As you many of you may remember from last week, the orthopedic office ordered four to six weeks of physical therapy for me. The therapy office called and set up an appointment and then sent over an estimate of how much insurance would pay and what my responsibility would be. I was not prepared. Not even a little.
My portion of the physical therapy cost through Mercy would be $603.00 a week. Uh. What? No. I double checked. I had, indeed, read it correctly. I was to be responsible for $201.00 per session with three sessions per week. If I went the entire six weeks, I would be looking at $3,618.00. There was no way. I couldn't afford that and didn't want to put it on my credit card or get a loan.
I was distraught and bemoaning my situation when I remembered a letter I received from one of my insurance company's partners. The company is called Sword, and they do physical therapy remotely. Of course, I couldn't find the letter because I had received it several months ago, but I knew how to find out about it.
Thrilled by the prospect of not cleaning out my savings account, whipping out a credit card, and/or making payment arrangements for the next year and a half, I contacted my Human Resources department for more information about Sword. To my utter glee, I discovered my insurance would cover the cost at 100%. I wasted no time signing up.
Sword had one of their doctors call and talk to me for about half an hour, asking me questions, getting the rundown of what happened and what the doctors had said, and having me describe the feeling in my knee as I did different things. I was given my choice of three physical therapists, and they shipped me a special tablet.
The tablet was preloaded with therapy created by my therapist and tracks my movements as I perform each exercise. It has artificial intelligence and talks to me. It's the most encouraging AI anyone could want. Even when I scored 35% on one of the exercises, it told me I was doing great and to keep up the great effort. The best part is it tells me if I'm doing something wrong while I'm doing it.
My therapist is quite communicative and very kind. He texted me twice before I even received the tablet. Once he evaluated my first session, I received five more texts going over things with me. When I told him that I suffered severe pain while doing one of the moves, he took it out of my program and said we'd try it again later down the road. He explained the goal is to get rid of pain, not cause more.
After my first session, my knee felt much better. In fact, it felt so much better that I didn't realize I'd cross my ankles while watching a movie. When I tried to get up afterward, I suffered mightily for my mistake. And for the next day and a half. I won't be doing that again.
My second session is this evening. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully, it will have the same effect as the first session, and I'll be able to sleep without any pain reliever tonight. I've been taking way too much ibuprofen and acetaminophen since my injury occurred the first week of July.
I have nine required sessions and eighteen recommended ones. My insurance expires August 31st, and my employer is most likely going with a different company beginning in September. Therefore, I am finished with Sword by then, whether my program is finished or not. I'm determined to take every session available.
I don't know if this physical therapy will cure my knee or not, but I'm darned sure going to give it a shot. If it doesn't work, I can always call Mercy back and get on their schedule. Who knows, maybe our new insurance company will cover therapy better.
I still think they should have started with an MRI. It doesn't make sense to me to prescribe something without knowing exactly what's transpiring. I'm actually quite disappointed that it has taken me this long to get as far as I have. No reflection on Sword as their service has been far faster than my health network.
I believe in following my doctor's orders, but that doesn't mean I blindly use the facilities that he or she recommends. I also question expensive prescriptions as most drugs have generics available. There is not a thing wrong with looking around for a more economical option, especially in this day and age when our money goes so fast.
Stay safe, healthy, and thrifty, my friends.
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