God never fails us!

Prayers have been answered!!!

It was a long drawn out morning with lots of crying and yelling.
I doubt anyone wants to read all the details of how I had to get ugly.
But if you do want more details you can keep reading.

I'm updating this as things happen.


The battle started a little after 9am.
I've talked rationally, I've cried, I've yelled. I have a headache now.

I've done all I can do and I've talked to everyone that I can, now it is up to each person that I have talked with to submit the right papers and forms with the correct wording explaining why Elijah needs this certain pump.

Elijah's case worker really hurt the case by calling the DME company and spouting off how Medicaid's not going to pay. Then I talked to her and she doesn't even have a contact number for Medicaid. No one from Medicaid told her that, she just wanted to spout off. I told her I want the name and number of the person who told her they wouldn't pay and she can't give me anyone. I called her supervisor about it too and told her to assign us a new case manager now because this one won't be coming back to my house. I'm not normally this ugly acting, but I need someone to help us not hurt us.

I know this will be a long drawn out process. Everything through medicaid is.

Anyway please pray we get this taken care of ASAP. One man told me today that it could take him 25 days to get an answer from medicaid.

I think if I could get the message of "we need a nurse until we get this pump" to the right person things could be sped up.

New update:

I talked with a man from the Zevex company and he said Medicaid pays for the Zevex Infinity pump everyday.

He gave me the name of some other DME companies that have this pump on the shelf and has gotten Medicaid to pay for them for patients.

So I called the office manager of the DME company we are trying to go through and told him we should probably go through a different company. Told him what I had learned. He said he was going to make some phone calls and call me back.

Now I don't know if the DME or Medicaid is the problem....probably both.

New update:

The Enteral department of the DME just told me they are going to over night a pump to our town tomorrow and someone will deliver it to us.

Thank you Jesus for knowing Elijah's needs and providing!!!

New update:

The DME office manager just called me back, LOL, he didn't know the Enteral department had already talked to me so he goes on telling me it looks like we'll have to keep the pump we have.
Medicaid's not going to approve it no matter what DME we go through.
I told him I've been told the new pump will be here tomorrow.
He said okay, he didn't know there was a change and we hung up.

He called me right back and said Medicaid isn't going to pay for the waist pack. I told him I believe medicaid would rather pay for a $100 waist pack then to pay for daily nursing care, but it's their choice which one they want to pay for. He said he'd see what he could do.

You know I'm just a home school mom, what do I know, but paying for the waist pack seems so much cheaper to me.

Then the nurse from Elijah's doctor's office called me back (I had left her a message this morning). I told her I think I have it settled now, but filled her in on everything that happened.
She said she'd write that script for nursing care if I need it to help speed things up.

I hope it is all taken care of now.

Please keep praying until we have the Infinity pump here at our home hooked up to Elijah feeding him formula. And a waist pack so he can hook up and be on the go!

OH and we haven't gotten that shipment of formula yet that we were to receive today.
It's coming UPS so there's no way of knowing when to expect it, but it is to come today.
Elijah is out of formula waiting on it to arrive.

Thank you for all the prayers over the pump problems.

Our God is a Mighty God and there is nothing he can't do.

Prayer needed for medical items!

Will you please join us in prayer for insurance to meet Elijah's medical needs.

Elijah has medicaid and medicaid doesn't want to pay for anything.

Elijah has been tube fed since he was 2 years old and we have went through a lot of big bulky pumps that have to remain plugged into a wall outlet for feedings. These pumps were not portable. At one time he was able to get a pump that was supposed to be portable, but it alarmed so much when we'd leave the house it was worthless.

Finally at one time we had Blue Cross Ins. and were able to get a Zevex pump (pictured below).

We loved it, great portable pump! Elijah was able to wear it in a small backpack made for this pump and it worked great. We had this pump and backpack for 5 years. The backpack tore up long ago, but we have still managed to use it. With the inside of the bag being tore up it made the pump alarm more then it should because the bag of formula wouldn't stay in place.

Now the pump has died.

It is a long drawn out process trying to get a new pump. Of course Medicaid doesn't want to supply him a new pump, not to even mention the backpack so he can be mobile. I've went over and over all this with medicaid and they either don't care or don't understand.

Elijah's doctor has wrote prescriptions explaining why Elijah needs a certain pump.

Elijah is an 8 year old active boy who needs to be on the go and able to do things. I can't imagine him having to be on the couch 10 or more hours a day getting feedings.

Friday Medicaid supplied us with a pump that will not fit in a backpack so as of right now Elijah is stuck at home dragging an IV pole around with him.

For 2 weeks now I've been on the phone daily, most days all day long with medicaid and DME companies trying to find one to accept what Medicaid pays and be able to supply the pump we need, formula, formula bags, extension tubes, syringes and his feeding button.

Each day watching our formula supply go down. I tried to explain that we were running out of formula. Thursday we were down to enough formula to last that evening. I finally got them to understand he couldn't go 4 days without food so they overnight us 1 box of formula to last us the weekend.

Imagine my surprise when I opened it Friday and found that the formula is now in new smaller single serving packets so it's still not enough to last the weekend, but we are trying to make due with smaller feedings. We are supposed to get more formula delivered Monday.

Monday I will begin the battle again for a portable pump.

I guess I will tell Medicaid that if they can't supply him with a portable pump, then they can pay for nursing care since he will be home bound with the pump they supply.

I hate even having to depend on Medicaid, but I have no other choice. His formula alone is $120.00 every 2 1/2 days. That's not even for his bags, tubes, button, syringes, daily meds and other medical needs. It's a shame these companies charge so much for medical supplies.

This is the pump that we had for 5 years. We would be happy to end up with this pump again.

