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j8ear · 05-13-2004, 03:31 PM

Quick update. Our daughter is one month old today and comes in at a whopping 1230 grams. Almost 2lbs 12ozs

She continues to progress and is being fed 5ml of breast milk per hour.

She has developed a quite serious Chronic Lung Disease. It is rather common and is a catch-22 caused by the oscillatory ventilator and the free radicals of oxygen she is served, both which she needs to continue 'gestating.'

She is also rather active and feisty, almost to her detriment, as she spends a lot of time fighting the machines keeping her going. This results in 02 desaturations, requiring MORE oxygen, etc....viscious circle kind of stuff.

Hence, she is also on a fentanyl drip to the tune of about 2ml per hour. This seems to calm her down quite a bit.

I am very encouraged by her agitation and consider it a sign of strength. The doctors on the other hand, consider it a burden and prefer her to be sedated, yet still think her strength in the long run will prove to be key to her survival.

I have run into a serious brick wall with my health insurance, as the neonatology department of my daughter’s hospital has been designated a 'non-participating provider.' This is a third, oft unmentioned classification of provider in addition to 'in-network' and 'out-of-network.' Both of which are 100 percent for these circumstances. The designation was made after the prenatal care began, but as you can imagine the health insurance contract has that little fine print which says, we can do what ever we want, for whatever reason we want, without explanation, and without notification, and should you challenge us, when you loose you will be required to pay for our over priced slick suit legal staff to do whatever we possibly can to smear and defame you, in what ever fashion we deem, to prevent you from winning in court. Typical. Any way...that's just a gnawing headache in the grand scheme of things.

We continue to take things day-by-day and test-by test.

I am thankful for many more successes then failures, and can't wait to hold my daughter for the first time.

best,

-bear

05-13-2004, 03:31 PM	#13 (permalink)
j8ear Gentlemen Farmer Location: Middle of nowhere, Jersey	Quick update. Our daughter is one month old today and comes in at a whopping 1230 grams. Almost 2lbs 12ozs She continues to progress and is being fed 5ml of breast milk per hour. She has developed a quite serious Chronic Lung Disease. It is rather common and is a catch-22 caused by the oscillatory ventilator and the free radicals of oxygen she is served, both which she needs to continue 'gestating.' She is also rather active and feisty, almost to her detriment, as she spends a lot of time fighting the machines keeping her going. This results in 02 desaturations, requiring MORE oxygen, etc....viscious circle kind of stuff. Hence, she is also on a fentanyl drip to the tune of about 2ml per hour. This seems to calm her down quite a bit. I am very encouraged by her agitation and consider it a sign of strength. The doctors on the other hand, consider it a burden and prefer her to be sedated, yet still think her strength in the long run will prove to be key to her survival. I have run into a serious brick wall with my health insurance, as the neonatology department of my daughter’s hospital has been designated a 'non-participating provider.' This is a third, oft unmentioned classification of provider in addition to 'in-network' and 'out-of-network.' Both of which are 100 percent for these circumstances. The designation was made after the prenatal care began, but as you can imagine the health insurance contract has that little fine print which says, we can do what ever we want, for whatever reason we want, without explanation, and without notification, and should you challenge us, when you loose you will be required to pay for our over priced slick suit legal staff to do whatever we possibly can to smear and defame you, in what ever fashion we deem, to prevent you from winning in court. Typical. Any way...that's just a gnawing headache in the grand scheme of things. We continue to take things day-by-day and test-by test. I am thankful for many more successes then failures, and can't wait to hold my daughter for the first time. best, -bear __________________ It's alot easier to ask for forgiveness then it is to ask for permission.