Paul's Update - 08/04/06

Dear Friends:

Thursday was another long & frustrating day for Paul, Dad & Tabby. Dad arrived early (4:30am) to find that Max was awake. Dad took him upstairs to watch him while Tabby & Paul slept. Paul was even more tired (if you can believe that!). He didn't even want to get out of bed. He was disagreeable and tired. He did allow Dora to put some medicine on his tongue, he seems to have some Thrush. Tabby spent most of the day on the phone calling Social Services, Medicaid, Insurance Companies, & Doctors. She has mostly gotten long waits and disappointing information. It appears that Medicaid is only going to cover a percentage of the costs that were approved for payment by her Primary Health Insurance carrier. And, by the way, the insurance is denying payment for the last visit to the hospital when Paul had his most recent seizure since "she didn't get prior approval"!!!!! Arghhh!!! She also found out that since Paul gets Social Security, Medicaid wants to recover more than half of that money to cover the medical expenses they have incurred for Paul. I don't really understand how or why they can do that! Tabby also figured out a budget that is significantly higher than her current income from all sources! You know ... when it rains ... it pours! Apparently Tabby is getting some call-backs from the places she has applied to for jobs. Nothing has come of it yet but at least she is getting feedback.

Friday was much the same. Paul didn't really want to get out of bed. Dad was able to encourage him to get out of bed and sit in the recliner. Paul seemed to enjoy that. He liked it so much that when Dad tried to get him to get in the bed for a while he had to promise to get him back in the recliner later before Paul would agree to it!! No word yet on the blood tests. Tabby did talk to the doctor about writing up something that says he believes Paul will never speak again. This is difficult to accept but it will enable her to collect from the Death & Disability Policy that she took out. It would be nice to see her get some money that she is entitled to and since speech loss is covered under this policy and it looks as if he won't get much of his speech (if any) they may pay her the benefit amount. She also is working on getting her severance pay from her job now that she is officially laid off. Saturday we will have a new nurse. He will be covering for Audrey who is doing her mandatory work at the hospital as part of her certification as a Nurses Aid. Dad & I will be there to help out since Tabby will be spending some much needed time with her parents.

Needless to say this week it has been difficult to stay optimistic and focused. We try to remember that God will provide for us somehow. It would be so much easier if we knew the end of this story ... but then we wouldn't need faith! Our God has been so good to us so far ... I know he has a plan and will walk with us through this. Thanks for your continued faith & prayer. We would be lost without our faith!!

Love & Hugs, Lynne & Carl

P.S. Here are some more pictures of Max ... :-) Are we proud of him ... uh ... YES!!