So the husband had a vasectomy today … YAY right !   The only bummer is that he’ll be home all week. ALL week.  Just lying around needing things, like a helpless manbaby.  I love my hubby, I do , and normally I’d be excited to have him home during the week doing chores and yard work or stuff with the kids … but he’s just here. Leaving lint on the couch and crumbs in the bed.

Men. Definitely the weaker sex by far !  Except my little monkey of course , he’s the toughest little guy I know ! Never squawks or complains about the many surgeries he’s had … check him out :

This was his second surgery in three weeks, to have his dialysis tube replaced. He hadn’t eaten in like 13  hours at this point and he was  still happy and in a good mood !   He’s SUPER BABY !!! Versus daddy, who is acting super baby-ish !!! 

Speaking of which, the daddy needs his peas !!

In the short time it took me to pee … this happened :

Attack of the BIG SISTER  !!  Poor guy … I’m positive it’s just the beginning of many things to come !

It’s recently dawned on me that I rarely mention my first born.  I’m not sure why really … she’s actually pretty hilarious when she’s not in time out. 

 One of these days I’ll make a ” kids say the darnedest things” bullet list of all the CRAZY crap that’s come out of her mouth !

Hard to imagine that it was only a few months ago I was wondering if I’d even be bringing a baby home … all the worry and heart ache. Feels like a life time ago …   

ME !!!!!

I must admit, I was having my doubts … but after enough calling and complaining and finding the right contact ( THANK YOU Jescha McIntosh  ~ I LOVE YOU )  my bill has been PAID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!     

This mama, is doin a dam HAPPY dance across the kitchen floor  …

And BTW … I feel like I should mention how awesome I think the Air Force is.  They’ve been really good to us. My biggest complaint is about the random claims representative you get on the phone …  I mean surely we aren’t the first family in the history of the Air Force to have a special needs child, MUST we recreate the freak’n wheel EVERYTIME I call ?!?!?

 sheesh.

Dude.  I’m headed for the white house. I can feel it … this is going to be a loooong drawn out process which will result in me heading to D.C., dialysis machine in hand to give a speech to congress on why they need to take peritoneal dialysis training off the Government No Pay List.

Friday I called our insurance again, trying to get some answers, but of course I ran into another dead end.  I have gotten a different answer to the same question at least 6 times now.  So I called the claim representative i was talking to a liar.  This apparently offended her … opps !  She told me that because Andrews dialysis training is on the NO PAY LIST that we can’t appeal it. That the only option we have is to pay the bill, and that she’s sorry to be the bearer of bad news but that’s simply how our insurance works.  Then she informed me that the reason Peritoneal Dialysis Training is on the NO PAY LIST is because it’s considered an “educational class” and then proceeded to compare our son being on dialysis to diabetes.  What a Douche Bag.       Then she suggested that I google the Government No Pay List and take it to our finance person at the hospital  ????   Yeah, that’s what I’m gonna do.  “Excuse me, but can you please not bill us with any of these codes, our insurance is acting like a bunch of assholes and won’t cover our care if you do”.

So after being reduced to tears, I got pissed.  And woke up Saturday morning ready to fight !  Oh, hells yeah. IT IS ON !   First I googled the “white House”  because I wanted to write President Obama a nice little letter about our situation, so I was looking for his mailing address and to my surprise there was an area called “contact us” or something like that where you can e-mail him !  I’m not retarded, I’m sure he has more pressing matters than to check the millions of e-mail he probably receives daily, but somebody reads them, and I figured if it sounded urgent enough that maybe I’ll actually get a response ! I even included my home number in case he has time to call me ! 

And today I’ve already sent an e-mail to one of our state senators Barbara Boxer, and printed a privacy release form from Dianne Feinstein’s web page to which I’ll add a letter requesting her help in this matter !  I’ve figured out who I need to talk to, his name is  Daniel Chen.  He is the  Constituent Services Representative for issues of the Military including TRICARE, which happens to be our insurance.   Yo, Daniel Chen if you happen to google your name and come across this , gimme a call ~ or shoot me an e-mail, PLEASE !

I figure a lot of laws, policy’s, and policy changes have happened because someone pissed off the wrong mom.  I’d like to add myself to that list !  So I’m going to use what little free time I have to fight the fight ! Even if my family has to be the example and we get stuck having to pay these ridiculous bills … it’ll all be worth it to me if I can make a difference and spare the next family unfortunate enough to have their child diagnosed with kidney disease , one BIG FAT HEADACHE !

To whom it concerns :

My Husband and I recently had our second child, Andrew, who was born with End Stage Renal Disease. In order to sustain life he must have daily therapy … Peritoneal Dialysis to be exact. 

