Hi Amy,
I am so glad to hear your husband is doing so well! He has had one hell of a journey and hopefully his health will continue to improve
He should definitely continue with a predominantly soft food diet for a few more weeks. Nothing that requires a lot of chewing because he is susceptible to choking because he is not able to chew his food up in small enough pieces yet. The best way to get the most nutrition out of a soft food diet is to eat home made soups which can contain all sorts of vegetables, chicken or beef which is all soft and easily edible for him .... fruit smoothies with protein powder .... vegetable juicing is rich in antioxidants.... things like that.
May I ask ....what type of mining does he do? Why do so many of the miners have such dental problems?
The insurance is more apt to pay on the claims if the dentists elaborate on his dental issues as they related to his medical problems. Also, their surgical report has to be in detail and state what their findings were during the surgery. Without that information the insurance may just look at the claims as nothing other than routine. Hopefully they provided that information to your insurance company.
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by smickey59033
Things are continuing to improve. His blood pressure is now running in the 122/79 to 129/84 range, and the dentist told him to just come in for relines as needed, no appointment necessary. They expect it to take around the two to three month mark to be completely healed versus the typical six months. He's been back to work for a week now and not one single sinus infection, sniffle, sneeze, cough, etc!
Eating is coming along. He's not into pushing the envelope on food choices. We are eating extra lean (92/8) hamburgers, and lots of shredded or small bite chicken breasts. He says things like green pepper slices, cheese sticks, and smoked ham sandwiches are too tough still, and milk based dinners like stroganof cause a "slime" with the dentures. He thinks he can do a steak, but has yet requested I cook one. That's the goal he's aiming for. The dentures fit extremely well, he has progressed to a medium-like liner last week.
The only major hurdle left is convincing our health insurance to help pay for this. The company our policy is with is known for being hard headed and not paying anything. They have a bad reputation among other clients who have had them in the past, but here in Montana, there is a law that allows us to have an external review for denial, which they have to hire 3 independent consulting firms for the review. I just hope they see the medical necessity in this just like the many people I've talked with about this subject.
As a side note....one of his co-workers went in this week to have the same thing done for the same reasons, and another one, who is almost 10 years younger, is needing the same thing done for the same reasons.
I'll keep you posted.
Amy
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