« 9/20/05 | Main | 9/22/05 »

9/21/05

10:20 PM Today is the eight-month anniversary of Sophie's diagnosis. Just out of curiosity, I went through all of the claims against our insurance company for Sophie's treatments to see how much it has cost to treat Sophie these past eight months. Mind you, this dollar amount does not consider pharmacy co-pays, travel to and from the hospital and/or the clinic, or the lost earnings because of Susan taking Family Medical Leave (and whatever other incidentals that we have come across). The grand total (and still counting) is $173,670.35. Basically that amounts to over $700 a day. We are incredibly, incredibly thankful for the terrific insurance coverage that we have, but can you possibly imagine how families manage without the kind of coverage that we have, or, worse yet, without any coverage at all? Granted, you cannot put a price on having a healthy, thriving child, but I fear for those who have to make tough decisions that we have never had to make in this process. There is no wonder that an experience like this can devastate families financially for years and years and years.

Sophie seems to be doing well today in spite of the long day and resumption of treatment yesterday. Her appetite seems a little bit suppressed, which we'll need to watch since she is prone to low blood sugar. There has been no nausea today at all, nor has she seemed especially tired, although she went to bed pretty quickly tonight. I feel very optimistic about these next three weeks. I hope I'm not being overly optimistic. Granted, if we hit a bump in the road, we'll ride it out like all others.

Elisabeth had a terrific time on her field trip. They went crabbing and digging for clams (among other things) and spent time at the aquarium down at Carolina Beach. Elisabeth said the best part was catching crabs--she and her partner (they had to work in teams) caught the biggest one!

Comments

Good for Elizabeth!!! Great teamwork. Glad she was well enough to enjoy her trip. I am so happy to hear Sophie is not feeling bad from her treatment. It is unbelievable what medical costs are, sometimes overwhelming, but somehow we make it through. Thank goodness for such a wonderful facility like UNC Children's Hospital being close by as many families have to travel out of state for such treatment. Hope Susan is feeling better. We continue to keep everyone in our thoughts and prayers. Tell Sophie hi from Sara Katherine. She loves to look at the pictures of Sophie on the computer.

Annette Sills