W's First Steps!

So...after several months of cruising and walking behind walker toys, Wade finally got enough courage and strength to take a few steps on his own last night! He can't stand on his own yet without hanging onto something. However, hanging onto something else, he can now walk towards someone. Last night, we caught it on video....

We're so proud of our little guy! Soon he will be running around the house chasing the kitties!!

Finance Headache!

Well, I would say that I'm pretty organized and pretty knowledgeable when it comes to finances--since I'm a business teacher and all. However, these medical expenses and insurance claims are giving me a major "finance headache". I am currently keeping three spreadsheets to better track W's insurance claims, medical history, and medical payments paid for each year so we can claim them on our taxes.

Spreadsheet #1--I started keeping an Excel spreadsheet for all insurance claims shortly after I had W, knowing that paying the medical bills was going to be confusing. Luckily, I signed up online to see the EOB's online and I could better track my claims, copays, and the amount paid toward deductible and coinsurance. I have this spreadsheet color coded and I even started keeping one very similar to it for me and my husband.

Spreadsheet #2--This spreadsheet was developed last week after receiving some advice from other SDS moms to keep an electronic version of W's medical history.  I knew that it would be easier to start this now rather than later and only have to go back one year, instead of going back 7 years if I decide to start this document 7 years from now. I currently have four spreadsheet tabs to track various data on W:

• 1) Calendar of Appointments--calendar of all doctor visits including date, who we saw, reason for visit, result of visit/diagnosis, and any prescriptions prescribed.
• 2) Weight checks--monthly weight checks up until 13 months, then weekly. Now that W started enzymes, his nutritionist wants weekly weight checks. I also included a graph on this tab because I'm cool like that. ;)
• 3) CBC's--a track of all CBCs that W has had and his ANC for each. I'm working on deciphering each CBC report and this website has been very helpful at calculating the ANC.
• 4) Prescriptions--a list of all medications he has been on, including the date, cost, where filled, and when to reorder.

Spreadsheet #3--This spreadsheet I started just a few days ago after speaking to our new tax preparer. Now that our medical expenses are so high, we can claim medical expenses on our taxes. At first I thought I could use the same data from my insurance claims spreadsheet, but the IRS cares about the dates you paid your medical expenses, not dates of service. So, I've developed yet another spreadsheet to keep track of our expenses paid for each year. In this spreadsheet I'm tracking amounts paid for medical, prescriptions, medical miles, and glasses/contacts. I'll also have to print bank statements and highlight the amounts that match our medical expenses.

If you have received a headache just by reading about this, now you understand my "finance headache". If you haven't received a headache, you are more than welcome to do this for me!!

Something New...

Today I took W to the doctor because I suspected that he had an ear infection. He was also congested with a runny nose, but no fever. He in fact did have an ear infection (in both ears) and the doctor was more concerned with his congestion than normal. So, they did a breathing treatment in the office, which helped. They also swabbed for RSV and luckily that came back negative. 


We now have another antibiotic to go through for 10 days (yippee---insert sarcasm). Also, they sent home a breathing machine for us to use at home for a week. So now, I have to give breathing treatments to W every 4-6 hours. This is something new that we've never done before with him. Luckily, he tolerates them well and I'm home with him to ensure that they get done!