Posted 2015-01-24T18:39:27Z

Blue Shield has tentatively changed their decision

Hello all,

I've been waiting to publish this post to make sure I had the correct details from Bill, but I have very good news: Bill spoke to a physician from Blue Shield yesterday afternoon, and he was told that they should be covered for Gracie's stay at Craig Hospital. There was some discussion regarding who covers the air transport for Gracie, but Craig Hospital is already contributing to that expense, so even if the Fishers has to pay for that, it's manageable.

So it's time to call off the dogs. Bill was not told an explanation as to why Blue Shield changed their decision, but I would like to think it's because of the efforts yesterday by one or more persons contacting Blue Shield. I spoke to some of you about a peer medical review that I thought was in process yesterday that could have led to this decision, but Bill told me that the review did not happen, so that's not the reason. Whatever the cause, I am certainly rejoicing that it appears Gracie is going to be able to make the trip to Craig.

I will say that things are still fluid... Bill does not have the approval in writing, and there still is the issue of who covers air transport, but I am very hopeful. However, as Bill says, "I'll believe it when we're wheels up and in the air to Denver."

Thanks to so many of you who contacted me with suggestions and ideas. There was so much worthwhile information that I could not keep up with the emails that were coming in (for those that emailed me, sorry if I haven't gotten back to you yet). Regardless of if our efforts yesterday were the cause of the change of decision on Blue Shield's part, the value of the information and contacts was tremendous, and will be very useful in the future if they run into a similar situation.

For those of you that have contacted the media, I would ask that you provide them with this update. There may still be a story here if things go back the other direction next week, but I don't want to be knocking Blue Shield after they've apparently decided to support the Fishers.

Once the Fishers have a confirmation, I will let you all know!

Now, on a different, and even more positive, note, Gracie had her first food in weeks! Okay, I'll be more specific: her first food that she ate, on her own, without any tubes involved. Yesterday, she had a little bit of pudding and some sherbert ice cream. If I had not had anything cross my tongue for four weeks, I cannot imagine how good that must have tasted! She had no problems swallowing, which is great, although she's well away from having a four-course meal. Her digestive system has to get back into the swing of things (everything up to this point has been nutritional liquids with low digestive requirements), and they need to evaluate her ability to swallow to make sure she can handle more substantial meals, but that should all come in time.

All in all, a really good update. Thank you all for your efforts, and I hope to see many of you tomorrow at the luncheon.

Paul

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