Ever since Thumper had been diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, we had been seeing this Behavior Health Specialist who was supposed to be teaching us relaxation techniques and something called "brain tic reversal therapy". The neurologist had told us that we would maybe see the specialist "a couple" of times and that would be it, but now we were going on our 4th visit to the Health Specialist and there didn't seem to be an end in sight. Really, was it doing any good?
She had taught Thumper some "alternative behaviors" that were supposed to be used instead of his tics, but we couldn't really tell if they were doing any good. Sometimes he would tic a lot, and sometimes he wouldn't. At this point in time, he wasn't really having any huge problems, and so we wondered why were we going to these appointments every 2 weeks? Plus, it was getting really expensive, and was it worth it?
I know I may sound like an awful mom to say that I thought about money over the health benefits of my son, but I needed to justify having to spend over a hundred dollars for every appointment to whether or not it was really that beneficial. We had a really high deductible, so no, his appointments weren't covered by insurance. We had to pay out of pocket every visit. Honestly we were going broke!
At the next appointment, I met with the health specialist and told her my concerns. I told her we didn't really have hundreds of dollars to be spending on therapy appointments twice a month and that I didn't know this was going to be a continuing thing. Did he really need these appointments? She had given us some ideas, so now couldn't we just call if there was a problem or stretch out the appointments?
She didn't seem to get the hint, because she began to suggest that we still meet many times a month but she would try to shorten the appointment time so as to only have to bill me for 45 minutes instead of an hour. But why? Why did we need to be going every 2 weeks and what good was it doing?
Plus, you come to this sort of questioning. Is this what we are supposed to do with a diagnosis of Tourette's? I mean, is this what people do? They go to therapists? Forever? Thumper seemed to be doing alright. I mean, yes, he was still ticking on and off, but it didn't seem to be causing him so much pain (or maybe he was getting used to it?---I know, awful to think), so did we need to be doing this?
Anyway, I told the therapist we needed to take a break from appointments until we figured things out and got more money in our flex spending account, and so she agreed and told us to call if things got "out of control".
Yes, I felt guilty, but I think Thumper was doing alright, and maybe this wasn't what Tourette's was all about. We decided to start doing a bit of research and trying to find out what others do with a diagnosis of TS. We began looking on the internet, looking for books at the library, and searching for support groups to find any information we could.
I know I may sound like an awful mom to say that I thought about money over the health benefits of my son, but I needed to justify having to spend over a hundred dollars for every appointment to whether or not it was really that beneficial. We had a really high deductible, so no, his appointments weren't covered by insurance. We had to pay out of pocket every visit. Honestly we were going broke!
At the next appointment, I met with the health specialist and told her my concerns. I told her we didn't really have hundreds of dollars to be spending on therapy appointments twice a month and that I didn't know this was going to be a continuing thing. Did he really need these appointments? She had given us some ideas, so now couldn't we just call if there was a problem or stretch out the appointments?
She didn't seem to get the hint, because she began to suggest that we still meet many times a month but she would try to shorten the appointment time so as to only have to bill me for 45 minutes instead of an hour. But why? Why did we need to be going every 2 weeks and what good was it doing?
Plus, you come to this sort of questioning. Is this what we are supposed to do with a diagnosis of Tourette's? I mean, is this what people do? They go to therapists? Forever? Thumper seemed to be doing alright. I mean, yes, he was still ticking on and off, but it didn't seem to be causing him so much pain (or maybe he was getting used to it?---I know, awful to think), so did we need to be doing this?
Anyway, I told the therapist we needed to take a break from appointments until we figured things out and got more money in our flex spending account, and so she agreed and told us to call if things got "out of control".
Yes, I felt guilty, but I think Thumper was doing alright, and maybe this wasn't what Tourette's was all about. We decided to start doing a bit of research and trying to find out what others do with a diagnosis of TS. We began looking on the internet, looking for books at the library, and searching for support groups to find any information we could.
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