Dodged a big bullet… almost had to cancel implant
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2022 5:41 pm
I’ll try to make this a brief as possible but will still be lengthy I’m sure. Started injections about 17 months ago. From the first needle stick I decided I would be implanted as soon as I could get it done and do all research necessary to get done right by the right Dr. Had bad enlarged prostate and urologist said I should address BPH issues before implant. So 5 Dr appointments with two different Drs over a 5 month period…. Cystoscope, prostate ultrasound thru rectum, urine flow test twice, tried meds for 5 months prior to all tests…didn’t help urine flow at all just Couldn't ejaculate at all from 3rd month
thru the 4th month… took 3 more months to regain a poor ejaculation at best decided I wanted an aquablation to most possibly preserve some ejaculation ability and less nerve damage..better recovery.. 2 weeks wait got scheduled and found out my insurance only covered TURP…. Some depression set in as this had been a 4-5 month process at this point and just delayed implant even longer.. trying to be patient. I refused the TURP. Just didn’t feel right. Changed gears and set goal on implant and changed my liquid intake a bunch and dealing better with BPH
I live in central Arkansas but best implanter I could find was in Dallas so Got all implant codes from Texas Urology at Baylor Scott and White in Dallas Tx implant Dr Wierschems nurse and spent many hours over a couple days and to my surprise it appears to be totally cover less a few miscellaneous things. So took 6 weeks to get initial appointment with Dr W. For March 24th.Initial meeting was an immediate train wreck. Dr entered room and stated my insurance wouldn’t pay for implant after glancing at my file and seeing BCBS. I went blank and kinda got angry all at the same time…as I had driver 320 miles and stayed in a motel the night before as appointment was early next morning just to see him…he called his nurse who explained that I had talked to her and got all approvals that I personally could do and that my BCBS apparently does cover implants. So continued with talk and Dr changed attitude.. we discussed all issues and I left . Got call a few days later from head nurse who had gotten pre approval from BCBS and we set a date for implant May 18th!
Here’s where the dodged bullet comes in…. The missus took a day off with me and we went to our houseboat on Lake Ouachita in Hot springs Arkansas for a quick overnight getaway on April 22nd. As usual I started the two Chevy mer cruiser 350s to warm them up as we only get to boat a time or two a month till the weather warms up. The generator wouldn’t start so I open the hatch door in the master bedroom floor to get my tools and jumper cables out of the hold. As usual I leaned the 30” by 30” hatch cover up on its edge on bed got tools out and jumped the motor. When I came back in I was hit with a bad urge to piss..(read earlier story) so came around bed headed for the head… stepped straight down into the hold smashing my shoulder on the way down. Passed out from the pain for a couple minutes but thankfully wife heard the crash and came back to bedroom to find me half in the hold and half in floor. After regaining a bit of control over the pain I knew something was broken as I had a complete shoulder displacement and major reconstruction surgery of my other shoulder 9 years previously from a fall at work. So got to car and went to family Dr for X-rays , she couldn’t see a break but thought it was dislocated.. sent to ER who said it wasn’t dislocated after 6 hours of waiting and more X-rays but thought definitely had some ripped muscles so was getting late and went home. Monday got in with orthopedic Dr(surgeon) who also though it had been dislocated but was back in. He manipulated it a little and it would fall out of socket and back in easily.. ordered MRI for later that day. And by 6pm he called and said a clean fracture thru main bone and two complete torn rotator muscles in the middle on the outside of shoulder, this is at 6pm on Monday the 25of April.He set up a surgery on Thursday 28th at 5:30 am.besides the excruciating pain I was having I was also seeing my hopes and plans going down the tube for an implant just over 3 weeks away! At pre op talk with surgeon I leveled with him about my upcoming implant surgery scheduled in 3 weeks and 6 days, to my surprise he said shouldn’t be any problem on his end and that he would write my urologist a letter of his approval after a late checkup just prior to going to Dallas for implant talked to my implant Drs nurse twice explained situation to her. She relayed info to Dr and he is also in agreement to do as planned barring any infections or complications from my shoulder surgery. So,here I am with arm in sling on about a 2 out of 10 pain on mild pain meds shoulder fixed…planning my trip (320 miles) to Dallas in 2 weeks and 5 days to proceed with implant!! Man!! Talk about a rollercoaster ride!!! At least I will get both recovery’s under one absences from work and not have to answer all the questions as to why I’m off. And all my deductibles and out of pocket $$ is definitely met..sorry for the long post but needed to vent a little bit after this rollercoaster of a week!
