The Price of Hip Arthroscopy to Fix Impingement and Labral Tear

Consultation with Lazzarini and x-rays: $ 401.00
Hip Fluroscopy (equipment/supplies): $ 2,447.00
MRI: $ 1,612.00
Fluroscopy Procedure: $ 815.00
Post MRI talk with Lazzarini: $ 127.00
Examination by Lazzarini: $ 97.00
Pre-op chest x-ray: $ 510.00
Pre-op labs: $ 370.00
Lazzarini's Assistant Operative Fee: $ 916.00
Lazzarini's Fee: $ 4,584.00
Anesthisologist Fee: $ 1,260.00
John Muir Medical Center: $ 46,808.00
Radiologist: $ 45.00
Post Op Check-up: $ 75.00
5 Sessions of Phys Therapy: $ 1,126.00

Grand Total: $ 61,193.00

It made me think this morning, while I was fighting with John Muir Medical Center about my bill and a $790 orthopaedic shoe that I never received, how much has my right hip cost me this past year?? So, I decided to look up all my claims online and add everything up. My insurance, of course, has paid for a good majority of it. I can't even imagine not having insurance at this point. I don't have the best insurance, but thank God I do have something!

Luckily, I've met all of my out-of-pocket costs (that I'm aware of). So this next surgery, I shouldn't have to pay a dime!

God's Always Working

It's always nice to see that God is taking care of me. Through all this I knew that He lead me to the right surgeon to give me the correct diagnosis. Lazzarini has been wonderful through this whole process basically giving me what I want, with in reason, of course!

But God also gave me a wonderful anesthesiologist. I have to admit, I was quite worried about that. Insurance sucks. I've gone over that before... I was worried that my anesthesiologist wouldn't be covered... In my area, Blue Shield has NO contracted anesthesiologists! We were told that they would bill my insurance. The insurance would mail me a check for the non-contracted price. Then we would mail the check to them. They would send us a letter to send to Blue Shield saying that they were the only group in the area and that there are no contracted doctors. Then, hopefully, Blue Shield would take pity on us and send us another check for the rest of the amount that a contracted doctor would get. THEN we could send a letter saying that we had a hardship and they would consider writing off the rest.

So, we went through the first part. God answered our prayers and Blue Shield decided to send us the rest of the money that a contracted doctor would get. We were excited. Mom then wrote a letter (she's so good at that!) and sent it off to the anesthesiologist.

Recently we got a letter back saying that we owed NOTHING!! PRAISE GOD! He really does take care of His children. That's approx 400 less in medical bills I have! I just finished a thank you card for him and plan on sending a letter to my surgeon to see if he will write off anything. So I'll be praying for that as well! So keep that in your prayers for me as well! Anything will be better than nothing!

Hardly Noticed.

I was looking over some of my old posts, and I read my MRI one. I was looking at the silly pictures and looked at my wrist band. It's been more than a year since my diagnosis. It's kinda hard to comprehend. My memories are still so vivid. Still like they were yesterday, which is probably why I didn't really notice.

I remember my doctor's appointment, when he first found my FAI. I remember scheduling my MRI. I remember going, and being stuck in the freaking bone with a 6 inch (no lie) needle. UGH! I remember him telling me that he didn't see any labral tears on the MRI, just fraying (which turned out to be more). And that I could do the surgery whenever I wanted. I wish I would have scheduled it then. Before I started school and realized how bad it was.

Of course though, I remember my surgery the most. It's still the freshest in my mind. And I am reminded everytime I see the tiny pink scars on my thigh, still bumpy.

We all learn. I am so greatful though for the experience. God has really shown me how to trust Him even more. Honestly, you think you have it down after a while. And then He comes and shows you that, no, there is even more to trust Him in. He has brought me through my first surgery, and He will bring me through my second one. He has placed people in my life to help me get through this and I cannot thank Him, or them, enough. I stand in awe.

Psalm 25:1-3

1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

2 in you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.

3 No one whose hope is in you
will ever be put to shame,
but they will be put to shame
who are treacherous without excuse.

She Works Hard for Her Money!

