I want to cry

Anderson is deciding which stamper to use next.

Jake got a little carried away.


Anderson figuring out the cap.


Jake was drawing all over...paper, hands and face.

sorry the above pics have absolutely nothing to do with the below post...

2009 is not starting off well for the Edgar elders. Kevin had his lasik done the first week of January and so far it is a no go. Could things improve? Maybe...but maybe not. He is barely legal to drive right now and he suffers from daily headaches from staring at blurry print all day. IF he has enough cornea left then he could possibly have a revision done. If a revision is not an option or successful, we might as well have burned the money.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I received a phone call yesterday from my surgeon's office. The insurance person called my insurance company to gain pre approval for my surgery which is/was tenatively set for late June. She was informed that some of the benefit changes that were made for 2009 now exclude my multiple diagnosis of TMJ, Arthritis of my jaw joints and congential anomalies. WTF? Basically anything short of trauma or injury to one's jaw is no longer covered and considered cosmetic.

I have freakin metal in my mouth and paid someone 3,000 dollars to put it there. For what? If I can't have the corrective jaw surgery then there is absolutely no point in wearing the braces that I paid for. The pain, the money, the embarassment has all been for nothing. I have no idea what to do next. I tried calling the insurance company myself to see if there has been a mistake or someway I can appeal but of course I can't get a freakin human on the phone. It is all automated and after trying every option available on the menu it was clear that there isn't anyone to answer the phone. I have no other number to call. The benefits book and website only list that phone number.

I was up all night last night trying to figure out what in the hell I can do so that the money spent on these braces isn't a total loss. The best I could come up with is possibly switching to a different insurance plan but the earliest that could happen is January 2010. That means wearing the braces for 2 plus years instead of one year as originally planned and who knows if I could find a policy that covers the surgery. I was told that due to the economy a lot of companies are finding loopholes to not cover medically necessary procedures.

All I can do right now is remind myself over and over that I have two healthy and happy boys and at the end of the day that is all that really matters.