I am having such a hard time realizing that in about 5 days, I'm going to go from being able to get around and do whatever I want to being stuck in that God awful brace for 6 weeks. I'm still undecided about going to Mom's or staying at home, but as it looks now, I'm going to try to stay at home.
On another note, I despise insurance companies. Note: I am glad I have a job with insurance. I called the surgery center to ask if they had notified my insurance as the insurance told me the doctor should. They told me to call the doctor. I called the doctor and after waiting around, they finally said that they had pre-certified me for the surgery and the insurance had been notified. Then I call the insurance just to double check and they were showing no history of it. Great... I get transferred to another person so that I'm able to notify them. They get the procedure codes from me and say that I didn't have to pre-certify OR notify them of the surgery. That scares me because my policy states "reconstruction procedures" under the things that the insurance has to be notified about. I would think that an MPFL reconstruction would be under that, but maybe not. Heck, I don't know. All I do know is that I've written everything down so that if there is any question down the road, I hope to have no problems getting the insurance to pay. I'm estimating that the total procedure will cost around 7-8,000 and hopefuly my portion is1,000-1,500 or less. That may be something else I post about once it all gets settled. Again, just so that people can estimate what they're looking it. My insurance covers 80% of eligible expenses after the deductible is met, which it has been. Since my doctor is in-network, I'm estimating that there will be in-network deductions from the original cost as has been the case with every other medical claim that has been submitted. I guess I'll just have to wait and see on that one. Oh, make another note...if there is absolutely any way to find out what kind of brace you are going to have after surgery, see if you can find out what kind of brace it is and order it online! The total cost for the post-op telescoping Breg brace that I got according to my claim was about $700!! Since I have a 250 deductible for those things, the brace and crutches are costing me 291 right off the top! I found the exact same brace online for less than 200 dollars. I also found ergonomic crutches that had I known about, I probably would have purchased on my own for about 50 bucks and if they help with the underarm pain at all, that 50 dollars would be worth it. Since I have now met my deductible, it really isn't THAT big of a deal that the brace cost so much, but if you have a higher deductible and don't want to pay out the rump, get one online if at all possible.
Anyway, that is where I'm at right now. The surgery center called today to get some medical history and whatnot and they told me to wear comfortable clothing to the surgery. I really wanted to say "No s**t Sherlock". It worries me that they actually have to tell people "Hey, you're having knee surgery, please don't wear a three piece suit". I have a feeling I'll be living in basketball shorts for the next couple weeks, but hey...no problem with me on that one at all. Work will probably consist of skirts if I'm unable to wear the brace over clothing in the later stages of recovery. If I could get away with basketball shorts at work, I may try that as well. Hey, my boss has only been in my office once in the last 6-8 months. It might be worth a try. :)
In closing, I'm still in good spirits and not really too nervous yet. My knee went out the other day just as I was walking around my house and it pissed me off enough to want the surgery right then and there. It has gotten to the point that yes, it hurts when that happens, but now it just makes me mad. Bring on surgery...I think I'm ready. Feel free to ask again in a couple days if I still feel the same way. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment