Saturday, March 10, 2012

Lowest Medical Expenses in 10 years!


As you know, Dear Son was a very sick young man for many years. Over the past ten years, he's been transported by helicopter nearly ten times, had multiple hospital admissions, had two MRSA pneumonias, countless bacterial aspiration pneumonias and viral pneumonias, the H1N1 virus as well as a few surgeries: had a gtube implanted, a Vagus Nerve Stimulator implanted, a Vagus Nerve Stimulator replaced (battery depleted and they replace it with a new model) and a lot of other unfortunate medical issues. He was also diagnosed with a progressive neurological disease one top of everything else. In 2009, several physicians at Big Academic Medical Center told me they didn't think they could save him anymore if he got pneumonia and that he would most likely die from it. He had multiple lung collapses and had been placed on a ventilator several times in the past few years with his bouts of pneumonia. They recommended palliative and hospice care during different admissions.
In 2010, I discovered Now Foods Organic Virgin Coconut Oil and I was able to stop all pneumonias from that point on. He has not had any admissions for pneumonia since September of 2010 and in a few days, it will be 18 months since he has had a hospitalization for pneumonia. On top of that, I started a blenderized diet for him on December 20th of 2011.
Last year, he had medical expenses that were much lower than previous years. In fact, his billed charges were well under six figures. I thought it might be fun to go back and check previous years. I keep spreadsheets by year and discovered that Dear Son's medical expenses were the lowest in ten years. Our highest year was 2009 with multiple admissions including the H1N1/viral pneumonia and the second was in 2006 with two MRSA pneumonias. These are billed charges of course which is prior to medical discounts. (And yes, these were covered by several insurance plans.) This year we hope for more of the same and hope our medical expenses will be even lower.
While I think most people know that nutrition is important for good health, I don't think most people understand how difficult it is to get a chronically ill person back to good health. It's certainly not easy. People are beginning to notice that Dear Son is really different now-he's more alert, engaging in more activities, not sleeping as much and just enjoying life more. At home, he's so much fun now that he feels better.
The other plus is that we need less formula which means our medical expenses will continue to decline. We are down from some 6-8 cases a month to two. I still haven't converted breakfast from formula to a blenderized diet but it will happen. Right now, I am still tweaking his diet and putting into action some items the nutritionist suggested.
On other news, this weekend I took some pictures of my desk/table that I painted. It turned out great and looks fabulous. I hope to post those in a few days.

Saturday, March 03, 2012

I wanted to share some pictures of Dear Son. We went to the opthalmologist a little over a week ago for a follow up visit and some lab work. We were at Big Academic Medical Center for several hours. During that time, I couldn't help but notice how different he is versus a few years ago. He was happy, holding his head up, sitting up straight in his wheelchair and looking around. He had a grand time watching everyone. By the time I realized how good he looked, I tried taking some pictures with my camera phone but by then, his eyes were dilated and they weren't as good. Since I've been blogging for six years and taking so many photos of him, I can't help but notice how different he looks now that he is well. The real food blenderized diet is working so well. He just looks better. It's as if a veil has been lifted and now that all of the sickness is gone, he can just be himself.
I took these photos at 7 a.m., right before he went down on the bus. I asked him to smile and he was all smiles for the camera. His one on one aide at school said he smiles from the minute he gets there until the moment he comes home.
You can see he still has some strabimus however we won't be during surgery for that any time soon. He had strabimus on his one eye when he was ten or so however since he's a high surgical risk, we won't be doing the other eye any time soon.
We met with the nutritionist last week that specializes in blenderized diets. Nothing really new; it appears I have been doing a stellar job. His calories, water and his weight are all appropriate for his height. She had some minor tweaks that I'll incorporate but overall, things are going well.

Have a wonderful weekend.
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