Plagiocephaly, Cranial Bands and Insurance

Maverick developed a condition in utero called Torticollis. Because of this, he then developed Plagiocephaly that got worse after he was born from his neck always being turned to one side. When he was 4 months old, we were told he needed to wear a "helmet", or technically, a cranial band, to help improve the assymetry of his head. We were sent to Cranial Technologies to get a Doc Band. These people have been awesome and we're so grateful for them!




Last thursday Mav got his Doc Band off after wearing it for 3 1/2 months. He had significant improvements and we were told he went from having a severe plus plus head shape to a moderate/severe headshape. It was also recommended that he get a 2nd Doc Band. We of course want the very best outcome for our little man, but here's the kicker. We were told when we got his first band that almost in every case, insurance, no matter what insurance you have, will not cover it. We were so fortunate, or so we thought, that Tricare agreed to pay for the whole band!! It wasn't until a couple weeks ago I got a call from our insurance coordinator at Cranial Technologies telling me that Tricare still has not payed them and that she found out that it was the WRONG Tricare (West instead of South) that had agreed to paying for it. We will not know for another couple of weeks if South agrees to pay for it, but most likely they will not and then we will have to work on our appeal since it wasn't our fault that we didn't know it was the wrong insurance who had agreed to pay for it in the first place! Meanwhile, I found out yesterday that Tricare South denied our request to pay for his 2nd band. Unfortunatly, that means paying $2500 out of pocket, and if they don't agree to pay for the first one, that will be $5000. Although I am so glad they have covered what they have for all of Maverick's other healthcare costs, I find it unacceptable that insurances typically refuse to cover these bands unless it's post-surgical. And even though $2500 is a lot, that is with a military discount. The regular amount for civilians is around $3800. There are many many twins out there who require these bands due to conditions that happened while in utero (just like Mav) so those poor families are left with over $7000 worth of bills just for the first bands and over $15,000 if they need 2nd bands. This is completely rediculous and unacceptable in my humble opinion. I think insurance companies need to be a little more educated on this subject! We're not wanting our kids to wear these "helmets" so they look cool and we get tons of stares from people wondering what's wrong with them! John and I were told by the neurosurgeon that prescribed Mav's first band that if he did not have this, he could and would probably end up having a life-threatening surgery later in life that Tricare would have to pay for. So...does this even make sense to not pay for it NOW?? No it does not! Anyway, just thought I would do my part in Plagiocephaly awareness and in the mean time I will pray that one day the insurance big wigs will educate themselves and be on board with this. Thank you Dr. Klugh and thank you Cranial Technologies for caring about Mav and helping him have the best outcome possible!

(I wish I could figure out how to upload his before and after pics but I can't at this time)

"Blessings"

I don't think I'll say much about this song and just let it speak for itself. The very first time I heard this was on the drive to church on a Sunday morning shortly after moving here, right after John left, and when I was just beginning the daunting task of coordinating with insurance and doctors and just desperate for answers for my baby boy. It was perfect timing. Even listening to it this morning had me in tears all over again. I hope it blesses you as well....

"Blessings" by Laura Story

I'm back....for real this time!

Well friends...I'm back! I see that it's been almost 8 months since my last post and that was just a video of Z Bug. Wow has he changed in 8 months!! Getting back to the blogging world is something I've been contemplating for quite a while. I'm such a private person and tend to keep things all to myself except for a few close friends and family members. But, I don't journal and I feel like this is such a great way to record life and be able to look back at everything. So I decided to give it another go around. I even thought about creating a whole new blog and even took the steps in doing so, but decided to stay here after all. I also decided to keep the title "Island" of love life and learning. Our little island of Okinawa is where our family pretty much began and I'd like to remember it that way. I have so many things I feel like I need to catch everyone up on but that will come in future posts. I won't try to fill in all the missing gaps at one time, so if you're reading a post and are completely lost about something, feel free to comment and ask any questions you want. Our life is crazy complicated to try to keep up with. ;)

