Here's the Scoop

Those who have been following along with the insurance saga but AREN'T on facebook, you probably don't know "the rest of the story."

So here's the scoop.

On February 28, the day our immunologist was to return home from a medical mission trip from Chile, the earthquake struck. Our family was terrified that he'd be caught, or worse, injured in the quake. Instead, we got word their plane had taken off just 2 hours before the earthquake leveled the airport - and much more.

Upon his return to the office the very next day, he set up a review in Topeka and on Tuesday made his way there to defend our son's medical case to the state review board, with an insurance commissioner representative seated with him (on our side).

He won.

We got word the next day from a review board member herself saying that they'd overturned Blue Cross's decision and would be making them pay. She said she called me herself because she wanted us to know that there WAS someone on that board rooting for us and on our side, and that as a mother, she understood what I must be going through trying to just get my son his medicine.

Later that week, I wrote hand-written thank you notes (not emails) to our insurance commissioner rep, our doctor and his wonderful head nurse, the folks at CSL Behring, who had come through and had donated product for Cale in the event we didn't win, and the aide to Congressman Moran who got all of the wheels spinning for us. I included pictures of Cale, so they had a face to put with the name of the child they were fighting on behalf of.

Friday, Cale had his fourth gammoglobulin infusion at the hospital. A blown vein, lots of blood, many tears and some milk and cookies later, he thanked us and the people who poked him, for his medicine. His reputation precedes him at the hospital - the infusion nurses and the pediatric nurses know him and know that he's the sweetest, kindest, and most appreciative child when it comes to getting poked and prodded - because unlike most kids, he knows that it's for his own good. He knows that ultimately the blood, bruises and pain heal and that he feels better in the long run.

When we got home from the hospital, we had a letter in the mail. An "official" letter from Blue Cross saying his infusion had been approved, that after "further review, it was deemed that his therapy was medical necessary." You think? We also had a letter from the insurance commission rep who worked SO hard on our behalf. It read:

"Thank you for the note and pictures of Cale. It reminded me that there are real people attached to this cases, and that it's my job to make sure they are taken care of."

And that, my friends, is the rest of the story.