Today it is two weeks since Gage’s x-rays were done as a base line confirmation of the need for growth hormones and from my perspective we’re not any closer to getting Gage started on them. Let me remind you that he can only be on growth hormone until transplant and then he cannot take it and he probably won’t have any growth as a result of healthy kidney function until 1 year post transplant.

Dr. Caring’s nurse, The Best Nephrology Nurse In The World (TM)  left a voice mail for me last week while I was enjoying a particularly good frozen Margarita at the beach that things were in motion but that it will take them a while because they (the transplant team at Children’s) needed to get all of Gage’s records copied and needed to work through insurance approvals. Oh no, she didn’t just say insurance approvals, right? Because I have a feeling this could be a while. Our insurance (at a lovely $1700/month for the mutant family of four) while adequate is not known in the real world to process things quickly. And I’m guessing the form that they received from Children’s included a line item for a Kidney Transplant: $75,000-150,000. I wonder how many departments that piece of paper will see before approval.

The timing could not have been better to run out of a med: as luck would have it I had a real excuse to call TBNNITW to get a refill! So I left her a nice long, rambling message and I remember hearing myself say "I am so glad I had this excuse to call you…because I really want to know what to expect…am I supposed to be doing anything…labs, calling anyone for appointments…blah, blah, blah." I think her phone beeped for me to shut up. I wonder if she isn’t thinking "it’s going to be a long year until transplant of that Gage."