For those of you who don't know, I am currently living in Dallas, Texas with Izaak and Maverick while John is finishing up his tour in Okinawa. We are here due to Maverick's health issues and have been apart from John for 4 months. He will finally be coming home next month!! In fact, I'm actually getting ready to go see him 4 weeks from today! I don't remember something I've ever been so excited about in my life I don't think. I left there not knowing I wasn't going to be going back to say goodbye. It's so emotional for me every time I think of Okinawa. There my home still is with all my things in it. There are the friends I left, some of which I know I'll never see again. There John and I lived the longest together. There our 2 precious boys were born. I very much consider that my home and our beginning. I will forever hold a special place in my heart for Okinawa; my Okinawa. My husband laughs at me when I remember the place with such fondness because he likes to bring up the times I cried and complained and wanted to "go home" so badly. I'm not saying that every single day there was a bed of roses. I definitely went through some cabin fever and rough times. But overall, I'm so happy that I got the amazing opportunity to live there, and I hope that one day we can be stationed there again.

Well I guess that's all for this time. I'm actually really looking forward to making frequent posts here now and I'm glad that I'll have an outlet for stories, pictures, memories, and whatever is on my heart. Thanks for following! :)

Video Update

Long Time No Blog

My apologies for taking almost a MONTH to make a post on here. We were busy with the move and then I was so exhausted from the move to do anything and then I just got lazy! Haha. So for a quick catch up of what's been going on.

We've been in our new house for 3 weeks now. We really like it and it was worth all the hassle it took to get here. There's much more room for our family and we are really enjoying the extra bathroom AND dining table!! We hadn't had a table since we moved here a year and a half ago so it's been great! I will post pics at the end of this post. A warning to you though, the house is not done yet! Still furniture arrangements to be made, new bedding to be ordered, and rooms to be painted, etc. And I certainly didn't clean up before taking these pics. hehe.

We had our 20 week ultrasound last week and found out that we will be having another little BOY! We are very excited and currently working on a name for him. Unfortunately, they gave us very lame pictures from the ultrasound and those 3 lame pictures that we did get, got messed up by the faulty printer and have squiggly rainbow lines all over them. I was NOT happy. We didn't even get a picture of the proof of boy parts! Well at least I am even more excited now about getting our 3D ultrasound while we're in Dallas. We better get some good shots then!

This past Saturday, Izaak and I attempted to hop a Space A flight from here to Seattle. We got up at 2 am and arrived at the Air Force base airport at about 3:30. We had to wait until almost 6:30 before finding out that we were not able to get seats on that flight. I was definitely bummed out, but was going to attempt taking a C5 later that day going to CA. Turns out that flight was delayed until the next morning. To make a really long story shorter, I was not guaranteed seats on that flight either, it was going to Hawaii first and we had no idea how long we would be there. Could have been hours, could have been days. Then we would have had to go through the same ordeal there trying to get on the plane to CA. It was just too stressful for me and I decided not to attempt it. Good thing because I found out later that there's no way I would have made it on that one either. So now we're looking at just buying tickets for both of us to leave out of Naha airport this Saturday. So *hopefully* I will be in Dallas this weekend! Which means I will still have a total of 3 weeks in Dallas which is great!

Well that's pretty much a brief summary of what's been going on in our lives recently. Here are some pics!

Looking into our kitchen from the dining/living room
And this is looking into if from the hallway coming in from the front door
Looking into the dining room from the kitchen
Living room
Our very messy and not finished bedroom

Master bath. Ahh I love saying that!
Oh and here's a pic of our FIRST meal at our wonderful table!
P.S. I didn't add pics of the boys rooms because there's not much to see. The baby's room has a changing table, dresser and suitcases in it right now. And Izaak's room has a crib and toys scattered everywhere! Don't worry, I will make a post after I finish their rooms........someday. :)

HOORAY!