thru the 4th month… took 3 more months to regain a poor ejaculation at best decided I wanted an aquablation to most possibly preserve some ejaculation ability and less nerve damage..better recovery.. 2 weeks wait got scheduled and found out my insurance only covered TURP…. Some depression set in as this had been a 4-5 month process at this point and just delayed implant even longer.. trying to be patient. I refused the TURP. Just didn’t feel right. Changed gears and set goal on implant and changed my liquid intake a bunch and dealing better with BPH
I live in central Arkansas but best implanter I could find was in Dallas so Got all implant codes from Texas Urology at Baylor Scott and White in Dallas Tx implant Dr Wierschems nurse and spent many hours over a couple days and to my surprise it appears to be totally cover less a few miscellaneous things. So took 6 weeks to get initial appointment with Dr W. For March 24th.Initial meeting was an immediate train wreck. Dr entered room and stated my insurance wouldn’t pay for implant after glancing at my file and seeing BCBS. I went blank and kinda got angry all at the same time…as I had driver 320 miles and stayed in a motel the night before as appointment was early next morning just to see him…he called his nurse who explained that I had talked to her and got all approvals that I personally could do and that my BCBS apparently does cover implants. So continued with talk and Dr changed attitude.. we discussed all issues and I left . Got call a few days later from head nurse who had gotten pre approval from BCBS and we set a date for implant May 18th!
Here’s where the dodged bullet comes in…. The missus took a day off with me and we went to our houseboat on Lake Ouachita in Hot springs Arkansas for a quick overnight getaway on April 22nd. As usual I started the two Chevy mer cruiser 350s to warm them up as we only get to boat a time or two a month till the weather warms up. The generator wouldn’t start so I open the hatch door in the master bedroom floor to get my tools and jumper cables out of the hold. As usual I leaned the 30” by 30” hatch cover up on its edge on bed got tools out and jumped the motor. When I came back in I was hit with a bad urge to piss..(read earlier story) so came around bed headed for the head… stepped straight down into the hold smashing my shoulder on the way down. Passed out from the pain for a couple minutes but thankfully wife heard the crash and came back to bedroom to find me half in the hold and half in floor. After regaining a bit of control over the pain I knew something was broken as I had a complete shoulder displacement and major reconstruction surgery of my other shoulder 9 years previously from a fall at work. So got to car and went to family Dr for X-rays , she couldn’t see a break but thought it was dislocated.. sent to ER who said it wasn’t dislocated after 6 hours of waiting and more X-rays but thought definitely had some ripped muscles so was getting late and went home. Monday got in with orthopedic Dr(surgeon) who also though it had been dislocated but was back in. He manipulated it a little and it would fall out of socket and back in easily.. ordered MRI for later that day. And by 6pm he called and said a clean fracture thru main bone and two complete torn rotator muscles in the middle on the outside of shoulder, this is at 6pm on Monday the 25of April.He set up a surgery on Thursday 28th at 5:30 am.besides the excruciating pain I was having I was also seeing my hopes and plans going down the tube for an implant just over 3 weeks away! At pre op talk with surgeon I leveled with him about my upcoming implant surgery scheduled in 3 weeks and 6 days, to my surprise he said shouldn’t be any problem on his end and that he would write my urologist a letter of his approval after a late checkup just prior to going to Dallas for implant talked to my implant Drs nurse twice explained situation to her. She relayed info to Dr and he is also in agreement to do as planned barring any infections or complications from my shoulder surgery. So,here I am with arm in sling on about a 2 out of 10 pain on mild pain meds shoulder fixed…planning my trip (320 miles) to Dallas in 2 weeks and 5 days to proceed with implant!! Man!! Talk about a rollercoaster ride!!! At least I will get both recovery’s under one absences from work and not have to answer all the questions as to why I’m off. And all my deductibles and out of pocket $$ is definitely met..sorry for the long post but needed to vent a little bit after this rollercoaster of a week!