Ugh. That I do! This week has definitely been interesting! The first couple of days were nicer. By Wednesday I was ready for a break! I didn't notice it when I woke up and went around the house getting ready, but when I walked out the door it hit me! My good bad hip (right) was hurting when I walked; obviously not as bad as it had been but it was still sore. AND I think my bad good hip (left) had definitely HAD IT with all this extra stress. It was popping out of socket, or so it felt, when I walked. Something was popping out.

But, it was relively easy. Doc was working in the other office half of the day, so I didn't have to do much. Which was also kinda bad. I still get a little uncomfortable when I sit for long periods of time. But I have to admit, it was nice being in the office when no other doctors at all were in! The phones were quieter and not as many people were showing up. Just the occasional, oops my appointment was in the other office?!

Wednesday afternoon was another story. Doc was back in the office and I doubled as a front office person AND his medical assistant. That was interesting. We had a good amount of patient that afternoon and I was STILL hurting. But we got through it. I was really over it by the time work had finished.

Having Thursday off was a blessing! I dunno if I could have done it! I read most of the day. I've been reading the Twilight saga. Wifey got me into them and I cannot put them down! I started reading the first one Sunday night and have progessed to the third one tonight. So I read most of New Moon yesterday. Then I went with Bestie and PFC Pavon to lunch...a late lunch...thanks to the book! After that, my Sweetie and I saw The Dark Knight. It was pretty much amazing. That's all I can say, really.

Today, work wasn't too bad. I did front office the first half of the day, and back office the second half. We had an over abundance of physicals today! FOUR this afternoon alone! Which is really a lot! You can definitely tell when school is starting, everyone needs physicals like yesterday! School out here for two of the cities starts Monday. Sucks for those kids! All in all today went pretty quickly.

Now that I have the weekend to recover, I'm praying that next week will go smoother! We sit down and talk with Doc, the Office Manager, and Director about the hours that will be split between me and the other MA for Doc...I'll need all the prayer I can get for that one...It makes me nervous just thinking about it! I know though, all things considered, that God will take care of me in the end.

Not So Bad.

I left on time Monday. I prayed in the car on my way to work, as I usually do. It relaxes me before the day begins. Usually, before, I would pray for others more than myself. But, I have to admit, Monday I was a little more selfish. I didn't know what to expect. That morning I took some ibuprofen so that my hip would hopefully not bother me as much. But I still didn't know what to expect at all! They just told me to be there at 8:30.

Luckily, I don't live too far from the office. It's just a street over from where my old office was. However, I forgot that you can't enter the parkinglot from the street I normally take. And you really aren't supposed to make a U-turn at the light after. So I turned up another street to hit one of the main roads. I was a little on auto-pilot. I wasn't concentrating on my driving and I turned down the wrong street. It will take me the way I didn't want to go. So, I made the illegal U-turn at the light so I wouldn't be horribly late.

Doc heard my voice and came rushing down the hall to greet me. I have to admit, it was nice. There were five girls in the office that morning, not including myself, plus Doc and the OB that works there. There was the front desk lady, an intern, the Family Practice MA, the on-call MA, the OB MA, and the office manager. This was really something I will have to get used to. But they were all welcoming and very helpful. Then, after lunch, ANOTHER front office girl arrived! I don't think there is another man other than Doc and the FP doctor who works there!

The day wasn't too hard. We had FOUR no-shows! The OB had a couple no-shows too! The FP doctor was on vacation. It was actually kinda nice to settle on a quiet day. And the best thing was that my all-time favorite family was coming in later that day!! I was pretty stoked about that. The day was pretty normal. I gave my first set of shots that day in 12 weeks. I was a little shakey in putting on the bandages, I'll admit. Otherwise it was a breeze.

Their computer system is totally different though. It will definitately take some getting used to! It's more thorough than the old one. So they began traning me on that. Other than that it was pretty uneventful. Today was about the same. Liz came in today, and we had to get our pictures taken for our ID badges. At the new Antioch office, we won't be able to open doors without them. We trained more on the computers today, which I will also be doing tomorrow.