We're getting the keys to our new house on FRIDAY!!! Then we have 1 week to be out of this house. I already have babysitters lined up and I am ready to go!!

Our New Home!

Ok well you wanna hear another doozy of a story? So yesterday John talked to the housing lady again and she told him that our 1st housing option (see previous post) is getting ready to be renovated and we'd have to move out of it in January anyway. ......I don't even know what to say except WHY would that even be one of our offers?? You people just don't make sense! But I don't know why I still get upset and say, "That's RIDICULOUS!", because it's the military and after 5 years I should be used to this! Haha. Anywho...John went ahead and accepted offer #2 even though we hadn't seen it because, well, it just makes sense since we only get 2 offers! So we got to go see it this morning and oh boy was I happy! Newer, nicer, cleaner, and guess what?? They're putting in BRAND NEW CARPET!! I was just thrilled! I was excited to be getting carpet anyway but in the back of my mind I kept thinking about all those other peoples dirt and germs that I just wouldn't be able to suck up with a regular vacuum and that my babies would be crawling around on it all the time. But I wasn't complaining! It was just an extra blessing that I found out about this morning so praise God! Now if I could put in a request I'd ask that the new carpet not be blue but ya know...even if it's purple I'll make it work! Izaak and I are going to the hardware store today to look at paint samples. I'm excited!! Our housing appointment is set for Tuesday and I believe what they're saying right now is that the house won't be ready for move in until May 3rd (which is only 10 days away) but I'm kinda hoping it's no later than that so we can get moved and unpacked as much as possible before Z and I head to the states for 6 weeks. I seriously doubt I will get any painting done before then but seeing as how we're only allowed to have 4 gallons of paint every 90 days, I figured I'd go ahead and get what I know I want now so that by the time I'm ready to paint Izaak and baby M's rooms, I'll be eligible for more paint. LOL. Oh the life! I was able to take a few pictures but there were about 10 Japanese men who didn't speak English in there doing repairs and whatnot and I guess they never figured out that we're the new family coming to look at our new house because they were giving us awfully weird looks the whole time. Most of them were in the kitchen and living room so I didn't get any pics of in there but TRUST ME it's much better than the last house! Oh and someone was in the master bath so didn't get to see that either. But don't worry, I will be taking lots of pictures of the move!! I can't wait!!


The outside of the tower. Looks pretty much exactly like the one we live in right now. I labeled our balcony and the baby's window if you can see it in this pic. The only downside I would have to say about this apartment is that the balcony is directly above the trash room. So I'm hoping that I can still open the doors and not smell yucky trash. Also, that's where people go in and out of the tower so I'm hoping it won't be too loud.

Welcome to our new house!

Nice laundry room directly on the left when you walk in the front door. I'm so excited that I get to do laundry when the kids are sleeping now!! (Our current laundry room is right outside of Izaak's bedroom). But I'm also just so thankful that the washer and dryer aren't in the kitchen!
The view from the dining room balcony.

The guest bath. SO much nicer than the other place!
Nice hall closets.
Baby M's room is the first one on the right.
Izaak's room is the 2nd bedroom on the right and is slightly bigger than the baby's room.
Me and John's room and look! We get 2 closets!!
And we get a nice big storage room in the hall with shelves. The place we're in now has a storage room (without shelves) and we have definitely put it to use! The 1st place we were offered did not have a storage room so I'm not sure what we would have done!
And here is Z Bug making a mess of his on the go-in the car-broken up pancake in a snack bowl breakfast after we went to see our new house! :)

And to end my happy story, I thought I'd share a poem I just read this morning that TOTALLY fits my life right now. I really like it.

"Dandelion you're like me, set adrift to ride the breeze
Drifting here and settling there, to grow as if you have no care
Only those like you will know, the sudden rush to rise and go
On any ground, you will abide and you never do decide
Flying with no tie that binds, always leaving friends behind
Trying not to show you mind; dandelion I'm like you
I put down roots that have no glue, so I'll move somewhere new."