Waiting, waiting, waiting!

Well, I am now waiting on a powerchair to be ordered and delivered. I have never seen a process so slow, that it makes watching grass grow or watching paint dry seem exciting in comparison!
On May 29,2010, I was diagnosed with a right hip dislocation. Yes, that was painful.
Originally, I had an appointment back in February to see my geneticist for my routine 2 year follow-up appointment. Between my father's passing, and then my husband's grandfather's passing a mere 6 days later, that appointment was not to be. I rescheduled for the next earliest appointment, which was June 2. These appointments are terrible to try to reschedule, simply due to the long wait between appointments. After the hip dislocation, though, in retrospect, I think this was no coincidence that the appt was for that time.
As I was talking to the geneticist, Dr. Pamela Trepane, we came to the conclusion that it was probably for the best that I begin using a power chair. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Dr. Trepane sent a prescription for a power wheelchair to the disability clinic at the University of Iowa. 2 weeks later, I met with them, and was fit for the power chair. This all happened during a tornado warning. Since we were on the 3rd floor, I had to be escorted downstairs into a hallway that everyone else was crammed into. They gave me the choice between making the 300 mile round trip again another time, or finish the appointment there in the hallway. I chose the latter. While they were measuring me for the chair (and they don't miss a measurement, I'm here to tell you), my daughter that accompanied me on the trip made a sage (and LOUD) observation... "Mom, your hips are wider than your chest!" Thanks Sami, but I don't think they heard you in the back of the hallway.... wanna say that a little louder next time??? Anyway, the appointment was finished after they listed all the medical reasons that supported me using a powerchair. A representative from Keokuk Area Medical Equipment had met us there, so he promised to visit me in Canton soon.
A couple of weeks later, the representative from Keokuk Area Medical Equipment visited my home and made measurements of all the doorways in my home, and brought a chair to the house for me to try to drive around. I asked if he had received the written documents from the disability clinic yet, and he hadn't. The occupational therapist was out of the office for several days, so that was a 'first taste' of what learning to be patient thru this process really meant. July was now almost upon us. He received these about the 2nd week of July. I started panicking that the chair was going to be ordered soon, the deck with the wheelchair ramp was not going to be ready,and that we were unprepared for this. My husband purchased the materials for the deck, and he and several men from my church got the deck mostly constructed in a little over a day's time. We had a contractor frame a wheelchair ramp in after this proved to be a rather large challenge. Some men helped Marc with finishing the ramp. All that is left for that now is a few more balusters, but that is more aesthetics than anything. Anyway, I digress...
The representative from KAME called that 2nd week of July, and said that I had to make an appointment with one of my doctors at the University of Iowa for a face-to-face visit. This was to be done to show that the doctor and I agreed with the findings of the occupational therapist that wrote the papers at the disability clinic, and to agree with the prescribed need for a power chair from the original doctor. Medicare requirement. I was a little annoyed with this, especially since I had just been to the University of Iowa a few days before to consult my EDS doctor about a fireworks accident on the 4th of July that burned my arm and subluxed my shoulder. I'll get to that story in another post. However, I made the appointment, arrived, and Dr. Phillips had the letter of support for the chair ready for me before he walked into my room to even say hello.
I faxed this letter to KAME, who then contacted Dr. Phillips to tweak the letter a bit here or there. I don't know what all that was, since I never received a copy of the revised letter, nor have I asked for it. Everything then had to be submitted back to the original prescribing doctor, the very busy geneticist. By the time this got signed off and returned to KAME, it was late August. The entire medical process of getting the power chair had lasted from when my children got out of school on summer break, to when they returned to school for the new school year. It was finally ready to submit to the insurance company for pre-approval. Are you kidding me?! I wish I was.
Now, the insurance company received the entirety of the medical file on August 27th. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa had a goal to have a decision made within 15 days. As of September 7th, the power chair was medically approved!
I thought that this meant that the speed of this process was finally starting to pick up some steam. Well, maybe a little, but nothing is on order yet. We are figuring out how this will be hauled with the van (the chair is very heavy, and a standard hitch will not hold that much tongue weight of the chair plus the weight of the carrier itself). He also, as of yesterday, had to change the back of this chair to be able to fold down because of how tall this chair is. Since this is a costly addition, he is now contacting the insurance company again to try to find out how much they plan on paying for the pink powerchair. He also is trying to get BC/BS to pay for a seat elevator, which will raise and lower the seat a grand total of 7 inches to help with standing and also with reaching above my head to try to avoid shoulder dislocations.
I would love to hear from them today that the chair is actually being ordered. He said that once the wheelchair is ordered, he could possibly have it in in as little as 10 business days. After this whole process, I translate that to mean hopefully before the snow starts to fly. I really thought in the beginning of this process, that I would have the chair in July or August at the very latest. Now, I am a little more educated in this process.
Do I want the chair? Yes and no. I don't want it for all the obvious reasons. I do want it for what that chair can help me do, such as get around a school campus easier, go to Walmart without taking the chance of dislocating a wrist, shoulder, or finger, get out and have more freedom than I have with the manual chair. And... it's PINK. Come on, when isn't that a benefit? My own personal pink cadillac (actually an Invacare TDX SP)...
Now trying to take out a student loan to help pay for a carrier/hitch or whatever of some sort so that I can haul the chair. If I want to haul the chair on the outside of the van, I have to have a class 4 hitch on my Chevrolet Venture Van. I have a class 2... that won't work! The chair is 264 pounds (what every woman wants to hear... you're gonna gain 264 pounds very soon...), along with a carrier, which is approx 100 pounds... tongue weight for a class 2 is 350 pounds max. No insurance company will help pay for a way to haul the wheelchair. That falls into our hands to pay for out of pocket.
Well, that was part of what I did on my summer vacation! I will post about the firework incident later. I will be back with another post soon, I hope! Take care, and thanks for reading!