 We recently received a bill for $2669.00 specifically for the MANDATORY STATE REQUIRED 2 weeks of Peritoneal Dialysis training we had NO CHOICE but to have so that we could learn how to take care of our son and perform dialysis at home.  After speaking to a tricare representative it’s been brought to my attention that it’s our responsibility to pay because the “MANDATORY STATE REQUIRED DIALYSIS TRAINING” is on the GOVERMENT NO PAY LIST.  WTF ?

Let’s be clear. You approved for and paid for him to have his Peritoneal Dialysis tube surgically placed. You covered dialysis while he was an “in-house” patient at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. You’ve approved and are paying for us to do dialysis at home, as well as covering all of the necessary supplies and medications to be delivered directly to our home. BUT, you won’t cover the “MANDATORY STATE REQUIRED DIALYSIS TRAINING” ?!?!?

This Makes NO sense. Believe me, you’ll be receiving a personal letter appealing said bill, as will our state congressmen and women. I’m going to make it my personal mission to have this changed, if not for my family then for the next family whose unfortunate enough to experience any of this.

 Oh, and if you haven’t noticed my self tittled blog “Type A Momma” …  I’ll find the time to be a pain your ass.

Since my last post you should all be happy to hear that I’ve found time to shower !  It’s eating I never have time to do , I do manage to make my coffee in the morning however ! Ahhh, priorities !

I’m not sure how current I am on Andrew , but I think the only thing that’s changed recently is that I have to cath him every 4 hours.  It was horrible at first … I was scared and nervous and it was just another thing for me to be responsible for( because for whatever his reason, this is something the husband won’t do ), but now Im quite good at it !  I swear I feel like I’m in the fast lane of self realization !  Every time we learn yet another thing we’ll have to do I totally freak out and have these major tantrums and completely reject it with every fiber of my being and then a few hours later … sometimes days, when I’ve had time to let it all sink in, I tend to treat this all like one big challenge !  So now when I cath him, it’s all about how much urine I can get out !  Yep …. that’s my life these days, once upon a time I’d been excited over new make-up, shoes, fun fashion forward jewelry …  today, I’m over joyed if I can squeeze out more than 10cc’s of baby urine !  In case your wondering why I have to cath him , he has something called hydronephrosis.  I think basically Andrews bladder is small, there fore not able to hold a “normal” amount of urine plus he has some scar tissue around his bladder caused by the blockage he had when I was pregnant with him so he can’t completely empty it so as a result it travels backwards up into his ureters which then dilates his kidneys and that can cause him to loose what little function he has left.   I know that was a crap load to try and understand … so just know that he had another sonogram 2 weeks ago and since cathing him things have improved !  Our urologist is hoping that if we continue, that over time his bladder with heal itself … fingers crossed !

So now my daily tasks include giving him medication every 12 hours, shots twice a week, cathing him every 4 hours, finding time to take his blood pressure, weigh him, get his dialysis machine set up ( takes about 20 minutes ) then getting him hooked up and started … dialysis takes 7 hours start to finish by the way.  While doing all of these things he has all of his other normal 4 month old needs to be taken care of , not to mention my Emma and all of the many things she needs !  Speaking of Emma, she started pre school on the 5 of this month !! She goes 2 half days a week, which she seems to be enjoying ! Those are fun mornings, let me tell ya ! I have to have us all up and fed and ready and out the door by 8:20am !  It surprises me every time we’re out the door on time !

In a good month we only have to drive to LA’s Children Hosp. once.  But of course it’s never that easy to schedule our apts all on the same day, so on the 29th of Jan it will be our 3rd time going.  Those are the LONGEST days EVER.  

Well, that’s about all I have time for … I’m going to try and find more time to blog, I totally miss it, life is just completely overwhelming for the moment, so I’ll do the best I can …

Now I must get back to coloring “pinkie pie” … she’s a My Little Pony , DUH !!!

As you can see Emma LOVES her baby “Annndrew ” !

Our shows about to air !!!   DECEMBER 9TH @ 9PM ON THE DISCOVERY HEALTH CHANNEL, TITLED BABIES 911 ! You can watch us along with 2 other families whose babies also have serious complications. Keep the Kleenex near by, and maybe don’t watch if your pregnant … or at least know that the odds are in your favor that none of these things will happen to your baby !

I thought I’d post a few pictures :

Our Miracle Workers Dr Chmait and Terri Maitino !!!  I have no words … we are so incredibly lucky to have ever been put in contact with these two, we love them dearly !   Hey Terri ~ I want my Wednesdays at 10 !!

Here’s Josh getting a quick lesson on how to use the small hand held camera …  Good thing because my labor happened so fast the crew missed the delivery, so Josh filmed it for them !!!

Melissa, the Director for Babies 911, filming Andrew moments after birth !

Josh being filmed while checking out Andrew in the NICU !

Enjoy the show !!!  And if your interested  Melissa has a few other shows airing this month, one called Marathon Love which will also be on the Discovery Health Channel @ 8pm on Dec 14th and another called The Wedding Planner which will air on the WE channel at 7pm on December 7th !!