A Big Week for Andrew

This has been a big week for Andrew. First, he will have his skin grafts done on the first of Feb. We spend a lot of time at different doc apts. Dr. Downey, his surgeon, was very pleased with his progress. Andrew has gained weight thanks to the pic line and tpn. He commented that this is the first big medical progress that he has made since the hospital. Andrew moves forward all of the time. Andrew went to a scout activity. They played pool at a neighbor's house. When he left, it felt like the first day of school for me. He walked out of the house with Connor and Gavin. I watched him walk down the street with them. He had a great time. The next night, he went over to Connor's house. Mike took them out to get a pizza. Then Andrew started his outpatient physical therapy. I found a great PT, Kurt Leske at Mountainland PT in Layton. He evaluated Andrew's strength. He was surprised at how strong he still is. He gave him a workout. I was amazed as I watched his determination. He really wants to get his muscles back. Andrew will go three times a week. Andrew really enjoyed it but he took a big nap afterwards! Have you ever received a bill for $824,000? We did on friday. It was for just the hospital's portion. We now have about four inches of bills for Andrew. We believe he will be worth around 1.5 million. It was interesting to look at the charges. Andrew received $8,000 dollars worth of blood/blood products the first day! It cost about $6,000/day just to be in the PICU. It get's complicated. You have to be careful to use insurance-contracted docs. When a trauma happens, you lose control of these decisions because things are happening so rapidly. The doctors make the decisions. But this week we have been referred to a GI doc and I have to make sure that he is contracted! This will lower our out of pocket expenses. We also have a prescription for Andrew that the insurance won't cover. It is going to be about $600 @ $7/pill. You hear these stories, but when you are in the boat it is quite amazing! Overall, we stay busy and we solve our issues one day at a time. Today, Andrew is going with the young men to the temple. He can participate in the confirmation part. It is amazing! We were driving along one afternoon and I looked over at him. I felt very grateful to still have him in my life. I said, "Andrew, I am so glad that you are still alive!" He smiled. A strange thing to say, yet true!