Credentials and Opinions

It has been an interesting and very busy morning. I woke up with a fire in my belly to get something accomplished today. I got up and checked my email and I had about 20 messages to deal with. After that I started looking up information about Tricare and Johns Hopkins Hospital. I called the Tricare toll free number and asked him what the referral process is. He said that my primary care doctor would need to put in a referral for me – that seemed odd since she has no idea I have a tumor. She is the doctor that sent me off to a neurologist after I told her I was having seizures. So I called her office and left a message for her to call me back. After I hung up the phone, I immediately got a call from the neurosurgeon’s assistant at Bethesda! She was calling about the referral that he put in for me at Walter Reed. What timing! I then asked her if we could instead change it to Johns Hopkins and she agreed to – she would put in the paperwork and said it would have to be approved and would not be in the system until Monday. Darn! Monday? That was fine – I went ahead and called the number for the Johns Hopkins neuro department I found on the internet and asked them what the referral process is like for a second opinion – she transferred me to a lady that deals with referrals and I left a message, so I’m waiting for a call back.

Whew! That’s not all… While I was talking to the surgeon’s assistant in Bethesda, I asked her if there is a way I can get more information on all the surgeons at Bethesda and Walter Reed. She said, “of course there is! I’m entitled to it.” Each hospital has a credential department where I can request any information available of the neurosurgeons that are assigned there. Man, you know I’m going to look up as much as I can now. What’s next? Well, my friend Kezia is going to pick me up (since I’m not allowed to drive anymore) and we’re going to grab a quick lunch and then head over to both Bethesda and Walter Reed to collect as much information as possible. That’s all for now – more later. Oh… also, my beautiful wife, Holly, has made her blog debut below. Be sure to read her post.