Upcoming Surgery...still some questions

This is Cori's dedication to the Lord at Biltmore Baptist. We sure wish that our older children could have been there, but having both grandmothers, her uncle, nephew, and Aunt Nae there was a real blessing. And the pastoral staff chose such a wonderful verse for her!

So, currently Cori's reconstruction surgery is scheduled for November 4th. Happy 50th birthday, Wes! The only reason we have doubts is due to the bills we have been receiving from the hospital system we used for her other procedures. They are out of all proportion to anything we have experienced through all of Jena's surgeries at UNC-Chapel Hill. We felt better after some expert advice from my college roommate who is a physician, managing partner, on the board of Blue Cross of NC, and provides excellent self insured benefits to her multi specialty practices many employees......ok, there are too many letters after her name for me to keep up with it all!!!! But she knows this stuff!

Today we received the itemized bill and felt pretty good about proceeding...........

However, Wes had pushed for an estimate on the pre-approved surgical code and we heard from the hospital today..........$40,000 to $50,000......That does not include the surgeon or other services.

So, please pray that we make the right decision about whether to pursue another surgeon at another hospital. We need God's direction and wisdom and we do NOT want to compromise in ANY way the quality of care Cori receives!!! We have been told it is very difficult to get accurate price comparisons. They are "comforting" us with the promise that we will exceed the max out-of-pocket and the bill really will not matter in the end.

Seriously!! That is the best you've got???? Wes is apoplectic!!!!

We are blessed with really good insurance and we know they aggressively negotiate lower rates, but we still want to be good stewards and this numbers are shocking!!!

This is not a plea for anything other than prayer....but we do need that no matter what. If we proceed now or later then we need mighty prayers for Cori.

Thank you!!!

The Test Results

Cori had her 90 minute sedated MRI on Thursday and we got the results on Friday....NO TETHERED CORD. NO signs of Spina Bifida!!!!!Praise God!
Friday was her scoping surgery which did confirm that she will need major reconstruction surgery to make her plumbing normal. We have decided to do that as late in the year as possible to give her more time to adjust but to get it on this year's medical plan. She wakes up from surgery very very very very angry.
It was heart breaking that she demanded to be out of bed so she could go into a corner with her face away from us all. She would not even let me touch her. It was worse than the rejection in China. It really broke my heart. The nurses and staff kept coming to see what they could do to calm her down but she would have none of it. I am hoping there is a medicine they can use next time....and I intend to make Wes go to recovery rather than staying home next time!

Our Little Princess

Just to show how well Cori is adapting I thought I would show you how she first came to see me yesterday morning. Tonight Jena and Lily were running, screaming, and hiding from her. She came through the den giggling her head off as she looked for them.