askye, the news about Jay is great! msbelle, I'm glad that Mac texted back.

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Cindy, I'm lost for words. How cruel this seems to be. I am so sorry for this.

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All the normal Israeli and Palestinian people who just want to live their lives in peace and freedom with dignity are at the mercy of systems and people who want to retain and/or gain power.

I don't know what normal Israel or normal Palestinian means, but I hope that we've come to a more pragmatic point where it's clear that the options are either to live together, or continue to occasionally kill one another for whatever reasons. Each perspective has a range: living together does not mean that there will be peace and justice for all, and continue to occasionally kill one another does not mean genocide to either side. But I hope that the distinction between "we have to live together" and "there will never be peace here, might as well declare a war" will be clearer. Enough is enough.

(My sister's car was hit yesterday by a piece of what was probably an anti ballistic missile when she was driving back from her work at the hospital, after she stopped during a siren (if you're driving, you're supposed to stop the car, get out, lay on the road and cover your head for a few minutes). She's fine, but it was scary).

Shir, how scary for your sister. It would be really nice if the powers that be decided killing each other wasn't the best plan.

I don't know what normal Israel or normal Palestinian means

When I used it, I only meant everyday people. I apologize for my awkward wording, Shir. I am so glad your sister is okay. That is so frightening. I'm sorry she went through it. Was her car badly damaged?

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We received a spot of good news. The hospital called and said, regardless of if we hear on our appeal or the doctor's Letter of Medical Necessity, and regardless of what we hear, the hospital is going ahead with C's infusion on Monday (with Remicade — the original med). Having the infusion Monday is important (he has one every 8 weeks and was supposed to have one yesterday). It gives the hospital and us more time to fight without giving his Crohn's more time to flare.

We are not to sign any waiver for it (i.e. we don't have to agree to pay if the insurance denies the claim). The hospital will continue to fight this, and will take it to state government review if need be. We still haven't heard from our insurance company case manager and neither has the nurse who called this morning (she's the clinical access manager).

DH works for the hospital. He heard from his employee benefits manager, and she said they'll press it from their side too. That means we're approaching them from three angles: as a patient/insurance subscriber (us); as a doctor/hospital; as a business that purchases group insurance from the insurer.

Hopefully, the vasculitis (which seems to be resolving) will not recur when we resume Remicade (he never had this problem when he was on it), but there are no guarantees. We could only single out the new med as the new variable, but that isn't the same thing as knowing it is at fault.

That sounds encouraging, Cindy.

will take it to state government review if need be

Glad to hear that. I hope it is not needed.

It's a win for the now, Laura, which I will take. I appreciate the breathing room, too. In January, when we ultimately caved to the insurance company, they pulled the whole denial of authorization at the 11th hour, too. They do it so you don't have time to mount a good appeal.

Glad to hear that. I hope it is not needed.

Me too, dcp. I told the nurse that my friend (that's you!) had sent me information on an external review and she said that's what the review board she mentioned involves. We don't want to escalate before we have to, though.

Should our appeal and the LOMN not be enough, I do think that the hospital is willing to put its money where its mouth is by floating this treatment will strengthen their argument that they believe this is the best med for C.

OMG, Cindy, what an emotional roller-coaster! Hopes & prayers that the evil insurance company will finally cave (and long-term, that our country will cease to be held hostage to these demonic, money-grubbing, M-Fers). And of course, that C will soon be feeling better.

Shir, I'm glad that you and yours are OK. Hope your sister won't have too many long-term effects from what must have been a seriously scary event. And that cooler heads will soon prevail in the whole situation.

msbelle, I'm glad Mac has made a small gesture. And hope he will continue (even if it's baby steps) to try to get his act together.

askye, your post with the good news about Jay didn't load before. That's wonderful.

Thanks, Epic. He feels pretty well, thank goodness.

When I used it, I only meant everyday people.

Thanks for clarifying (and hi, it's me with the English-as-a-second-language, so I thought I was missing something). I was really just wondering what normal means - I feel like there are so many kinds of normal, you know?

Also, lots of continued~ma for you son.

My sister's car is OK. Or at least, she could drive it after it got hit.

Hope your sister won't have too many long-term effects from what must have been a seriously scary event.

Similar things have happened to her twice already (a rocket once hit across the street from her, and another time there was some kind of a terror attack close to her - again, across the street). My sister was also a commander of observers' command center in the Field Intelligence Corps next to Gaza, so this is nothing compared to what she saw and did during her time in IDF. I suspect that the long term effects are from there. I know she's seeing a therapist on and off about it. I am still mad that IDF gave the combat soldiers some consoling to help them with their near-death experiences, but not to the non-combats who had their share of near-death experiences, just not on Gaza's sole.

And that cooler heads will soon prevail in the whole situation.

Amen, amen, amen. The older I get, I have less stomach for this. This has been going on for generations. Seriously, it's time for some reconciliation. We need to live together.

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Edited to add: on retrospect, I realize that the post above might have been a bit yicks!/heavy for read to some of you. For those, I can also tell that this morning I gifted my sister with a virtual adoption of this lovely being from Safe Haven for Donkeys (that's her birthday request). [link] I had the best time choosing a donkey for her (please note that there are upsetting stories about the history of some of these donkeys. They're all cute, though).

Timelies all!

Glad the hospital is working with you, Cindy, and C will get the medication that works for him.