So my week thus far has been exhausting, but I haven't hurt too much. My bad good hip has been bugging me a little bit more lately. I think it's finally starting to get annoyed at all the extra stress I've put on it the past 12 weeks. My walking has improved greatly. My hip hardly hurts with extension. I keep saying that I'm going to get up early and exercise it some, but yeah, like that's gonna happen!

It's Official!

I start back to work on Monday, the 21st. I have to admit, I'm a little excited, and pretty nervous! Since merging with Sutter earlier this month, things will be a LOT different! All things considered, I think for all parties invovled, it was for the better. However, it's still a little scary going through something new! Lets go over why I'm nervous.

1. New place. It's a completely new office. And it's not going to just be me, Doc, another MA and someone at the front desk. It's going to be a few people at the front desk, at least two more doctors, both of whom I see, and more MAs!

2. Hours. While I'm getting more of an hourly wage than I expected (thank you, God), I don't know exactly HOW many hours I'll be getting. The other MA and I will be basically fighting for them. I believe, and Doc agrees, that I deserve the extra hours as she wouldn't even have a job if I hadn't gone back to school and gotten cut open in the first place. He said he will back me up, so we'll see how that goes. I know that God will take care of me all in all.

3. Corporation. We're not just a "mom and pop" stand anymore. We are under a pretty big corporation as far as Northern California is concerned. I won't be able to text (EEK!) while I'm on the job, and the rules will be more rigid all around. This should be fun. I knew it wouldn't last forever, but I was hoping it would last a little longer! I'll take this as preparing me for other jobs to come. I'm sure they'll be even more strict than here!

4. Hip. Yes, I'm kinda concerned about the whole hip thing. I know my bad good hip will be fine. It's been fine through this whole thing for the most part and will get its chance to be operated on soon. It's my good bad hip, the one I just got operated on. It's still a little tender here and there. I've been trying to stretch and work it as I can, but it's still nagging me. For now, all I can do is continue to heal and take care of myself. It's still normal. And that's what I have to keep telling myself.

And last, but certainly not least,

5. I'm not the Queen Anymore. This, I must admit, is going to take some getting used to. The office was my baby. I made it out of nothing. I nurtured it and kept it going. I made sure we were compliant in all things such as HIPAA and OSHA. I ran the schedule and whatever I said pretty much went. I knew that this would also end. I enjoyed pretty much being my own boss. And I think that this experience will make me strive to obtain a position (after much more schooling) so that I do make the rules again. Because, honestly, who doesn't like that?!

In all these things, I know that God will take care of me. He has put me in this place to learn and to grow and that's what I want and expect to do! Everyone has been most encouraging and Doc says he misses me. There comes a point when you work with someone that you know what they are thinking. Doc and I got to that point, he would start to ask for something and I would hand it to him. Or he would ask if something had been done and it had been done 5 minutes ago. I must admit, that while it's been wonderful being at home, it is nice to feel needed elsewhere.

Evening Swimming!

Finally over 11 weeks post op! One more week and he says I'm mostly healed, over the bulk of healing anyway. He says that it's actually 6-8 months for fully heal, so I have to wait that long about to have my next surgery. I'm just so happy to be as far as I am right now. I occaisionally hurt when I have a few days of too much walking, but it's not that bad.

I got into the pool tonight, it was still 83 degrees. Lately, I've been doing my pt exercises in the pool. And let me just tell you it feels SO GOOD to swim some laps! I need to get some of my muscle tone back...only to lose it again...lol

Other than that, I haven't done too much. I start work within the next couple of weeks. It should be interesting. New place and some new tasks. So this should be interesting...

Lets get Physical, Physical!

So today I had to drive to Vacaville to get a stupid physical for work. I woke up in enough time and got ready in enough time. I left a tad later than I hoped, but all was well. Except Mapquest told me to go a funky way. I should have had them switch it around, but I didn't.

My appointment was at 10:45 and I left at 9:45 which I thought would be more than enough time especially since the directions told me 48 minutes or something like that. So I figured I had a few minutes to get lost, since I ALWAYS get lost without fail in a new place.

Things went well until I got behind a slow truck and couldn't get around him. THEN I got stuck in 20, yes, TWENTY minutes of construction traffic. And of course I turned the wrong way down a street so I had to flip a U-Turn and go back. I FINALLY got there at 11:20. So I run up there and NO ONE is at the desk. They finally walk up 5ish minutes later. I had a TON of paperwork to fill out. So I did that and had to wait to be called back...

