E - EUS block?'s; Others - Medicaid ?'s

[Guest guest]

Dear Ellen,

I haven't heard you mention how the newest block was working, or if it

is... I'm sure you've posted, but I've somehow missed it, and would like to

know.

You've mentioned that there were only five GI's performing them, I

believe. Can you tell me what cities they are in, or which one would be the

closest or most direct to Kansas City?

Also, for someone who's not had one before and who's not begun the

process at all, can you give me an idea how long it might take for the

process to happen... Insurance, GI, any tests and off to the doctor I go...

Does that process take a couple weeks, a couple months, or several?

I know you're a big fan of having folks do all the legwork they can

before asking, and I'm all for that... But this is the type of question

Google has trouble pinpointing, if ya' know what I mean.

Hell, I spent 2 hours today trying to find out if I would qualify for

Medicaid or not, and got so much conflicting information from so many sites

that I am more confused now than when I started, and I still have no idea if

I qualify or not.

Still not knowing whether or not I'll have any type of insurance coverage

or not in less than two months is scaring the you-know-what outta' me. I'm

trying to exercise faith as much as possible, but I also realize that the

footwork is mine. And of course I hate footwork. Haha.

SO anybody out there with really good understanding of Medicaid and how

it works, please contact me!!

And E, if you can give me a general idea about the timeframe mentioned

above, I'd be most grateful for that as well. As you can probably discern,

I'm trying to see if I can get the (proper kind of) block performed and

completed by the end of February, starting from ground zero. Any help is,

again, very much appreciated.

Sigh. Time to breath. And eat. has been cooking... He just

opened the oven door, and clear across the house, I can smell that turkey

breast... MMMMmmm.... My favorite... Next to the mashed potatoes, of course.

I'm gonna' eat today! I'm gonna' eat today! I'm gonna' eat today!

WooHoo!!!

Peace and Love and Gratitude,

Terry in KC

<< You're right in that the EUS blocks are done only by GI doctors.

I've only had that kind. My eleventh was just two weeks ago. >>

[Guest guest]

Terry:

For whatever reason, I just sent through an episode of pancreatitis. I

managed to ride it out at home.

My pain level has lessened a bit thus far. But as I have explained, it can

take up to a month for it to kick in IF it works at all.

And I didn't want instant relief because that usually doesn't last very long.

Here's that list of doctors and hospitals again:

Brugge

Mass General

Boston, MA

Lok Tio (he has very limited English)

Washington Hospital Center

Washington, DC

Hawes

MUSC

ton

DeWitt

IU Medical Center

Indianapolis, IN

Maurits Wiersema

Mayo

Rochester, MN

Chang

UC Irvine

Irvine, CA

Gress

Winthrop-University Hospital

Mineola, NY

-E

[Guest guest]

Terry:

My HMO has requires the physician's office to call for

pre-certification. That has been granted each time.

There is no pre-testing. All you need is a diagnosis of pancreatitis.

The procedure is ambulatory. It takes about an hour.

And you then have to come to from the anesthesia.

I'm home a few hours later.

-E

[Guest guest]

Terry:

Although a federal program, Medicaid is administered at the state level.

Why not call their office?

-E

[Guest guest]

Dear E,

I don't know if the KS office is really small, or if I've just had

particularly poor luck, but the three times I've called them, I've gotten the

same miserable woman. She is remarkably unhelpful - I mean, she's really in

that " unique " category of the top .05 percentile I think, of people who

must... (choose as many as you like from the following list:

Hate their jobs, hate themselves, hate their lives, hate life in general,

hate anybody who IS living, hate customers, and/or may well be one of those

folks whom are just plain too stupid to exist. (TStE.)

I KNOW she's that stupid, but there's gotta' be more to it, 'cause I

don't believe the Good Lord would create anybody that plain stupid. That

would just be too cruel.

She really can't answer even the most basic, basic questions, and is

hostile to boot... I'm talkin' about an unattractive combination here folks.

Next time I call, I'll obviously just have to ask for another party or a

supervisor I guess. I mean, this woman was NO help.

Costs? No idea. General costs. No idea. Deductibles? No idea. General

idea about deductibles? No idea. To qualify? No idea. Age restrictions?

No idea. High Risk pool? No idea. Who to ask? No idea. Rx program or costs?

No idea. Choose doctors? No idea. Any supplemental programs in

conjunctions? No idea.

And the frustrating things was that on top of all this, she couldn't

refer me to anybody, wouldn't pass me off to anybody... It was an experience

from the Twilight Zone.

You know the kind of phone calls where you hang up knowing less than

before you called? I think she osmotically reaches through the phone and

tries to suck some of the caller's brains out through the wires just to have

a little something to inject behind her ears, in order to keep her skull from

collapsing in on itself. That' kind of stupid, folks. I'm talkin' stupid.

But Ellen?.... Hey, thanks for asking.

Hahaha... I think you get the idea.

Thanks E.

Peace and Love,

Terry in KC

<< Although a federal program, Medicaid is administered at the state level.

Why not call their office? >>

[Guest guest]

Thanks again E.

I'm sorry that you've been having an episode... I hope that it is

short-lived and that you're feeling better... I know you'll tell me if

there's anything I can do... (besides windows... I don't do windows.)

You've had good luck twice as I recall... I'm guessing, but you've spoken

a lot about Dr. Gress... has he done either of both of your EUS blocks? Of

course it will depend on insurance and travel info/costs, but would he be

your primary recommendation?

And, are there any that you would steer away from given the choice?

Thank you again,

TnKC

<< Terry:

For whatever reason, I just sent through an episode of pancreatitis. I

managed to ride it out at home.

My pain level has lessened a bit thus far. But as I have explained, it can

take up to a month for it to kick in IF it works at all.

And I didn't want instant relief because that usually doesn't last very long.

Here's that list of doctors and hospitals again:

Brugge

Mass General

Boston, MA

Lok Tio (he has very limited English)

Washington Hospital Center

Washington, DC

Hawes

MUSC

ton

DeWitt

IU Medical Center

Indianapolis, IN

Maurits Wiersema

Mayo

Rochester, MN

Chang

UC Irvine

Irvine, CA

Gress

Winthrop-University Hospital

Mineola, NY >>

[Guest guest]

Terry:

As far as Medicaid is concerned, can't you call to ask for an application?

When dealing with the Medicaid people, I found it best to go to the office,

as tiresome and awful an experience as it can be.

I've had to do that for my mother.

-E

[Guest guest]

Terry:

Dr. Gress has worked in me several times.

He started with an EUS pancreatic biopsy with fine needle aspirations to

diagnose CP. It was first one in New York State.

And the block that he just performed was my eleventh.

He provided the list of others and he respects all of them.

I believe that they've all trained at Indiana University, as did he.

Dr. Gress was the one who let us know that there might be a language problem

with Dr. Tio in DC.

I'd try to go as close to home as possible.

-E