synergy

Full Remission

Yesterday was the visit to the psychiatrist, Dr. X. K has been physically ill for several days now. She argues that it is Montezuma's Revenge, while I think she picked up a bug somewhere. Whatever the cause, she's been barely able to eat, since Tuesday. Despite her physical discomfort, her mood has remained positive and stable.

As Dr. X signed off on her insurance form (because the psychiatrist department no longer processes the forms themselves. We pay upfront and have to request reimbursement.) He mentioned that he was checking the "Full Remission" diagnoses box. The first time in two years!!! It is a Christmas gift for us. Unfortunately, K remains to ill to go out and celebrate.

My immediate question, as we left the office, was "Does this mean we no longer have to clear every trip through him?" We'll probably check-in if we are going more than three time zones away. The other good news is that K's next appointment with him isn't until March. Additionally, starting in January, she goes from weekly to bi-weekly therapy appointments. Yes!!! These are great signs of her improvement, but also a good forecast for improving our financial condition. The debts for her illness were on the low side, given the circumstances, but we still need to spend some time in 2005 digging ourselves out.

K has excellent insurance, but despite regulations requiring parity between mental health treatments and physical ailment treatments, the insurers have managed to get around it. The type of insurance we have requires the parity. So, her therapy visits were covered about 60% for six months. This year the psychiatrist seems, oddly, to have been covered all year, but only at about 50% of what we pay. Regardless of how you look at it, things are good.

One interesting thing Dr. X had to say was in response to a question from K. She asked if there was a chance that the lithium would stop working. He said it varies, but in her case it was unlikely. Her bipolar disorder cycled out of control after a heart attack, entering menopause, and months of depression. He said that in K's case, the bipolar episode was brought on by extreme outside events. Unless something of that magnitude occurs again, he believed that the lithium would keep her moods stabilized. He said that if someone experiences an episode without an apparent outside stimulus, then they may be more likely to have repeat episodes, as their episodes were spontaneous. (I feel as if this paragraph is convoluted.)

My entire day has been spent painting the dining room and there remains much work to be done tomorrow. K remains ill, though starting to eat more food and not immediately rid herself of it. I'll write about Mexico another day.

posted by synergy @ 9:20 PM