November Updates

It's been awhile since the last update because this month has been crazy. Bob was out of commission for three weeks: 1. for a pulled muscle 2. he had a horrible cold 3. both he and Mandi came down with the flu on Thanksgiving and were sick for six days.

The great news is I was finally approved for state aide, which means Mandi will soon be paid by an agency rather than our paying her. When we started this process we were told most people are only approved for 30 hours of care a week, but after meeting with our case worker and her asking for an override from her supervisor we were approved for 56 hours a week!!!!! The great part about this is at 60 hours the state considers it more cost effective to put the patient in a skilled facility rather than keep them at home so we got as many hours as we could have!!!! In addition to the care hours, they are going to renovate our shower to a roll in shower so we will be able to continue using the shower with new equipment once I can no longer sit on my current shower chair. They are also going to try and approve a portable wheelchair ramp which insurance does not consider medically necessary. This program however, looks at the fact that I am under 40 and still active and out in the community and being able to visit my friends houses is vital to my overall quality of life. I just picked up two prescriptions this week that would have cost $148.00 but as a result of this coverage I only had to pay $6.00. They are also going to reimburse me for my prescription costs dating back to 8/1 - present, which will equate to about $600.00!! Talk about being approved in the nick of time, we were able to get another caregiver for me when both Bob and Mandi had the flu. We would have had to pay privately for this care at a minimum of $18.00 an hour had we not been approved!

Even more exciting is that Joshua celebrated his 1st birthday on 11/15. We had just a small party with family, including my brother who was here from Fresno and Bob's mom who was here from OK., along with Jolie and the kids. As with any one year old he was much more interested in the wrapping paper than any of his gifts. He had a couple morsels of his cake, but he can't eat solid foods yet, which is an update I will save for later. Overall it went really well and he didn't go into meltdown mode as most due in the midst of their party at that age. =)

Lots more updates to come but that all for now.