Surgery, that is.
After we saw Alex's dr in September, she was recommending a surgery that we weren't quite on board with. So I contacted insurance to see if we could see a specialist for a second opinion and insurance said "Sure, no problem. The visit will be covered!" I requested the referral to be done, I scheduled an appointment, I booked hotels and planned activities for driving 15 hours with a 2 year old by myself.
Then I got the call that insurance would NOT cover the visit. After a lot of phone calls and letter writing for an appeal, the visit would still not be covered.
Fast forward to mid-December we saw Alex's dr and again, after voicing our concern about the recommended surgery, she contacted another specialist in Iowa to get his take on what she was recommending. Now why this couldn't have been done the first time, I don't know. Don't get me wrong, I love this dr! I think she may just not be used to dealing with a parent that is well informed about different club foot treatments. I'm a bit fanatical when it comes to researching what would be best for my kid :-)
Anyway, the Iowa dr agreed with me :-) He did not recommend the more extreme procedure, but said to do another tenotomy with more casting. It may have taken 4 months to get everything straightened out, but I'm glad I stayed firm on not doing the original surgery suggested. I think in the long run, Alex would have had more problems and more pain with the Valpius/Strayer surgery.
I am not looking forward to more casts, the boy is a chunk and I have no idea how I'm going to carry him around! He's going to be so mad to not be able to move, he fidgets non stop-even when he sleeps. But I figure he'll adapt better than I will.
I just want this to work and his beautiful little feet to be healthy and pain free.
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