Saturday, September 30, 2006
It's All ABout Amy #1
Some of you know that Amy, my wife, has had some health difficulties, recently. My posts tonight, are a a short, and incomplete, version of everything up to this point.
We are lucky.
Frankly, if I had pursued the carreer that I originally envisioned after college, there would be no way that we could begin to afford the level of health care that she is now receiving, or will shortly receive.
The three medications that the neurologist is recommending for consideration run from $16,000 to $22,000 a year.
As it is, the Army is picking up the ENTIRE tab.
Not only that, I am VERY fortunate in my new unit. Every time that Amy has had an appointment with a doctor ... or more involved things, there has been no discussion. I mention to my First Sergeant the words "wife", "MS", and "appointment", and his response is that my "place of duty" is with my wife at the hospital.
I need to back track for a second here.
That last bit sounds much worse than it actually is. All of the doctor's office's that I will ever (or Amy for that matter) are in the hospital. If I have to go to "sick call" for a cold, or if one of us has to have major surgery, and everything in between, it involves going to the hospital. If one of us has to get a refill on a prescription, we have to go to the hospital. To rephrase it, our "local, family doctor's" offices, the local pharmacy, and the offices of any and all specialists that we might need to see are in the hospital. So, "going to the hospital" is not quite the same thing for us as it is for you.
Back to the point, my new chain of command has been INCREDIBLY supportive of me being there for every one of Amy's appointments.
On the part of the hospital, they are being helpful, informative, friendly, and thorough. I, really, cannot say enough about the people that we have dealt with at Madigan.
Anyway, what follows is a chronology of what has goen one with Amy over the last few months. As we learn more, or more happens, you will be able to read it here.
We are lucky.
Frankly, if I had pursued the carreer that I originally envisioned after college, there would be no way that we could begin to afford the level of health care that she is now receiving, or will shortly receive.
The three medications that the neurologist is recommending for consideration run from $16,000 to $22,000 a year.
As it is, the Army is picking up the ENTIRE tab.
Not only that, I am VERY fortunate in my new unit. Every time that Amy has had an appointment with a doctor ... or more involved things, there has been no discussion. I mention to my First Sergeant the words "wife", "MS", and "appointment", and his response is that my "place of duty" is with my wife at the hospital.
I need to back track for a second here.
That last bit sounds much worse than it actually is. All of the doctor's office's that I will ever (or Amy for that matter) are in the hospital. If I have to go to "sick call" for a cold, or if one of us has to have major surgery, and everything in between, it involves going to the hospital. If one of us has to get a refill on a prescription, we have to go to the hospital. To rephrase it, our "local, family doctor's" offices, the local pharmacy, and the offices of any and all specialists that we might need to see are in the hospital. So, "going to the hospital" is not quite the same thing for us as it is for you.
Back to the point, my new chain of command has been INCREDIBLY supportive of me being there for every one of Amy's appointments.
On the part of the hospital, they are being helpful, informative, friendly, and thorough. I, really, cannot say enough about the people that we have dealt with at Madigan.
Anyway, what follows is a chronology of what has goen one with Amy over the last few months. As we learn more, or more happens, you will be able to read it here.
