[MelodyL]

Okay, here's the latest (and it's informative). The guy at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases does not do foot cryosugery. And he doesn't know anyone who does it for neuropathy.

So we contacted the next best thing. There is a podiatrist in Brooklyn New York (shall keep him nameless for now until we get all the info), who specializes in cryosurger of the foot (both Morton Neuroma's and the neuropathy in the toes). However, he does not take Mediblue HMO from Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Just got off the phone with his assistant. Alan is not at home so I did all the information giving to the doctor through his assistant.

I was asked specific questions such as "Where exactly is the neuropathy (between two toes of one foot and three toes of the other foot). Is the neuropathy on the rest of his foot (no). All the problems are between these certain toes. I also told her that Alan has auto-immune stuff going on but these toes are all squished together we think there is a compression thing going on here.

She spoke to the doctor (obviously he could not leave his patient and come to the phone but at least he answered all my questions). His reply was "Based on the information I gave him on Alan's toes, he thinks cryosurgery will do the trick".

Now here the interesting part. She said "Has Alan ever had a sonogram or MRI of his toes"? I said "no, but he has x-rays and we have them". She said "I'll tell you this right now, he needs a sonogram first (if the compression shows up, then he doesn't need an MRI), but they always approve the sonogram first.

She said "Have him get a Sonogram through his regular podiatrist and get a copy of it. Then contact your insurance company and see if you can do the Out Of Network thing"

So as soon as Alan gets home, I'll give him the information. Somehow he'll try and get one of his podiatrists to order a sonogram of his feet (his insurance will pay for this). Then we'll do the inquiry for the out of network thing.

If all fails (and I did ask how much this all costs), if Alan has to pay for all of it, the initial exam is $85.00 and each toe costs $350 to zap, But if there are two nerves in the toe, (he will give a good deal), and there are 5 toes involved, we figured at the most it will cost no more than $1000.

Thank god for Credit Cards, if this thing works.

Alan showed me his tailor bunion on his right foot. While it does not hurt him you can see that because of the tailor bunion, his pinky toe is all compressed against the other two toes. It's hard to get the cotton balls in this. But when we put the cotton balls in, he has no pain. So this HAS to mean something.

It's all about taking steps to get to the appointment with this guy.

So we shall get cracking and will update.

Wish us luck.

Melody