The specialists have narrowed down my neurological problems to either Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Multifocal Motor Neuropathy (MMN).
The Insurance company's been delaying my IVIG treatment for years then they denied it. The treatment is called Intraveinous Immunoglobulin it's to treat and diagnose MMN.
Yesterday my wife got on the phone and started making calls. She called the Federal Department of labor (DOL). The first chick she talked to wanted us to mail her a bunch of documents we didn't have access to. The second also wanted the documents and when we told her we didn't have access to them she said "you don't need to get snippy," and hung up. The third person we talked to was very helpful and accessed all the needed info herself. We were then conferenced with the Insurance company. After we were put on hold for over half an hour the DOL chick informed them they were in violation of Federal regulations and were being fined. The DOL person wanted to know why I was being denied the medically necessary covered standard treatment that two of their specialists had prescribed and that she would call back today to get some answers.
Today the DOL person called and conferenced us with both the insurance company and the neurologist. Before she could start in on them today, they said that they had stayed up all night to complete the approval and had scheduled the treatment for Monday. Like my wife said, she pulled out the big guns. Once they heard Federal Department of Labor, people became very polite and helpful.
As Chief Dan George said to Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales, "Endeavor to persevere."
When we stepped out of the house on our way to the aquatic center at the local resort for therapy, we couldn't help but notice that it was a beautiful, warm, blue skied, sunny day. Grabbed our hiking boots and headed on out. I'm going for a hike today, one way or another.
We got to the resort, went to the aquatic center, strapped on our boots and went for a nice long hike. Well, a long hike for me anyway. We stopped often to ooh and aah at all the wonderful fall colors. I can still do uphills without even breathing hard but on the way down I needed to lean on my wife to keep upright. The hike was only about an hour and we stayed on the gravel and dirt roads around the resort. By the time we got back to the aquatics center, walking was getting difficult but it was just too beautiful out to not go for a hike.
We showered at the aquatics center and I spent some time in the sauna while my wife worked on a jigsaw puzzle. She joined me occasionally. We had some lunch, batted a ball around in the indoor pool and went on home.
We celebrated a glimmer of hope with a steak dinner and a bottle of wine.
The Insurance company's been delaying my IVIG treatment for years then they denied it. The treatment is called Intraveinous Immunoglobulin it's to treat and diagnose MMN.
Yesterday my wife got on the phone and started making calls. She called the Federal Department of labor (DOL). The first chick she talked to wanted us to mail her a bunch of documents we didn't have access to. The second also wanted the documents and when we told her we didn't have access to them she said "you don't need to get snippy," and hung up. The third person we talked to was very helpful and accessed all the needed info herself. We were then conferenced with the Insurance company. After we were put on hold for over half an hour the DOL chick informed them they were in violation of Federal regulations and were being fined. The DOL person wanted to know why I was being denied the medically necessary covered standard treatment that two of their specialists had prescribed and that she would call back today to get some answers.
Today the DOL person called and conferenced us with both the insurance company and the neurologist. Before she could start in on them today, they said that they had stayed up all night to complete the approval and had scheduled the treatment for Monday. Like my wife said, she pulled out the big guns. Once they heard Federal Department of Labor, people became very polite and helpful.
As Chief Dan George said to Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales, "Endeavor to persevere."
When we stepped out of the house on our way to the aquatic center at the local resort for therapy, we couldn't help but notice that it was a beautiful, warm, blue skied, sunny day. Grabbed our hiking boots and headed on out. I'm going for a hike today, one way or another.
We got to the resort, went to the aquatic center, strapped on our boots and went for a nice long hike. Well, a long hike for me anyway. We stopped often to ooh and aah at all the wonderful fall colors. I can still do uphills without even breathing hard but on the way down I needed to lean on my wife to keep upright. The hike was only about an hour and we stayed on the gravel and dirt roads around the resort. By the time we got back to the aquatics center, walking was getting difficult but it was just too beautiful out to not go for a hike.
We showered at the aquatics center and I spent some time in the sauna while my wife worked on a jigsaw puzzle. She joined me occasionally. We had some lunch, batted a ball around in the indoor pool and went on home.
We celebrated a glimmer of hope with a steak dinner and a bottle of wine.
