Surgery Cancelled . . .

Matthew came down with a cold this week. It didn't seem too bad to us. A low grade fever, runny nose and a cough. Yesterday the fever started to go up so I called his pediatrician for an appointment. Matthew had an ear infection before we left for Disney World so I assumed it had returned.

His pediatrician checked his oxygen saturation and to our surprise it was in the low 70's. She then checked him over and said that his liver was enlarged. They did a chest x-ray and everything looked fine. The pediatrician then called Matthew's cardiologist and they decided to send me home with a pulse oximeter to check this oxygen levels at home with plans for me to call them with an update in the morning. Long story short, the medical supply store did not deliver the pulse oximeter. After multiple phone calls last night we found out that our insurance company approved it but the medical supply store would not accept the insurance's discounted rate. If we were to do a mail through the same company we could get it for $65 but if we were to buy it directly from the supply store it was $685.00. The insurance company said they would not pay that much so the medical supply store cancelled the doctor's order. No wonder we are having healthcare issues! I would be glad to go to Washington and explain what is wrong but that's my soapbox so I won't burden you guys with all of it. I could say so much more about our health insurance industry!

We went back to his pediatrician this morning and his oxygen saturation was in the low to mid 60's. Not a good thing. She also felt like he was bordering on dehydration and wanted to admit him but decided to send us to cardiology to let them make that decision.

We saw Dr. Hasselman and he felt Matthew was stable and the virus was not affecting his heart so we should take him home and keep a close eye on him. They offered to admit him if we were worried (we're always worried about Matthew) but he felt comfortable letting us go home if we felt comfortable taking him home. The PICU gave us a pulse oximeter to use so this made us even more comfortable. We are home resting but if there are any more drops in his levels or he quits drinking then the plan is to send us to the PICU for admission. Wow what a scare! These things seem to pop up out of nowhere. I was guessing an ear infection and a little antibiotic and we would be on our way but as always Matthew keeps us on our toes. Dr. Hasselman said we need to cancel his surgery which was schedule for July 7 and push it bank 2 weeks. They don't want to take any chances with his infection and they definitely don't want him going to surgery with oxygen levels in the 60's. We are rescheduled for July 21st so please pray that he heals by then and that all his levels are back to normal.

We will keep you updated as we go.