I don't even know where to start so I'm just going to type it out while it's fresh in my mind. I'm feeling a jumbled mess of emotions and worrying way in to the future, so I need to sort stuff out.
When Tomorrow had X-rays that showed her femurs were "lining up very well with lots and lots of new bone growth," I expected to be told what was the next step in her treatment plan, but instead was told, "So, we won't need to see her again!" I think my jaw not only hit the floor but actually went through it and fell all the way down to the basement which was three floors below.
- We had been told she may be in the body cast for up to three months (she was in it for a week).
- We were told that she'd be in the Pavlik harness for a couple of weeks (she was in it for one)
- We were told that when her bones were lined up better, they would most likely re-cast both legs (they didn't).
I've wondered all along if we were rushed through the whole Ortho process because Tomorrow is on Medicaid; and because for her first few appointments it was still pending, maybe they weren't sure if they would get paid anything at all for treating her. I have definitely felt that we weren't treated the way I would have been had I brought one of my boys in with our Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Plan (FEP) which pays for a great many things and quite nicely, too.
What haunts me is a kind of nonchalant comment that was made at the end of Tomorrow's last Ortho appointment. A doctor who is supervising (it's a teaching hospital) said that if Tomorrow wasn't on Medicaid, she probably would have had surgery and would have pins in her leg (the left femur which had the worst, spiral, fracture). And then in the next breath he said, "But Medicaid likes us to do things a certain way, and we don't like to do surgery on little ones if we can avoid it. Besides, she is healing as well as can be expected and probably won't have any long-term problems from her injuries."
Probably isn't good enough for me. I want to know for sure that her bones have healed as well as they possible could have and that there is nothing more that can be done for her in the future.
I want to know: Is Tomorrow getting less or "less than" health care because she is a foster child on Medicaid? -OR- Do children of parents with good insurance have surgeries that aren't needed? Goodness knows that was definitely the case with our first "born" child and my "Unnecessarean". {One time co-payment for maternity health (s)care: $10. Failed Induction with Cervadil and Pitocin: $1,000. Cesarean surgery two days later: $16,000. Male Genital Mutilation: $2,000. The American Way of Birth: Priceless.}
But alas, I digress...
Clearly, I'm confused about whether Tomorrow's prognosis was really good or they just aren't willing to do anything else for her. Maybe it's both. Maybe her outcome really is good. I don't know.
All I know for sure right now is:
1) I think we need to discuss this at our upcoming team meeting,
2) I still want her to keep going to Children's Hospital for continuity of care,
3) I see that I will need to be a vigilant advocate for her when it comes to health care, and
4) I want to have at least one more Ortho appointment *with* X-rays at Children's Hospital.
You'd think twenty-four broken bones would warrant twelve visits. If I were her doctor, I'd want to see her every month for a year. But then, I'd also want her to have physical therapy.
And it all comes back to the simple fact this is why we decided that we'd take her. We are giving her unconditional love...massage, physical therapy, and Reiki...safety and security... all for free.
Because healing shouldn't be contingent upon receipt of money, and love is free.