They called me back finally around noon. I did my drug screen and then she did a TB test that I have to get Doc to read it this Saturday, otherwise they were going to make me come back to get it AND back again to have someone read it! NO thank you! Then the doctor came in and he made me do all this balance stuff and it was funny. He made me balance for like 2 seconds and was like, you have wonderful balance.... DO YOU KNOW ME!? I have AWFUL balance since my surgery! lol So I got a kick out of that. Then I had to see the vampires at the lab so they could check my Hep B titers. My lab guy was nice and he did a REALLY good job! I barely felt a thing, but I think he pulled it out a little soon. He was like, "I dunno why it stopped, but since it's just one test it should be enough." WELL IT BETTER! I don't have a big problem with doing lab work, but it's still not fun.

After my whole physical experience was over, I went to the mall and picked up a few things. I watched a movie with a friend and then met another friend after that. I was pretty busy this evening! And BOY can I feel it! My hips HURT tonight! I'm so over it! Only one more surgery to go and hopefully I won't have torn the labrum in my left hip like I did my right! It would be less recovery time and hurting. He won't start doing pathology until a few more months...So that was my day!

Bills, Bills, Bills!

I love getting medical bills. Honestly. It's quite comical to see how much they want to squeeze out of you for doing almost nothing. If I didn't have insurance, I don't know how I could afford all this. Especially the physical therapy! I do most of the work there! Each physical therapy session is approximately 200ish dollars. The insurance pays approximately 70, and I pay approximately 30. Then they have to write off the rest.

Insurance companies really bug me. I mean REALLY! They're such a pain to get authorizations out of for work, to get paid, and to even TALK to a service rep sometimes! For as much as some people have to pay for premiums and copays (me) you would think they would pay more! BUT NO! They're raking in the billions of dollars every year on the backs of people like me!

Lets step off the soap box there for a bit. Other than receiving the ever so loved medical bills, I haven't done much. Bestie is in freaking Ohio visiting family and Wifey is not so close either. Monday I did have lunch with Panda, whom I don't see nearly as often as I'd like to. Tomorrow should be interesting. I get to have a physical for the new job I'm starting. I find it funny that I didn't need a physical to have major surgery, but I need one to work. Funny how things work out.

What?? Ten and a Half Weeks Post Op!?

Time flies when you're healing I suppose? Where oh where do I begin?

Ok. So I confronted my perfectionist surgeon about my squiggle suture. He admitted that I caught him. His assistant did it. UGH! But, he patted himself about on the back about what a great job he did. I wouldn't have it any other way though. A surgeon needs to be confident and full of himself in my opinion. I don't want a surgeon who is nervous. He needs to know that he can do the job right. Because honestly, I'd rather not go through this more than once per hip...

So he told me crutching for a total of 4 weeks and then walking with crutches for 2 more weeks. So that would mean 4 more weeks of crutches...But of course much to the dismay of the parents and close friends, I didn't use my crutches the last two weeks. Mostly just when I went out.

I saw him again at 6 weeks post op. He showed me my operative pics, which didn't print well, but they got the idea across. I'm still lazy and haven't scanned them in. I will eventually...

So the following week I went to my favorite place in the world... DISNEYLAND! I won a sneak preview for the new Toy Story ride. And of course, "wifey" accompanied me. Who else would I go with!? We had a blast...for the most part! The scooters we rented of course were a blast! I need to budget that into every trip. There were a couple slip ups here and there, but all in all it was ok.

After we got back...I started physical therapy... The first two sessions were actually pretty good. The next couple were NOT! Those people are slave drivers!! But I have to admit, it helped. So I'm glad I did it. Last week I went in because I was still having pain and I wasn't sure if that was normal and such. So he examined me, twisted my leg around almost making me cry, and told me it was normal. So that was nice to hear.

I only have a couple more weeks of being off of work left... Back to work on the 28th so far. So for now I will soak up the sun, (even if it is clouded by the gross smoke) watch Sex and the City, and finish the quilt I'm working on and start a new one!