Did I Mention Someone Had a Birthday?

Health Care Reform and Helping Rush Limbaugh Pack for His Move to Costa Rica

I can't decide which makes me happier, the changes to our broken health care system which will provide Eliza with health insurance no matter her endless list of "pre-existing conditions" and general uninsurability, or the prospect of Rush Limbaugh carrying out his "threat" to move to Costa Rica should Health Care Reform pass.

Here are some of my favorite highlights of the new bill, my particular favorites are in bold:

Ends rescission of coverage when you fall ill

No discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions

Bans lifetime limits on coverage

Bans restrictive annual limits on coverage

Small business tax credits

Begins to close the Medicare Part D "donut hole"

Free preventive care under Medicare

Help for early retirees

Dr. Arnall Patz

Dr. Arnall Patz, a pioneer in determining the causes of retrolental fibroplasia (now called retinopathy of prematurity) and reducing the risks of blindness to premature infants, passed away this week.

I will be forever grateful to doctors and researchers like Dr. Patz, who I will never meet nor even know of, but who made wonderful contributions to neonatology and whose work had a significant impact on Eliza's outcome.

Thanks Dr. Patz.

Just When I Thought It Was Safe....

.... this man



or one of his fawning minions decides once again not to pay for Eliza's formula. Who is this concerned looked gentleman? Why none other than Stephen Hemsley, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, parent to UnitedHealth Care and Oxford.

Really I thought I would make it at least through the first quarter of 2010 without having to rant and rave about the deplorable state of health insurance in America. Since there are TWO refills left on Eliza's formula prescription (which would cover another 2 months) I really figured that this would be a dead topic till well past Easter. But no. I tried to refill Eliza's formula with the truly lovely people at www.cvs.com and they tell me the claim was rejected because: "UnitedHealth Care Oxford won't pay for anymore formula." Even the pharmacist at CVS thought this was a pretty suspect reason, especially since UnitedHealth Care Oxford had already precertified two more months of formula.

Of course by the time I hear all this the customer service people had long gone home, so the battle will begin anew tomorrow.

In case anyone is wondering, Mr. Hemsley (a Fordham University alum, class of '74) could probably pay for his own kid's medically necessary formula since his 2009 compensation was about $3.2 million with a 401(k) Plan of about $10.7 million. Probably wouldn't notice a few thousand missing shekels.

I Really Wonder Sometimes What Eliza is Thinking.

Creative Begging... ummm ... Fund Raising

I am sure there are very few people left in the Western Hemisphere who don't know that Eliza and I are walking in the March for Babies this year to raise money for the March of Dimes.

I could give you a long drawn out speech about the research the March of Dimes has funded and how it helped Eliza survive. But I'll just beg/fund raise in pictures:

Preemie lungs look like the bottom left picture compared to full term lungs seen in the bottom right picture:



In order to work (a/k/a "breathe" even with a ventilator) they need something called surfactant. Full term babies make surfactant on their own. Surfactant helps a baby's alveoli to open and stay open (a/k/a "breathe"). Babies born at an early gestation need artificial surfactant since their bodies are too young to make it on their own:



Thanks to research funded by the March of Dimes, some really smarty pants folks figured out how to make artificial surfactant. It is admittedly made from some very unappetizing things:

Curosurf is produced from minced pig lungs; Alveofact is a compound obtained from bovine lung lavage and Survanta is prepared with minced bovine lungs. (Right about now I am hoping that you are so thankful I haven't posted any photos of those images that you are reaching into your wallet).

Surfactant allows a little one pound girl who looked like this struggling to survive:



To grow into this happy little girl four years later:



So what do you day, how about donating a buck or two to Eliza Grace's March for Babies?

Creative Begging... ummm ... Fund Raising

I am sure there are very few people left in the Western Hemisphere who don't know that Eliza and I are walking in the March for Babies this year to raise money for the March of Dimes.

I could give you a long drawn out speech about the research the March of Dimes has funded and how it helped Eliza survive. But I'll just beg/fund raise in pictures:

Preemie lungs look like the bottom left picture compared to full term lungs seen in the bottom right picture:



In order to work (a/k/a "breathe" even with a ventilator) they need something called surfactant. Full term babies make surfactant on their own. Surfactant helps a baby's alveoli to open and stay open (a/k/a "breathe"). Babies born at an early gestation need artificial surfactant since their bodies are too young to make it on their own:



Thanks to research funded by the March of Dimes, some really smarty pants folks figured out how to make artificial surfactant. It is admittedly made from some very unappetizing things:

Curosurf is produced from minced pig lungs; Alveofact is a compound obtained from bovine lung lavage and Survanta is prepared with minced bovine lungs. (Right about now I am hoping that you are so thankful I haven't posted any photos of those images that you are reaching into your wallet).

Surfactant allows a little one pound girl who looked like this struggling to survive:



To grow into this happy little girl four years later:



So what do you day, how about donating a buck or two to Eliza Grace's March for Babies?

"Severe." Kind of Harsh, No?

Another evaluator has waltzed into our lives and tangoed her way out just as quickly (which I expected since I knew she was only going to evaluate Eliza's feeding skills). Lovely woman, seemed to be quite knowledgeable. In her wake is a tidy report summing up the state of Eliza's feeding. Of course the only word I see on the whole flipping page is "severe." Severe dysphagia, a very fancy way of saying "can't chew or swallow".

Now lest you think I hadn't notice this little problem before, you need only read about a third of my blog posts since Eliza's not eating is an endless source of angst for me. Eliza's dysphagia in the oral phase of eating has gone from mild to moderate to severe. Not that it has gotten any worse by objective standards, but the peers to whom Eliza is compared have moved waaaayyyy beyond being able to eat a cheese puff. So were I to compare her to, oh say a 6 month old, Eliza's dysphagia would be mild at worst. Not so when compared to even a 3 year old! The comparison to even the most inept 3 year old nosher puts Eliza in the "severe" category.

Uggh. I don't like "severe." Nope.

Oh, and to the next person who witnesses Eliza eat said cheese puff and says to me "but she eats," I will be forced to smite you. :)