Thursday, May 24, 2012

San Diego Round One

We flew in to San Diego on May 10th and saw the surgeon, Dr. Schaffer on the 11th. He spent a long time in the exam room with us discussing different type of ablation and why he thinks ethanol is the best choice. He reviewed Alex's abdominal CT with us and pointed out the area he thinks may be adrenal tissue. He described how they would do the procedure and what the risks involved are. The appointment went really well and he referred Alex to the Interventional Radiologist for the procedure.

And then we waited. And waited. And waited. I called the doctor's office ever day at least once a day. I called the scheduling coordinator, I called the authorization coordinator, I called the new insurance plan, I called the old insurance plan. Ground Hogs Day. Day after day the request got turned in to our old insurance and denied (duh). We knew they wouldn't accept the old insurance. I still don't know if it was human error or computer error but after a week I finally got the admission department to completely delete the old insurance info from their system. We flew home that Friday and the authorization request was finally delivered to the correct insurance that day.  After waiting an entire week in San Diego the approval went through the same day it was submitted.

Finally on Monday they were able to get the authorization to the IR scheduling department. They offered us an appointment on the 29th, but airfares so close in would have cost us $1000.00 and I just couldn't  do it. The following week Alex has 3 days of testing she can't miss. The week after that the doctor is on vacation. So, she is now scheduled for June 18th. Alex doesn't mind the wait but the mood swings she is getting with the high cortisol are about too much for me!