Help!!!

[Jimmyk]

Hello everyone,

Yesterday, I went to a follow up visit to the hospital . I was discharged last week after suffering swelling of the esophagus .This is the second time being hospitalized since my AVR last year.
It turned out there was a small piece of meat lodged above my stomach somewhere. Breathing was normal, but as far as trying to swallow water or any type of food, it would just come right back up.
An endoscopy was ordered and seemed to correct the problem, so everyone thought.
while being wheeled back to my room, I noticed that the problem was not corrected. The same problem was still there.
I'm sorry if I'm off the topic of the heart, but will get to that.
After the failed endoscopy, a ct scan was ordered. It turned out that there was swelling of the esophagus that needed to heal.
Within 24 hours, I was swallowing small sips of water. A liquid diet was ordered, eventually moving onto solid food.
All the while being in the hospital ,which was about a week, give or take a day. The Cardiologist office I go to, did not return any calls. In fact , I'm at the one year anniversary of undergoing AVR. I've only seen my Cardiologist one time in person. It's usually his nurse I deal with.
Anyway, I was going over my recent discharge notes from a ct scan they performed which revealed a 4.7 ascending aortic aneurysm .
At the same time last year, according to the records from my AVR hospital stay the aneurysm was 4.3 cm.
I'm trying to find out if this is something to be alarmed at?
Last year the hospital billed my insurance company in excess of a million dollars, with at least 12,000.00 dollars of my own payments. It seems as if now, they won't even give me the time of day. How hard is it to return a phone call?
Never the less , I have an appointment with a new Cardiologist in a couple of weeks.
Anxiety is another condition I deal with, so the waiting is nerve-wracking .

Once again, Sorry for going off topic!

 

[honeybunny]

Wow! What an ordeal! I'm glad the immediate issue was resolved and that you are seeing another cardio. I can't give you an opinion on the aneurysm but others here will give you feedback. The reading done last week could be incorrect. Try to relax (I say "try" because I also suffer from anxiety and know how difficult it is) until you see the new doctor. You might try to get your appointment moved up if something opens up.

My surgery was around $250k (not counting pretesting and doctor visits) and I was out of pocket for $5k. But a million! That's pretty steep. What in the world happens to those who don't have insurance.

 

[Jimmyk]

honeybunny,

Thanks for your reply. I’m praying for the best.

 

[Paleowoman]

A million dollars !!! I live in the UK with the NHS but I also get private health insurance from DH's work. I looked up the average cost of AVR if a person has it done privately in the UK and it's about £48,000 - that's approx 63,000 dollars - and that includes the surgeon's fees, anaesthetist's fees, perfusionist etc, nursing fees during the whole of the average hospital stay and 'hotel' costs by which they mean the cost of the room and food etc Someone I know is due to have AVR and will be self paying - she was told it would cost around £22,000 (29,000 dollars) so less than what I read. So how come the costs are so high in the US ?

Hope you find an answer soon to the aneurysm question.

 

[pellicle]

Hi Jimmy

firstly, never be worried about things being a bit off topic ... I think we are all guilty of that

sorry to hear you're going through some rough patches ... I guess its just the stuff which makes us stronger (cos it hasn't killed us yet)

Anyway, I was going over my recent discharge notes from a ct scan they performed which revealed a 4.7 ascending aortic aneurysm .
At the same time last year, according to the records from my AVR hospital stay the aneurysm was 4.3 cm.
I'm trying to find out if this is something to be alarmed at?

According to the Australian and New Zealand Vascular Surgeons:
http://www.anzsvs.org.au/patient-information/aortic-aneurysm/

In healthy people the aorta (the main blood vessel that becomes swollen) is usually about 2.0-2.5 cms (20-25mm) in diameter although this can vary with age and whether you are a man or a woman. We know from two large studies in the USA and UK (Lederle FA et al, 2002) that aneurysms less than 5.5 cms (55mm) across can be safely watched as long as they are monitored on a regular basis. For aneurysms less than 4.4 cms across or less, a yearly ultrasound scan is sufficient to monitor aneurysm growth. For aneurysms between 4.5 and 4.9 cms across, a scan every 6 months is advised. An aneurysm greater than 5.0 cms across requires scans every 3 months although there is some variation in recommendations.

When an aneurysm reaches 5.5 cms most surgeons would consider offering surgical intervention.

mine was 5.6 IIRC (but I'm not entirely sure) and at diagnosis they said it needed to be addressed as soon as possible. I asked "so do I get to go home tonight". I did

Best Wishes mate ... hang in there and remember the "litany"

 

[Jimmyk]

Pellicle,
You don't know how much you just helped me. Thank you so much for your wisdom. I will sleep good tonight.
Thanks again, Jimmy

 

[jwinter]

Yes, good advice above. OH and BTW I had two valve replacements and both were over a million. My first in 2012, I had zero dollars out of pocket. Second in 2016, had 7,000.00 out of pocket and lot of miles, hotels, and other expenses. Premiums are 3,000.00 per month now and they would like to not call me back but I just keep calling them. OMG they got to come up with something better!!
What happened to all my retirement money? (oh and posted this mostly just to say I know how ya feel) I wish you peace also as anxiety is rough.

 

[Jimmyk]

Thanks jwinter,
I agree, something has to be done. A doctor would sometimes just knock on my hospital room door, I'd say come in, they would just open the door, not even step into the room, saying they had to run but just wanted to see how I was feeling. The visit would last 15 seconds at the most.
I would then receive a bill for 1000.00 for a consultation .
If I don't work, I don't have insurance. After being laid off 3 months ago, a notice came notifying me that my banked insurance hours were going to be finished as of June 30th. Cobra insurance was offered for 600 a month, just for me. My wife and kid will be uninsured.
I couldn't imagine paying 3000 a month.
Wish you the best and good health.

 

[user 16827]

I hope it all works out well for you Jimmy

Our nhs takes a bit of criticism over in the UK but having read this thread and your costs.....
our free service seems good to me

 

[pellicle]

Our nhs takes a bit of criticism over in the UK but having read this thread and your costs.....
our free service seems good to me

Speaking as an Australian with a similar free health system, coming from a family who couldn't possibly have afforded it , having had three surgeries that way, let me say hear hear!

 

[pellicle]

I couldn't imagine paying 3000 a month.

That's something like half of the pre income tax salary of a median salary here. And income tax would be about 40% on that income bracket.

 

[cldlhd]

That seems a bit expensive but I honestly don't know what my surgery cost. I'm lucky enough that even though I live in the United States my insurance covered the whole cost. My aneurysm was supposedly 4.7 or 4.8 cm but turned out to be 4.99 when I had surgery. I could have waited but seeing that I have a bav and I'm not good at limitations I cjoch to get it done. Was there any discussion of the aneurysm when you had surgery?

 

[Jimmyk]

I do remember the Dr’s talking about it. And as I mentioned, last years records show it was 4.3 cm.
Not sure if they wait until it’s a certain size before operating ,but if I was already opened up,why not fix it? It has grown to 4.7 cm as of a couple of weeks ago.
I’m going to meet with a new cardiologist in a couple of weeks, so I’ll have a lot of questions for him.
Part of my other illness causes me to worry myself into panic attacks. Trying to stay calm the best I can.