So sorry for your stress, Tammy. When I was in the hospital for 2nd DX, the Ins Co, tried to deny my whole hosp, stay. I cried and then got mad and called my State Insurance regulators anD Voila the Ins co paid, less my Ded. of course.

Ins cos first response is to find a reason to deny.. I wish we could do away with the lot of them.

Contrast is not strictly necessary for an MS diagnosis if there are older lesions that the T2 sequence can pick up, the gadolinium highlights active lesions...however I'm pretty sure every single one of us will have stories of missed lesions and tests not done the way they should be, so there's no excuse not to be thorough. I am an MRI coordinator at a major hospital and our MS protocol always includes contrast unless the patient is allergic.

I feel so bad for you guys in the US with the way your health insurance stuff works

Thank you all so much for your replies and support...it's nice to know I am not the only one who has dealt with this, and truly saddened that it ever happens to anyone.

I do have some good news! My PCP was willing to back off the contrast, so we were going to schedule an MRI without. (I wanted contrast because I have recent symptoms, and would be more likely to have enhancement on an MRI, which would nail down one of several diagnoses). I contacted the local hospital to schedule the MRI once the insurance preauth was done. I used to work in the Emergency Department as a nurse there, and always knew their staff to be intelligent and truly motivated to take the best care of their patients. When I described my recent symptoms (pain, numbness, lack of coordination, dropping things, weakness nearly to the point of paralysis) the scheduler voiced her concern that the MRI was not approved with contrast. She spoke to the radiologist who simply stated, "We will do the initial scan without contrast. I'll read the scan before she is off the table, and if she needs contrast, I will write the order. The insurance company cannot refuse to authorize contrast if suspicious lesions are seen on a non-contrast scan". Viola! Problem solved. I am scheduled to have the MRI tomorrow. They expidited the scan because they think that a sudden onset of a parasthesia, even when the symptoms are resolving is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed.

To be honest, this was my best case scenario. That has not been my experience in the past, (particularly when diagnosing empty sella syndrome) I had to fight for years for a diagnosis other than "We have no idea what's going on, but your pituitary gland doesn't look right." Long story short, when I got static on this one, I was really worried that we wouldn't be able to navigate it before my insurance terminated.

Then, to add the icing on the cake of my day...my husband received a call from his human resources department, informing him that I would have coverage effective Dec. 2. That only leaves me uncovered for one day! (I will stay in a padded room that day to ensure that no mishaps would cause me to break a leg or something!)

It is so comforting to know I have a place to freak out a little when things are not going well. Nursing trains me to be emotionally measured, analytical, and concise. Today I am a person, a patient, and admittedly a little scared. Any type of neuro symptoms can be really frightening, and keeping yourself from imagining the worst case scenario and staying positive during the waiting game is as painful as the disease. It was great to read all of the informative and encouraging posts when I was finally able to log in tonight. (Lost electric due to snow, thus, no internet )

I was unaware that the wait lists in Canada were so incredibly long. That is truly a shame! I can't imagine making people wait for months on end for serious diagnostic exams and follow up. Most of my employment has been for independant hospitals who are concerned about patient satisfaction, but I did work for the state once. Their systems are "efficient" , sterile and unconcerned with the person. They are concerned with statistics and fulfilling the criteria of patient care models. That said, the models do offer more complete and concise diagnostic tests. However, the system trains staff to be more concerned with the stats, then their actual patient care. They are evaluated most heavily on the numbers, and addressing the humanity of the individual is ignored. That said, there are still individuals in these systems that go above and beyond for the people in their care. I am proud to say my husband is one of them. During his evaluation this year, he was commended for his patient relations, which has made his clinic the gold standard for the area. (he has even made "under the radar" home visits to check on patients who didn't have good support...He goes to one patients house every Friday and brings in firewood for the weekend because the patient doesn't have anyone around to help him on the weekends. I actually have treated this man as a patient in the past!)

The bottom line is that he earns their trust. Today, I have been able to trust this support group, my doctor, and the imaging center, and I am grateful to all of you. I do not feel like I am fighting anymore. I feel like I am a member of a team that is truly concerned that I get through this well. It is easy to lose faith in hummanity...today I regained my faith in humanity.

With deepest gratitude,

Tam

hi tammey,

i''m glad you're getting the appropriate mri. that's a great radiology doc.
i hope you get the answers you need.

looking forward to more of your posts. i'm an RN too; 35yrs NICU.
what kind of nursing do you do?

I am an ER/ICU/Crisis Psych nurse. (Interesting combo, eh?) Basically what all that means is that in the ER I primarily work critical patients, patients who are displaying mental health symptoms that pose a danger to themselves or their community, and occasionnally cover the ICU. Crisis psych patients often harm themselves, and can be very tricky cases to work. (Especially when that person does not want us to know what they overdosed on, or is not alert enough to tell us) I also teach behavior management classes to employees, and pre-hospital care from Basic First Aid to wilderness first responder. My last job was in management, and I loved the job, but didn't like playing politics with patient care. This is why I am a little freaked about losing function of my arm. I need that dexterity to treat critical care patients, and protect myself from patients who are physically threatening. I was planning on returning to school to be an NP and teach nursing, but that is on hold until this gets figured out. Hopefully I will be in class by Spring.

My cousin is a NICU nurse, and I don't know how you guys do it. There are a lot of miracles in NICU, but there is also a lot of tragedy. Babies make me all warm and fuzzy inside, and I can't imagine losing one. I don't think I could handle it. That said, my daughter was in NICU for 5 days, and without great people like you, she wouldn't have done well, and wouldn't be the beautiful, mouthy, opinionated teenager she is!

Tam

Tam, make sure that that one day between coverages, doesn't throw out your coverage for preexisting health issues.. I used to be in the Ins. business.

Thanks for the heads up! I was worried about that too, but fortunately, in New York State they can't disqualify you for pre-existing conditions.

Saw Neuro this morning-he says I definitely have carpal tunnel syndrome (GO FIGURE!) But doesn't think the rest of my symptoms have anything to do with it. So he still wants the MRI. He was so funny! He said "Well, you definitely have carpal tunnel syndrome, but the other symptoms do not necessarily relate. So, this could be a whole bunch of unrelated stuff, OR it could all be related." Way to walk the fence there, buddy!

He found the MRI that had a small white matter lesion in the frontal lobe, the other white matter lesion was in an atypical place.

Making progress is a good thing.