Thursday, January 31, 2008

Let's Get This Party Started

For those of you who have been long-time readers of Fertility Lost, you may have noticed that I'm trying to update the look of the blog and add a few new elements. (Please take my survey in the side bar!)I totally screwed up my blogroll and still have to redo it, so please bare with me. I'll never have a fancy site. Knowing this, I realized I need to get off my butt and write or give this up all together. No one likes a stale blog, right?

So here it is, folks. My attempt to renew my blog. I hope I still have some readers left out there and I hope maybe I'll pick up some new ones. My focus: parenting twins after infertility, with a few diatribes about post-partum depression, post tramautic stress, HE.LLP syndrome, having an au pair, and other things that go bump in the night. Throw in a few photos of some deliciously adorable twin babies, a documentary about my efforts to get my much-needed abdominal surgery covered by insurance, and some bad in-law stories, and I think we'll have a blog worth visiting again.

So, what's new, you ask? Here it is in a nutshell:

My therpaist has pronounced me over my post traumatic stress syndrome and post-partum depression. Hooray! Life is good, no? Well, my big lesson in therapy is that life is still going to be pretty crappy sometimes and that's okay. What matters is how I handle it. And indeed, life is still crappy a lot of the time, as you will see in Exhibit B...

My battle with my health insurance rages on, as three separate doctors have written strongly worded letters expressing the medical necessity of my abdominoplasty. So far, these letters have done nothing but produce more denial letters from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. That's right, I'm calling you out by name, BCBSIL! As I continue to walk around each day with my intestines and internal organs unprotected by any muscle tissue, I get angrier and angrier. Look soon for a You Tube video showing the world how I can watch my intestines moving right beneath my skin. I'm hoping some word of mouth about my condition will get me some much needed attention. My docs have suggested I take my story to the media. So blogger friends, I may be enlisting your help to spread my story and outrage over this lack of attention to what is a very serious medical condition. I'm awaiting word on my appeal right now. If it's unfavorable, I'm taking the next step to get some help.

My babies are fabulous. I am absolutely in love with them. They make the health insurance battle and the abdominal pain I'm experiencing bearable. Baby A pulls up now and has two teeth. Baby B has a passion for solid food and is crawling on his knees. They are truly the light of my life and have made this whole experience worth all the pain and misery. I couldn't have said that a few months ago. I'm finally seeing the light after a very difficult recovery. Much more on the babies in posts to come. I just don't know where to start.

10 comments:

Flmgodog said...

So glad to hear you are doing better. I so wish that BCBSI would wake up and see that you have a real problem that they need to help with. It's so wrong!!!!

Yeah for the babies and all that they are doing!!!

hope548 said...

Welcome back! I'm so happy for your recovery, and if you come up with some way to help in the surgery fight, I'll do my best to join the effort!
Take care!

Anonymous said...

So glad to see you back!I haven't commented often, but read you all the time. By the way, I work in public relations and would be HAPPY to help you get your story to the media. Is there an "on your side" or "consumer watchdog" television reporter your area? That's where I would start. Your story sounds pretty visual, what with the rumbling tummy, cute twins, etc,. and media loves that stuff. Let me know if you want my help.

Emmie said...

Jeannine,

I would totally love your help. That would be awesome. I think the blog community holds a lot of power by bringing people together like this.

I live in Maryland, but my insurance is based in Illinois. I'm not sure how that will affect my strategy with reaching the news outlets...do I try to get some air time in Illinois or can I start from where I'm based? Anyhow, I'm going to wait until I get the response to my appeal before I launch a full attack, but I'd love to discuss a strategy with you. Please e-mail me at fertilitylost@yahoo.com and I can give you more details.

Thanks so much!!!!
Emmie

Anonymous said...

Emmie - It's Lisa. Beautiful posting. I'm psyched for you at how far you've come. And you go girl, don't let the insurance get away with this. For whatever it's worth, I worked in compliance/legal, most recently as Director of Regulatory Affairs, for many years. I'd be happy to do what I can to further your cause by spreading your story. It is downright egregious what you're going thru on top of what you went thru! sheesh.
Keep at it and can't wait to read more about your boys. They sound fabulous! Warm hugs, Lisa

GLouise said...

I used to be in PR as well!! I'd be happy to help...but one word of caution....

Only use the media as your last resort though....
Once you are 100% sure insurance won't come through for ya. Cuz once they get burned by a bad media story they are more likely to clamp down and stick with their original position.

Is there any way you could write to the CEO of BCBS Illinois?? Carbon copy their corporate comms office. Even though he/she is likely to have someone filtering those letters on their behalf, sending a photo about your story could help. Also send an email. If you need help figuring out who those people are, let me know, I can probably find out.

Also-do a little web research on how other people have gotten BCBS to pay for things originally denied.

I'll see if I can come up with any other ideas.

Hopeful Mother said...

Emmie, great to hear from you again!

I can't believe your insurance company is being such #$&*#$ (OK, I can believe it, but it makes me mad!) I hope you are able to generate some bad press on their behalf and get something going.

Looking forward to reading more posts from you soon - but I can relate - I'm lucky to get one post in a month.

Unknown said...

Your blog looks so pretty! I also recently tried to jazz mine up (and am also constrained by my computer skills) as I try to figure out what it is now and what it will become.

Your insurance situation is HORRIBLE. If you aren't getting results, you should go to the media. Good god - after all that you've been through. It's not like you're looking for a cosmetic tummy tuck, for f---'s sake.

But I am so glad to hear that you're doing better, overall. And blogging again - yay!

Sunny said...

Your blog is looking good!

Anonymous said...

To answer your other question, you would want to contact your local media, even if your insurance carrier is out of state. Happy to help when you are ready!