Thread: Six months wait for ACL surgery - seeking insurance and other advice (thanks)!

So it will be at least October before seeing a surgeon at Kaiser for my April knee injury. Meanwhile crutching around and going to PT and taking lots of Vicodin.

However, I'm through with being pissed off at Kaiser, and have accepted the circumstances. Minimum nine-month no-sports recovery period after surgery, which puts me at July 2007 at the earliest to do any of the things I love. =(

Six months between injury and surgery? Doesn't seem right, but OK...

Kaiser coverage from work ends when I leave June 30th. That means COBRA for at least July, August, September, October, November, maybe more. $$$$$. That definitely sucks.

I get coverage from Berkeley in the fall, but it's a cheap student plan that doesn't cover much. Anyone know about trying to use such a plan to cover things one's HMO doesn't?

Surgery in the middle of fall semester, while taking 6 graduate-level science courses? Anyone know how long you're typically "out" after such a surgery? And by "out" I mean totally unable to attend classes/study/take exams?

Thanks a bunch to those with advice--and sorry for selfishly posting my third or fourth new thread about my injury!

P.S. What low-impact hobbies have you other gimps pursued in your pre&post surgical recovery periods?

Seems like a long time. Is that timeline mandated by Kaiser's managed care protocols? Yeesh. I was hobbling around the office a week after my ACL reconstruction, but I could have used an extra week I think. Getting the surgery during the semester would be REALLY tough in my opinion. You'll probably want to look into getting a temporary handicap permit that will allow you to drive to and park as close possible to your classes. Good luck, dude!

Also, be careful about the extent to which the new insurance will cover pre-existing conditions.

i would check out what the cobra covers. you could be skiing next spring if you can schedule surgery early enough in the summer.

I just had surgery on May 5th and I would say you could be attending classes after about 2 weeks, no way after 1, at least I don't think I could have. Luckily I had surgery the day after the spring semester ended and didn't have to come back until today. I didn't start driving until last week, but that was mainly because I was back home with mom as chauffeur. In all honesty, I don't think surgery in the middle of the semester is a wise thing to do.

Originally Posted by bc

P.S. What low-impact hobbies have you other gimps pursued in your pre&post surgical recovery periods?

Bought a road bike and cycled myself to death. When I wasn't cleared to ride on the road, I bought a trainer and would spin for long periods with either the iPod on or watching ski movies or something.

Other non-sport activities:
-Learn to play the guitar or something
-sign up for classes and learn a new language (i.e. spanish or french) so when you take that south american or european trip as a reward for all the hard rehab work you've done, you can enjoy the trip more

That sucks about Kaiser mang...that pisses ME off just hearing about them, I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for you.

Originally Posted by bc

So it will be at least October before seeing a surgeon at Kaiser for my April knee injury. Meanwhile crutching around and going to PT and taking lots of Vicodin.

However, I'm through with being pissed off at Kaiser, and have accepted the circumstances. Minimum nine-month no-sports recovery period after surgery, which puts me at July 2007 at the earliest to do any of the things I love. =(

Six months between injury and surgery? Doesn't seem right, but OK...

Kaiser coverage from work ends when I leave June 30th. That means COBRA for at least July, August, September, October, November, maybe more. $$$$$. That definitely sucks.

I get coverage from Berkeley in the fall, but it's a cheap student plan that doesn't cover much. Anyone know about trying to use such a plan to cover things one's HMO doesn't?

Surgery in the middle of fall semester, while taking 6 graduate-level science courses? Anyone know how long you're typically "out" after such a surgery? And by "out" I mean totally unable to attend classes/study/take exams?

Thanks a bunch to those with advice--and sorry for selfishly posting my third or fourth new thread about my injury!

P.S. What low-impact hobbies have you other gimps pursued in your pre&post surgical recovery periods?

Your problem can be described in one word...Kaiser. I see this shit all the time.

They have a "patient advocate" process. get on it. Squeeky wheel etc. You might also consider paying to have an orthopedic surgeon rvw. the records and make a recommendation on the timing.

PM me if you have some questions.

Originally Posted by Tyrone Shoelaces

Bought a road bike and cycled myself to death. When I wasn't cleared to ride on the road, I bought a trainer and would spin for long periods with either the iPod on or watching ski movies or something.

Other non-sport activities:
-Learn to play the guitar or something
-sign up for classes and learn a new language (i.e. spanish or french) so when you take that south american or european trip as a reward for all the hard rehab work you've done, you can enjoy the trip more

That sucks about Kaiser mang...that pisses ME off just hearing about them, I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for you.

Yep. When I can't do anything else, I'm on a stationary bike/elliptical trainer 2-3 hours a day, listening to new music on the iPod and watching TV. Then I tried things like XC skiing, etc.

And I went to Real Estate school. And work a bunch.

Thanks all for advice so far. I'm definitely pursuing the trainer-->road bike route as possible. Maybe I'll just have to wait until December (semester break) for surgery.

I will get on the patient advocate process & try to be more of a squeeky wheel. Any & all advice continues to be welcome, however!

Thanks!

The 6 month wait is retarded. Fight kaiser to the death on that and stick em with the bill. COBRA is $$$ but I made out well on it given I had an ACL and the Achilles repair on it.

As for rehab, get a bike, any bike. Even an MTB with slicks will do. Riding is the best thing you can do for the ACL prior to being cleared for real activity. Hoepfully Kaiser pays for a proper PT protocol and not some 12 total visits BS.

Good luck.

Yeah, Kaiser blows.

Had a compound Tib / Fib fracture. Was in a cast for like 4 months(can't remember how long really). Talk about atrophy, I could put both hands into my cast in the area where my leg used to be. I had been training for Cross Country season so had some muscle there. They wouldn't authorize phsycal therapy for me!?!?!? Still pisses me off thinking about it. WTF! It was also great sitting there for 6 hours with bone sticking out of my skin before they finally gave me anything for the pain. Finally blacked out from shock...

Very anti Kaiser and will never be a member of that place again.

Definitely watch out for the pre-existing condition deal when switching insurances.

Thanks, all, again!

While Kaiser does indeed suck, some of the docs who work there are top notch. My Sports Med MD squeezed me in over her lunch break today for a 40-minute exam after I hyperextended my knee just getting out of bed. She's going to try to get me an earlier surgery date and talk to the surgeons for me to try to move things along. I can't imagine how great it would be to have her as my PMD.

That said, pre-existing conditions can certainly be a biatch, but fortunately the Berkeley grad student plan covers them if you've been continuously insured for the previous six months, so I'll have dual coverage for a while. And I just found out that my fellowship, which I was already stoked about, will cover my Blue Cross insurance premiums as well!

Kaiser did approve AFAIK unlimited pre- and post-surgical PT for me, so I won't ditch COBRA until I feel OK switching to the Blue Cross plan's $1000 per annum max.

And my PMD believes that all patient complaints should be treated with vicodin, which has worked out well for this injury. No joke, he's prescribed vicodin when I was having an ear pressure issue, a sore back (from a ski crash), and a black eye in the past--in all cases unneccessary. But in this case, I'm stoked to have a doc who will prescribe it when I need it. He even refilled it when I'd just had it stolen the day after I'd previously refilled it. I'll have to be my own guardian against getting addicted to this stuff.

Lesson learned: I will never choose Kaiser coverage again because of the way its bureacracy operates, despite being very happy with my providers there.