Monday, July 28, 2008

First Day of School


Mary's first day of school.
Notice the "Thank God I'm not a freshman this year" smile. Last year she had a look of terror on her face the first day of school.


Eric's first day of school.


Today was back to school day . . . except for Eric. We had a last minute change of plans. After missing "meet the teacher" night last Thursday, I called Eric's school on Friday morning to get information about his teacher and classroom. I was informed for the first time that Eric was in a combined Kindergarten/1st grade gifted class. My response to that news was ... no, I don't think so! I don't have a problem with combining the older grades, but all day Kindergarten is a huge adjustment for most kids and I think it's completely inappropriate (and stupid) to combine Kindergarten with 1st grade. I spent the majority of the day Friday on the phone trying to track down the Director for the gifted program (who, conveniently was in meetings most the day) to let her know that Eric would not be attending the school he was originally assigned to and the reason why. She agreed to move him to a different school where he would be in a 1st grade only gifted class. However, the paperwork wasn't finalized until today, so Eric got an extra day of summer vacation. Notwithstanding the extra day off, Eric is still complaining about going back to school. In his own words .... "I didn't ask to be in this family so I could be forced to do the things I don't want to do."

Ahh, life is rough, isn't it?

And speaking of the inequities of life, I received a letter from Aetna today denying my appeal because "custodial" care isn't a covered benefit. I find it interesting that they originally deny nursing all together saying that nursing in the home is not a covered benefit and then, when I give them copies of the plan summary that states that home nursing is a covered benefit, they switch gears and deny my appeal saying that Jack doesn't require skilled nursing, that his care is custodial. Did I not say that was what they would do? How can they make the determination that Jack's care is custodial when they haven't asked for any information about his nursing care?I addressed the level of care Jack requires in my appeal letter, but they apparently chose to disregard that information. I despise insurance companies. So, now it's on to the second level appeal.

Onward ................

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your spirit is so uplifting. I am not a deeply religious person, in the sense that I feel compeled to write or say praise God every other sentence or word. Your straight forward "it is what it is" approach is refreshing. You don't woller in it you move thru it. Keep up the good fight. You rock.

Anonymous said...

I think Eric expresses what Donovan thinks about his family!! Actually, he goes along way more than I ever would. It's just funny to hear a kid express it so well!

Rock on with the insurance appeal. They're going to have to get some new reasons for denials!

Anonymous said...

Awww! I love a sweet, fast asleep picture. I would love to peek into the future to see what Eric is doing in 25 years. I hope his first day of school was everything he expected!

Hope
Raleigh, NC

Anonymous said...

Max's twist on the following statement, "I didn't ask to be in this family so I could be forced to do the things I don't want to do.", goes something like this "I am NOT your slave and you CANNOT tell me what to do." Ah, the inner workings of the minds of strong willed little boys! Hugs-

Patricia aka Max's Mom