On this week of Keeping up With the Johnsons…
Dad needs surgery, mom’s infusion medicine is denied by insurance, Brooke journeys to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, TN and Brooke starts Methotrexate…
Just another week in the Johnson household, but it has come quite apparent to me that maybe not every family has weeks like the Johnson family.
So, the big news of this week is dad needs surgery and soon. I’ve always kidded with dad that it’s not fair that he never, I mean never, gets sick, but I didn’t think he would take it so seriously…
Well, dad has officially joined the club and will be getting hernia surgery very soon. When the doctor saw dad’s hernia she said she had never seen anything like it, obviously, she hasn’t met a Johnson, because that’s how we roll when it comes to medical things…go rare, go big, go confusing or go home.
Dad has been sent to my general surgeon and will meet for a pre-op consult early April. Fun fact: this general surgeon performed my nissen fundoplication surgery April 2nd of last year. In true fashion to my dad, he is hoping to get a group rate or frequent visitor card at the very least.
The update on mom is that we are on week 2 of being out of the hospital! *insert praise dance* Aside from some not so fun side effects from her methotrexate treatment, she is fairly strong right now! We are hoping to beat her last run of 4 weeks in-between hospital stays.
However, we were hoping to accomplish our goal with the help of a new infusion medication that we hoped to start a week or two ago, but unfortunately, insurance has denied the medication. We are appealing the ruling, but this could take some time and time is not always on mom’s side.
Despite the new developments in all of our health, mom, dad and I are headed to Nashville, TN this week to visit Vanderbilt Hospital. The process to get into Vanderbilt has been a long journey, coursing almost a year, but April 2nd I will be seen in Vanderbilt’s Autonomic Dysfunction Center.
Vanderbilt’s Autonomic Dysfunction Center is 1 of 5 worldwide that treat POTS. I have been to 1 of the other 5, Mayo Clinic, and had a great experience, but hope to gain more knowledge with this visit to Vanderbilt.
My methotrexate is currently sitting at the pharmacy waiting for me to pick it up. I plan on starting my treatment when I return from Nashville.
Although it has been a week of information and expectation, the mood is overall high here in the Johnson household. No matter what comes in the weeks to follow, mom and I are excited to be in the South again with some good ole’ Southern cooking.
In all seriousness, we don’t know what April will hold for us, but we know who holds April and we know that His purpose and His plan is far greater than whatever we are experiencing here in Nashville, Kansas City or wherever we are. He has us and that’s enough for us to be okay and keep fighting on. Thanks for the love and prayers, they mean everything to us!
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