Friday, February 6, 2009

Waiting.....

Today was supposed to be the arrival of a new continuous glucose monitor for my daughter.....the much-anticipated Abbott Navigator. I held out for the Navigator for a good long time, waiting for it to clear one hurdle after another at the FDA. We finally gave in when puberty really kicked in (and I wasn't getting any sleep with checking and correcting psychotic blood sugars) and bought another system out of pocket, to the tune of about $400 plus $240 a month for sensors. Didn't EVEN use them that often, but we did buy several different months' worth of them. Sadly, we found that it worked fairly well at times, and was really not very much help at others. It was put aside last summer and we haven't even looked at it since, because the last few tries were utter failures. At $60 a sensor, I wasn't willing to chance too many failures. :(

Last fall, I began the interminable process of getting authorization from my insurance company for the Navigator, which has been available on the US market for about a year. I have heard so many wonderful things from people whose kids were in the huge study of the device, and then more from those who have been able to get one after the release. Even though my insurance benefits would provide coverage for the Navigator at 100%, which is nearly unheard of, I had to find a Durable Medical supplier that was contracted with Blue Cross of Arizona - the network our school district uses, even though we are self-insured. We hit one brick wall after another; this company isn't contracted with them, that company is only contracted for pumps, not CGM. I had basically given up between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because all I got were "Nope, we can't do it" messages.

Then, out of the blue last Friday, I get a phone message from an angel named Stacy at our current DME supplier's office - they got the approval!!!! Woo HOO!!! After a few days of phone tag, I spoke to her on Wednesday and verified that we really *can* get it (even though Blue Cross of Arizona is kicking and screaming at covering CGMS, my insurer gave the OK). It was to be shipped out and arrive at my school today!



Except it didn't get here. :( Now I am spending the weekend wondering what happened and becoming ever so much more impatient.....waiting is SOOOOO not something I am good at doing. I know I should be happy and grateful that I even have a chance at having one of the best technologies available to help keep my daughter healthy - but I want it RIGHTNOWTHANKYOUVERYMUCH!!!! Did I say that I'm not good at waiting?

1 comment:

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