Blood to Draw and Lives to Save!

We had a very traumatic blood drawing on Monday. No matter how many times you tell the phlebotomist that your kid is a hard stick and clots fast, they never seem to believe you. They give you this patronizing smile and always boast about how good they are. Well three sticks later, lots of tears, screaming, crying so hard she was turning purple and couldn't breathe, they finally got their precious blood. And no, sir, you are not as good as you think you are.

We were in to get thyroid and electrolyte screens. We have an appointment with the endocrinologist on Monday and they wanted to have the lab results in hand for when we get there. Personally, I feel if her levels look OK, what is the point of driving all the way down there for someone to tell us that?... anyway we were never given the paperwork, they never sent it in the mail after I requested it and finally they had to fax it to the lab, so I wasted most of the morning calling and leaving messages.

The electrolyte panel was another doctor and the paperwork they gave me was not compatible with the lab I was sent to, so he told me I'd have to come back again and have her blood drawn on a separate occasion. I told him he was crazy. They were going to draw her blood and do it once. He said he could draw the blood, but then I would have to deliver it to the hospital. As if! He finally told me he would drive it to the hospital. Which I know totally wasn't in his job description, but was very happy he offered of course. I have no idea if it ever happened.

All this fooling around made us late for therapy. Speaking of therapy, we are coming to the end of our 20 therapy sessions for the year. Thanks United Healthcare. I officially hate you! You never realize how crappy insurance is until you really, really need it. There is an appeals process, but we are trying to figure out how to word it so it will get approved. If she has certain conditions she can get approved so we have to word our appeal very carefully and make sure our doctor uses the key magic words in her letter of medical necessity. The problem is we are still trying to figure out what the key magic words are. I hate semantic games. Todd's human resources department is going to work with the UHC liaison to work it out.

So this appeals process will probably take months and meanwhile Amelia will not be able to go to private therapy. We will have to rely on ECI which I am not thrilled about. It looks like I won't be running the roads for a while, so that's always a positive.

That being said, I make it a point to get out of the house frequently. It is good for Amelia and for me. We have been making trips to the pool/visits with Aunt Pat/Uncle Steve, gone out to dinner several times, go to grocery store trips, Wal-Mart/Target trips, too. We went out to lunch the other day with Nathan and his mommy. The mommies gabbed it up while the babies slept. I am sure they were dreaming of each other!

Whenever I put her in her car seat she looks thrilled because she knows she is getting to go somewhere. She is a baby on the go and that is the way she likes it!

Overall Amelia has been in good health (well, for her). I fed her 6 or 7 bites of cold apple sauce today without choking, gagging, retching or avoidance techniques (she has several and she is very good with them). She can sit up for several minutes by herself. She has started petting the dogs. The other day in her pool float she kicked her legs and was propelling herself through the water!

Still haven't found the camera. The best way to find it is to go out and buy another one. I am on the verge of doing that.