ex machina
the eric update - day 214: yet another rsv shot. dimished weight gains ( but bigger still ).
well, the good news is that although we only discovered days ago that our primary insurer would no longer cover rsv shots, we were able to quickly coordinate with our pediatrician's office to have medicaid pick up the tab for the remainder of the season ( in michigan, babies who are in the nicu for more than 30 days automatically get enrolled in medicaid, regardless of income)!
the bad news is that we have to trek to the pediatrician's office which is pretty much a hotzone of nasty bugs.
the other bad news is that the home health agency told us they can't bill medicaid for the two prior $2,500 shots that our new pharmacy benefits manager decided to not cover without telling anyone. the nice woman at the home health agency thought it was quite unusual that even they didn't receive notice that coverage had changed and they were still going to try and recover the money from our insurance company.
as always, the dose of the rsv shot is dependent upon weight so we get to see how much weight he's put on since his last weighin.
we were surprised to see that he weighs about a pound less than we expected based on his prior weight gains. we thought he'd weigh at least 13 pounds 8 ounces ( 6.12 kilos ), but instead he tipped the scales at 5.78 kilos which is about the 30th percentile in age-adjusted terms for premature boys.
the pediatrician said it was perfectly normal to not keep up with his prior explosive weight gains and felt confident that he wasn't going to need any caloric fortifiers. whoohoo!
after getting weighed we have to sit around the office for 20 minutes for the medicine to "mix". this is just enough time for odin to get quite comfortable in his bundleme.
needless to say, he was quite unhappy when he discovered that he was not, in fact, going to get to take a nap.
no sirreee, he didn't like trading a nap for the poke of the needle. but i choose to remember calm, sleepy odin instead of i'm-mad-as-!@#! odin :-)
2/03/2005 10:15:00 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
In addition to purell, I carry portable clorox wipes with me for doctor visits. At least Odin is still young enough that he doesn't want to touch everything in the waiting room. The boys really love to put their hands everywhere, and there is not much I can do except wipe down stuff and wash their hands. But, really, I've learned to relax about it. There's not too much I can do to prevent them from catching stuff that's airborne.
With preemies, how long do med. professionals say that their immune systems are more fragile than other babies? Do they eventually catch up? I mean, I haven't known you to be very sickly, so I'd assume that eventually, the immune system is as strong as anyone else's. I hope by the time he's mobile, it won't be as much of a concern and you won't have to worry about checkups as much.
I still think you could make a case to get Caremark to pay for those shots, if they all of the sudden changed coverage, especially if the notification was near or after the service date of the shots.
if there are kids in the waiting area at our regular doc's, we can usually avoid them and the reception staff/nurses have been asked by the doctor to let us wait in the workup room if necessary. |
our pediatrician's office has a "well baby" room for preemie kids to wait in during visits. so, it's not like we're have to sit around amongst sniffly, sneezy kids which is nice. but it's still hard to not get obsessive compulsive from the moment we enter the office.
With preemies, how long do med. professionals say that their immune systems are more fragile than other babies? |
i could be wrong but his immune system is not really the issue - it's actually fairly robust considering the fact that he was exposed to so many "bugs" in the nicu. in fact, our pediatrician feels quite confident that odin would fair well if he were to get a "run-of-the-mill" cold. the problem has more to do with the fact that his lungs are still underdeveloped and damaged due to the fact that he's had pneumonia. so if he contracts rsv or other illnesses that affect his lower respiratory system he'll have a tougher time recovering since he has less healthy lung tissue than a full-term infant. in general, the first two years are considered critical, in terms of preventing lower respiratory system infections, although his lungs won't be fully healed for about 8 more years.
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“"it is hard to be brave," said piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: "it is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us."”
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this site chronicles the continuing adventures of my son, odin, who was unexpectedly born on the fourth of july at 25 weeks gestation, weighing 1 pound 7 ounces.
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if you're new, you can browse the archives to catch up. and don't forget to watch a few movies that i made while we were in the neonatal intensive care unit. or if you want the abridged version and you can find a copy, you can read about his adventures in the november 2005 issue of parents magazine.
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