dozen roses to be delivered on Valentine's Day.

On a poetic justice type of note, the primary health insurance company paid Bilkmore, as I had previously lamented. The difference is we finally got the statement from the insurance company on what they paid. The beauty is they knocked the original $26,003 bill down to $4,480! That's the whole thing down to just 17% of the original bill! That isn't even what any two of the CT scans were billed at and she had seven. That isn't even the cost they billed for the halo!

The $309 x-rays Jan has gotten at each visit have been knocked down to $54. It sounds like congress needs to investigate the billing practices of the medical industry!

I'm still not happy with Jan's treatment or Bilkmore but I'm happy they didn't get anything close to what they billed. It certainly was sub-par care from the neuro visit at 2:00AM of 12/15/2008 on through the two NP visits she's had, including the lack of callbacks.

Is this what is wrong with health care? Is this why they say costs are skyrocketing because they bill exorbitant amounts that mere mortals cannot hope to pay?

If some uninsured person walks into the ER and has the same treatment Jan had, they would be billed $26,000. If you have insurance, the same treatment is only $4,400. Is that fair? We need truth in billing! We need a single price for everybody instead of $29 aspirin.