Pat Dick doing fine

Hi Framily,

I guess I goofed in stating I had to take Pat to a clinic to check out her back pain. Didn't mean to get anyone upset but I've heard that some are concerned which is comforting.

Pat has had a back pain for about three weeks. I tried to get her to go to the clinic to get it checked out but she declined. It eventually worked its way around to her chest. On Monday, she bent over to pick something up from the floor and got a sharp pain in her left shoulder blade. She finally decided she would go to the clinic on Tuesday. Of course, our clinic was closed so we had to go to West Yellowstone. The Nurse checked her out and did an EKG. One of the readings didn't look right to him so he suggested transferring her to Idaho Falls for further evaluation.

He called the Paramedics and they took her by ambulance to a landing strip where they transferred her to a Medivac Helicopter. Thank God we bought the insurance for such an event. The cost was $50 for the two of us. If we didn't have it the cost of the flight would have been around $18,000!!!!!

I drove to Idaho Falls and they had already done a lot of tests. Talked to her this morning and all the tests were fine. The Doctor said what the Nurse was seeing does happen and it's not a problem. This morning she is having a nuclear stress test and will call me when she gets the results. I expect I'll be bringing her home sometime today.

In the meantime, I'll head for work and wait for her call. I would also encourage anyone who might spend time in a remote location like Yellowstone to look into the Medivac insurance policy. One just never knows when you might need it!!  Sorry if I caused any anxiety for our Framily!

Oh, scary Jim. We hope the stress test results will be fine and that Pat will be released soon.

Good call on the insurance.

I will be doing a presentation on this insurance next season in the training session!  Until Jim told me about, I didn't know it existed.

So glad Pat is fine, look forward to seeing her tonight.  If it is around 7PM my last jam in town is tonight.  She will probably just want to get back to the coach. 

Anyway, safe trip down and back!

Jim,
Glad to hear it seems to be all OK now. Had to make a couple of those flights myself in 99, scary then but sure glad to have it available at the time.

Jerry & Arlyne Ray

Jim,

Is your insurance the FMCA policy or another one????

Jim

Glad everything turned out OK with Pat. Better safe than sorry. Last winter Marlene's back was bothering her and she thought she was developing arthritis in her legs. Went to her GP who sent her to a neurologist, who quickly sent her to a neurosurgeon. As soon as Marlene walked into the neurosurgeon's office and he read the CT results he scheduled surgery for his first open time. Turns out she had a non-malignant tumor growing next to her spinal cord and the pressure was creating all her problems. If it had gone on too much longer, she may have become paralyzed. Playing safe works, you never know what's happening.

By the way, taking Jim Godward's question to the next step, FMCA provides medical evacuation insurance at no cost to members. It would have covered the entire cost of transferring Pat without a co-pay, but you have to contact the provider as soon as you are aware of the need since they insist on being part of the evacuation decision/process.

What a relief to hear Pat's doing fine.  I hope the news continues to be good and that you can bring her home today.

Margi

Jim,

Glad to hear that things are gong well.  Keep us posted as you head down the road on the way to FL.

The curse is insidous, it sneaks up on you with little things and keeps you close to home.  VBG  Now you know the rest of the story.  So much for 2010!  :'(

Pat's last surgery is the 25th and hopefully with this one the eye problems will become minor background.

Wow - scary!  TOugh to be out in the boonies like that when these emergencies happen.

The FMCA medevac benefit is called Medex Plus. Don't know if that what Pat & Jim had or not.

http://www.fmca.com/join-family-motor-coach-association/benefits/66-free-medex-plus-emergency-medical-evacuation-program

The FMCA medevac benefit is called Medex Plus. Don't know if that what Pat & Jim had or not.

Click to expand...

If they had a $50 co-pay, it is unlikely. Medex has no co-pays. FMCA is changing as of 1/1/11. The new program will be called FMCAssist and will cost FMCA less money, but the benefits provided will be more extensive than Medex. It will include start to finish transportation (Medex only covered one leg), a larger degree of choice of destination and some foreign coverage as well. Still at no cost to FMCA members.

Thanks for the report Jim.  Glad all is well.

Jim --

Cheryl and I trust & pray that Pat is well and will recover from the pain soon...  Aren't you scheduled to leave there this week?

I joined FMCA yesterday in part for the Medex insurance.  I didn't know a medevac could cost that much.  It's hard to believe that $50 could save you $18,000.  Glad to hear that everything turned out OK.

What a scary subject to see this morning ! Glad she's doing fine and that it didn't cost you $18,000 to find out that she's ok.

Wendy

Sorry to hear that Pat is under the weather.  Hope all is now fixed, and she'll be her perky self quickly. 

Daisy

I can answer for Jim, they bought a policy here at the Park to cover flight.  I was wondering about the FMCA, we are in it, but didn't know exactly what it would cover.  Good to know that there is better coverage coming! 

Oh, and this afternoon Jim was heading out to pick her up in Idaho Falls, not back when I came in a 1/2 hour ago, but it is a 260 mile r/t plus all the hospital stuff. 

Hi Framily,

Pat is fine. All the tests showed she has no heart problems. The pain must be a muscle or something. She still has some but the relief of knowing it's not the heart helps a lot. She'll be back at work tomorrow.

We are members of FMCA but I'm wondering how much time might elapse when the company they have has to be involved in the process. It was a matter of minutes from the time the Nurse decided to have her transported to the time the EMT's had her in the ambulance. I'll pay the $50 any time for that kind of speed!!!

We thank all who were concerned and still plan on seeing as many as possible before trekking eastward.

Bill, We thought of your jam as we came into West but it was already 9:30pm! Sorry we missed it but we both wanted to get home anyway. See you tomorrow sometime. I offered to take Pat's shift as well as mine but she said she's fine. ;D

Jim & Pat  So relieved everything is fine.  Looks like we will be taking Koda to the vet in Ennis today.  He is very sensitive and touch him on the wrong spot and he yelps.  Something is not right.  Couldn't get him to the vet yesterday, but they don't really have any equipment in West, Ennis has xrays and such. 

So thank you for all the prayers for Pat, now a couple little doggie prayers for Koda.  Glad we have health insurance for him.

Bill,

Sorry to hear about Koda. Sure hope it isn't anything serious. He's such a good dog and it's hard to determine what's wrong with animals. We'll say a couple of doggy prayers for him.