Finally Home


     

Aidan and fur-sister, Chiana. Note the moving tail and ears.

Punk investigating the baby


And then the cat tried to push him off



Aidan spends some time in the bouncer



Tired Momma with the fur-sisters - check out the cat


Chiana with her Christmas present from rv and Chrism - she loves her Zanie, even if it is silent now. Yeah, it's not related, but it's a convenient place to put this.

     

 
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Day 42 through 47- It's been a whirlwind of days

Well, if all had gone as planned, we might have been able to come home with Aidan last Friday and update everyone on that day. However we all know what happens to the best laid plans...We should have been out of the hospital by noon, but instead we ended up leaving after 9 pm and we were lucky to get out at all. Not because of health issues, but because of insurance. Let me just start by saying, Aetna sucks. Although it wasn't all their fault and they're trying to make up for all the hell now, it hasn't been good. Mom spent an hour and a half and the doctor spent 3 hours on the phone with Aetna on Friday trying to figure out why we couldn't get a prescription filled. We finally got one filled temporarily and no one had mentioned they still couldn't fill the second one. After Aetna and the pharmacy closed for the day at 6 pm on Friday and abandoned us with little hope of getting home, Aidan's nurse, Natalie, and a few remaining doctors finagled more prescriptions and we just bought them out of pocket at the local pharmacy. We finally got home about 10 pm, exhausted, angry and in tears. However, this got us through the weekend.

Monday arrived and it all started again. Apparently one of the drugs had to come directly from Aetna, not a regular pharmacy, which everyone failed to mention on Friday. Both of them also needed a pre-approval, but no one mentioned this about the second drug on Friday. Another 3 hours on the phone for both Mom and the doctor and we had another temporary fix after more tears, stress, and anger for Mom and Dad. Dad had to make a special trip to Cleveland to the hospital pharmacy to pick up the drugs that he could.

Tuesday rolls around and there was still some confusion between the hospital pharmacy and Aetna, but it was settled reasonably quickly and Dad got to enjoy yet another trip downtown for more drugs. All seemed to be going well until the home care nurse called that night to say Aetna wouldn't cover her visit on Wednesday to give Aidan his shot and we would have to do it ourselves or pay. Not being all that comfortable giving a shot to a little baby, neither Mom or Dad was terribly pleased with that option. Earlier that day, a nurse representing Aetna had called to see if everything was going okay and she got the whole sordid story in three part harmony from Mommy. The nurse apologized profusely and told us to call her direct if she could help. Mom called immediately with the new problem, but it was after 6, so of course, everyone had gone home again. More stress and tears for Mommy and Daddy along with some (not-so) veiled threats against Aetna.

Wednesday arrived and the Aetna nurse called back. She got the addendum to the story, apologized again, and hung up in order to track down the problem, with the promise to call back. We weren't holding our breath. But, in fact, someone did call - our very own case manager that we now have a direct line to, bypassing the whole phone tree. Our file is now with a new department and all coverages for this week have been approved. Our nurse has been here to give Aidan his shot, we've got the drugs we need for the rest ot the week, and, for the moment, all is well. We take Aidan to his first pediatrician appointment tomorrow, so all will be reevaluated then and we'll go from there.

Now, after the venting, some upbeat news. Aidan is doing well. His weigh-in tonight had him at 6lbs., 5ozs. He's eating and pooping like a champ, and overall seems to be adjusting quite well to life at home. Preemie clothes are rapidly becoming too small, but he does not quite yet fit into newborn clothes. That'll change quick enough. The dog has sniffed, tasted and approved! The cat, well, ignores him, as cats will do. Mom and Dad, now having a bit of time to think, have suddenly realized that they are now ... responsible. While it certainly shouldn't come as a shock, nevertheless, when it's staring you in the face, it still does.

That's it for now. We've got to get up early and head to the pediatrician. If anyone has any experience getting out of a health plan without quitting your job (it may still come to that!), we'd be very interested in talking to you. Good night, all!

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