Thursday, September 23, 2010

Phone Call Marathon

The boys with Pete the cat

I'm not really a "phone person." This is unfortunate, because Nolan has required a lot of phone calls this week. Today, I have called:

  • The ENT's office, to verify Nolan's surgery on October 12 will be covered by insurance.
  • The anesthesiologist, to verify the anesthesiology services will be covered.
  • The new Teacher of the Deaf, to set up our first meeting (this Friday).
  • The County Department of Health, which is currently in possession of Nolan's FM System.
  • The billing department at our audiology clinic, because we were incorrectly billed for Nolan's earmolds while he was still in the early intervention system.
  • The audiologist, to update her as to Nolan's fluid/ear infection status and pending surgery date.
This is not very many phone calls, I know, but I truly dislike sitting on hold while listening to a tinny rendition of "Staying Alive." Especially when I am spaced out on Dayquil.

I do feel like I managed to get some things accomplished: I saved $120 for the earmolds, and verified that our insurance will cover the surgery AND anesthesia on October 12.

Some things are still up in the air, but should get sorted out soon. The County has the FM system up in its office in Mayville. No one knows how to set it up, but as the nice woman on the phone said, "You probably know more about these things than we do."

It looks like I will be reading up on the Phonak Inspiro via The Almighty Google. I have a feeling this will require yet another phone call to our audiologist to get things in order.

Everything is slowly falling into place according to Nolan's IEP, and we should be fully compliant with the accommodations and assistive technology by October!

7 comments:

Melanie said...

Noah has the Phonak Inspiro and everyone loves it so far. He is using it in the soundfield setup right now but will move to personal FM when he is older. The educational audiologist we work with thinks it has the best sound of anything on the market and his teachers seem to have adapted to it quickly.

Herding Grasshoppers said...

You are one busy mama!

Can the TOD help with the FM?

Julie

Yanti said...

Your boys are so cute and Pete is sooo handsome.I hope you get to the finish line soon with the phone call marathon.

Emily said...

Ugggh! I hate phone calls. Isn't that what husbands are for? I second the idea of having the TOD deal with the FM. If she doesn't know about it already it's certainly in her job description to figure it out.

xraevision said...

Ha ha, sounds like my week! I also do not like making phone calls and being on hold, and then sometimes not getting answers. My husband is off work this month, so he phones from his BB on the main floor while I'm on our land line upstairs. Some of these appointments are related, so they almost require conference calls! I think he'll be glad to end his time as X's receptionist and go back to the office!

Let's hope we both get everything sorted as efficiently as possible!

Julia said...

When I was trying to get our insurance denial overturned for Ben's CI, I spent most of the week sitting on hold with our insurance company. They had this short loop that had about 37 bars from the beginning of Eine Kleine Nachtmusick, and then it inexpliciably started over mid-measure. One of the tragic things about that week is that I almost stopped loving Mozart as a result -- I managed a full recovery, eventually, but it was scary times for awhile.

Joey Lynn Resciniti said...

Those big phone days seem to come occasionally for me too. Glad you made it through the elevator music. That's a tough job when this kids also want your attention!