Move in conjunction with AN

[TinaE]

Hi All,
Thanks for all of the supportive words. They help a lot. I have a unique situation but I hope you can give me some insight. My husband is active duty Coast Guard and we are scheduled to transfer to Anchorage, AK at the end of the summer. If we decide to go with the surgery, which I am seriously considering because I still have good hearing and want to preserve it, will I be able to move within a couple of months after it's done?  I won't have to do anything accept sit in a car. The packing and moving is all contracted out. Like I said before, I'm young, only 37, and healthy. My family is also great and would be there to help every step of the way. Could I realistically move 8 to 12 weeks after the surgery? It seems like many of you did really well and were back at it around 5 weeks.
Thanks again for all of your help. Oh ya, to all you Texans, I'm in Beaumont. With my luck we'll have another hurricane in the middle of my surgery!:) Like 3 hasn't been enough!
Tina

[OTO]

It might depend on how your balance responds.    I went back to work at 8 weeks (my drive to work was relatively short - 20 minutes or so).    I think since most of the time you can sleep in the car while your spouse drives it may not be too bad.   

[lori67]

Hi Tina.

I would think you'd be okay 8-12 weeks post op - maybe not to help out with the driving, but you should be able to tolerate being a passenger.  And you can probably use your recent surgery as an excuse to get out of unpacking!   

My husband is active duty military too and I am pretty confident that if you had any issues after your surgery, they could work with your husband to come up with a solution that works for you both.

Going from Texas to Alaska - wow - that should be interesting!

Good luck.
Lori

[Migoi]

Tina,

   Every individual has a different schedule for their recovery, but generalities can be obtained.

  I had my AN removed in May of 2008 and we moved from Hawaii to Arkansas in September of 2008. That move was the final move of 31 years of military moving. It was a little different in that we stayed in Hawaii too long after my wife retired to get the Navy to pay for it.

  While it is true that the military moves are contracted out, there is still a significant amount of work by the military family. A whole lot of prep work has to be done prior to the morning the movers show up. Please keep that in mind when making your decisions.

  This last move was more of a do it yourself thing. We used the PODS system and did all the packing ourselves. As soon as I was fairly mobile after surgery I started on the prep work of sorting and started packing some boxes. Those first efforts had work to rest ratios that were skewed way toward the rest portion. As I recovered, the ratio shifted but there was a fatigue factor to consider.

  We knew full well how much work it would be but choose to have the surgery prior to the move due to the size of our support network in Hawaii versus Arkansas. Also in consideration was that in Hawaii the location of where I would have the surgery was about 9 miles from our house, in Arkansas about 240 miles. If there are significant distances in either place it might not matter, for us it was a fairly significant factor.

 Again, everyone is different, no advice...just relating my experience.

..take care.. tim b

[moe]

Hi Tina,
My husband is also active duty military. I would think you would be fine, since the military does the packing and you will have had a couple of months to recup.

Better to have it before you move, because it is harder (I think) when you get to new duty station and you have to start from ground zero with everything.

I missed the specifics of the tumor size, hx, etc.
Do you have kids? If not, that is  a plus!
 I had quite the interesting move with an AN post op and did fine. I'll PM you
Maureen
Lori-aren't you moving this summer too??

[lori67]

Moe,

YES!  I'm moving back to Virginia Beach this summer - well, hopefully.  My husband has to be on the ship May 30 and I will be going as soon as my house sells.  Anyone getting stationed in Nashville and need a house?    I'll give you the AN discount rate!

Anyway, we've always had very little work to do as far as packing and moving - the only things I pack are the things I'll need right away or things I don't trust the movers with - other than that, they do everything else - even the unpacking.

I'm sure that your surgeon won't just forget about you after you walk out the door so I'm sure you could always contact him during the move if you have any issues and he'd be able to help you out.  My surgery was 2 years ago and my doctors have all told me that they will work with my new doctors when I move to make sure everything is okay, and I know that tends to relieve any concerns I have of not being able to get adequate medical care.

Lori

[TinaE]

Lori,
Did you have Tricare during all of this? We're on Tricare Prime down here and we're already having trouble. The only doctor in Houston that deals with these regularly  accepts regular Tricare not Prime. I guess we're going to have to fight for approval to go to him. Any insight would be appreciated.
Thank You,
Tina Elliott

[lori67]

Tina,

My advice - FIGHT!  My surgeon was "out of network" also, however, Tricare couldn't find a doctor in network that would do this surgery.  So what the heck do they expect you to do???  I didn't fight it, and wound up paying the catastrophic co pay - which was $1,000 and seemed like a bargain for brain surgery at the time.  My doctor also let me pay it a little at a time.  Looking back, I should have fought them on it.

Just recently, I needed a referral to my oculoplastic surgeon, who apparently only takes Tricare Standard and not Prime.  They denied the request and sent me a referral for another local doctor.  When I contacted that doctor, who was listed as a plastic surgeon, not oculoplastic, I found out his specialty was breast augmentation and he hadn't done eyes in a long time.  Great - I need help with my eye and Tricare thinks a **** job will help.     I had my primary send in a new request stating that the doctor they referred me to does not perform the procedure that I needed and that there were no other doctors in the area that specialize in what I needed - and they approved it.

My experience with Tricare is that one hand doesn't know what the other is doing - they'll tell you something just to get you off the phone, and it's probably not right.  Always ask to speak to a supervisor and write down names and dates that you spoke to them. Everytime I've challenged them on something, they've done what they were supposed to do, but sadly, it takes a little bit of work on my part.  The know the insurance angle, but they don't understand the medical side - especially when it's something as uncommon as AN's.

Good luck.  Tricare's coverage is great when you can get them to agree to it - the tough part is trying to get them to understand why you don't want to go to a mechanic down the street for your brain surgery!

Lori

[TinaE]

Hi Lori,
Thanks so much for the advice. My wonderful husband spent the morning on the phone for me. I'm still a little too emotional right now. I'll either break down and cry or lose my temper which won't get us anywhere. He's got my GP, the specialist in Houston, and my ENT all calling and trying to work it out. I hope they're coming to the realizaton that he's going to be "persistant" and they'd be better off just giving him what they want. I was ecstatic to hear about Dr. Crawford up at Madigan. That's definately a possibility too. I think I can catch a medical flight out of Anchorage down to Seattle. If not we can just fly down ourselves after we're all settled. I would prefer to take care of it all here, but I guess we just have to be patient and see what happens.
Thank you so much for your help.
Tina

[moe]

YES!  I'm moving back to Virginia Beach this summer - well, hopefully. 

Good luck with your move, Lori  I would like to send you a snail mail funny about moves if you haven't seen it. "Twas the night before packout......"goes to the poem "Twas the night before Christmas....." It is hilarious and I'd like to send it to you if you haven't already seen it. I had scanning and emailing.
Let me know your address.

Ah the life of a military wife.

Good advice to Tina on Tricare.

I have been fortunate here that I have an awesome tricare rep who is a nurse and very efficient. I have had no problems with the 12/7 transposition surgery, and hopefully no prob with the follow up surgery. (I'm sure I'll need something.)

Dr. Crawford at Madigan is very well qualified. I was telling Tina that she may not even need brain surgery but may be able to go with a gamma knife or cyber knife if the tumor cooperates with size and location .

Anyway, too much to think about in conjuction with a move. I feel for TINA. Positive thoughts your way from here, and prayers too.

And I feel for you too LORI> Yea, I know the military moves you and all, but it is a major upheaval. I used to life relocating, but NO MORE!
We are here to stay which is dandy.

Hang tough,
 Maureen