Dentist and Well Child

Brynlee had her dental checkup a week or so ago, and she did great. They were able to get a few x-rays, and quickly cleaned and polished her teeth. So far, her teeth are doing fantastic. The dentist told me that we still will have to watch out for her top 4 and bottom 4 middle permanent teeth and her 6-year molars as those are most likely the teeth that could be affected by the chemo. I'm grateful her teeth aren't crumbling like some of our cancer friends, and I am so glad that our dentist was trained in these sort of things down at Primary Children's. All pediatric dentists probably have some training like that I would imagine, but I'm glad that he did his at Primary Children's and knows what to watch for and how to treat cancer patient's teeth.

 

Brynlee also had her 2-year well child visit with our pediatrician. Brynlee only needed one immunization this time, and she handled it like a champ. Of course, it probably helps when you can't really feel the needle poking your leg. We also discussed her bladder situation, and he decided that we will keep her on the preventative dose of antibiotic for the next year until her next renal ultrasound and that it will be reevaluated yearly and that she will stay on some sort of antibiotic until her ultrasounds show that she doesn't need it. I was okay with this until I remembered that one of the side effects of this particular antibiotic is that her skin will be extra sensitive to the sun. I am usually pretty careful with all of my kids and the sun, but now I am going to have to be extra, extra careful with Brynlee. Oh well! We do what we have to do.

 

I was filing away some EOBs and medical bills for Brynlee the other day and took a picture of our huge binder. This binder contains all of the medical bills that we have received for Brynlee since her cancer diagnosis. I wonder how many pages there are.  

 

My favorite bill, however, is the one from Brynlee's first hospital stay where she had been in the PICU and hospital for three weeks. This bill is about 9 pages front and back. And if you look carefully, the amount totaled almost $160,000 in charges. I've been told this is nothing compared to some of our cancer friends, and I can't even imagine some of their bills.  

That bill included anything to do with her hospital care, scans, drugs, room charges; however, it did not include the doctor's charges, which I believe was about an additional $25,000 and the surgeons and radiologist charges, which I think was about another $10,000 or so.

 

I am so grateful for our insurance!!!

 

I sometimes look through that bill and am reminded of just how much she went through those first few weeks. All of the drugs she got, which is about 5 of the pages, all of the x-rays and scans, the respiratory therapy, and the lab work, which was about 2 pages. It is crazy that her little body survived all of that along with chemotherapy. It really was a blessing that she was so little (only 7 months old) when she went through all of that and can't remember and won't remember any of it.

 

And, I hope that bill, which is our biggest medical bill, will always stay our biggest. We have no plans on topping that one ever.

 

With that said, scans start bright and early in the morning for three glorious fun-filled days. Praying for good news and for no problems with sedation this time. Wish us luck!