This is the pump we really want. It is smaller then the pump above and will fit in a backpack or a waist pack. This pump is the new and improved pump by Zevex and has less alarms and such. Kids can truly be active with this pump. I'm told they can hang upside down on monkey bars and this pump will still work.

This is like the backpack either pump can fit in. These backpacks are special made with places to attach the bag of formula and a place that holds the pump. Can you believe they charge over $100 for these backpacks? We would be happy to get a new backpack, although Elijah does not want red.

This is the waist pack that Elijah really wants. He is at the age where he is embarrassed about his pump and doesn't want other kids to see it. If he had the waist pack maybe his shirt could cover up the pack. He would be so thrilled if they approved to pay for this, but again these are even over $100. We would actually like to get a backpack and a waist pack to be able to change up, but we'll be doing great to just get one.

Our prayer request are;

1. Formula and supplies will arrive Monday. I can figure out the new packages and how much more formula he will need to last a month and they approve the new figure.

2. Medicaid will approve the Infinity pump, waist pack and backpack or at least the pump and waist pack.

3. If they won't approve the Infinity pump, we need them to at least approve with EnteraLite pump. Elijah needs to be mobile!

Thanks you so much for joining us in prayer for these needs to be met. God has been so good to us and I know he can handle these needs.

Here is what the Zevex company has to say about the Infinity pump. Doesn't this sound great for an 8 year old active boy!

Small, highly accurate and truly portable, the EnteraLite Infinity allows tube fed patients the ability to participate in physical activity, without being held back by their feeding pumps.
Surpassing all other enteral pumps, the EnteraLite Infinity provides active freedom. Use of an enteral feeding pump no longer needs to be a major limitation to the user’s daily schedule.
Designed for both hospital and alternate care use the EnteraLite Infinity’s size, weight, accuracy, and portability promote and support physical activity. Enteral nutrition consumers can now gain the benefits from health-improving physical activity by utilizing new technology that supports active freedom.

Happy Easter!

Last night we had a huge egg hunt for the homeschool highschoolers. It was a flashlight egg hunt.

We taped eggs in the trees and threw out thousands of eggs in the field.

This is the only picture I took that turned out at all. The rest were blurry or black.
Here are some of the kids that were here for the egg hunt. I couldn't get everyone together for a big group picture.


The teens played a few games and had pizza before the egg hunt. Then they all took off to the field to find eggs. After the egg hunt the water balloon fight was on! I think everyone had a good time.

Today I took my kids out in the field and took some Easter pictures of them.

Elijah and his turtle named Rocky.

Elijah got his little turtle last year on August 1st and he has been a great little pet.

Rocky lives on a short filing cabinet in our kitchen in a round lagoon. When we walk in the kitchen Rocky comes to the edge of his home and walks around the edge of the lagoon following me wanting food. He thinks he is supposed to eat every time we walk in there.

He is very friendly and not shy at all. I think he likes to be held and have his little head rubbed.

Rocky is easy to tend to, throw him some food every time you walk in the kitchen and wash his lagoon out about once a month.

He eats ReptoMin, which is little food sticks and he LOVES sun dried baby shrimp. I can actually hold a little shrimp down to him and he will come take it from me.

Elijah takes Rocky outside for a little sun and exercise when the weather is nice.

Can you see Rocky on the ground in front of Elijah? He's so tiny I can't see him in this picture, but he's there.

What a beautiful day!!!

Today was such a beautiful day and since we have been shut up in the house or a hospital for many weeks I decided to get us out of the house. Jody was sleeping because he works graveyards so the boys and I took a picnic lunch to Ouachita river. The weather was wonderful.

Elijah is so much better and I do believe he is over whatever it was that hung on for so long.

We each took our cameras to get some shots of our day. We all enjoy photography in some kind of way. Jody likes to take pictures of birds and nature. Dakota likes to take pictures of objects, nature, landscapes and buildings. I like to take pictures of my kids or people. And Elijah takes pictures of anything. It's interesting to see his pictures because you never know what he thought of to take a picture of.


So today the kids took pictures and I took pictures of the kids taking pictures.

Here is Elijah sitting across from me at the picnic table as we finished lunch.

And here is Dakota. Do they look like full brothers?

Yes, they have the same mom and same dad.

Looking to my right down the Ouachita River. The day was so nice one gal was out sunbathing. You can barely see her but she is on the right side of the picture as the bank curves.

Looking to my left. What a gorgeous sky!

Dakota taking pictures.

Then we decided to drive down town to the court house and take pictures.

This is our court house, it faces the Ouachita River.

This is across the street from the court house on the board walk along the river.

This is the river to my right showing the Lee Joyner bridge and the train bridge.

This is the river to my left showing I-20.

Can you see the kids? I kept these pictures small so they wouldn't take so much time to load and I can barely see Dakota's green shirt up on the board walk.

In the picture below, see the house on top of building? I have always wanted to go up and go in that house. At one time the house was yellow and then it was pink. As I would cross the river on I-20 the pink house would always catch my eye.

Just for kicks I just googled to see if I could find out any info about this building or the house and I found this on a property website.

One such unusual property is the old Penn Hotel in Monroe‚ currently under renovation. The former hotel is noted for the little pink house that sits near the top of the 10-story building.
“The hotel dates back to 1928 and I plan to renovate it with luxury condos on each floor‚” says building owner Melody Olson. “The bottom floor will be commercial and retail‚ while the remaining floors will be residential. It’s a big job.”
And the top portion of the building that features the odd little pink house – what will become of it?
“I’ll keep it because people enjoy it as a landmark around here‚ but I’m going to paint it a stone color simply because pink just won’t fit it with the new color scheme of the renovated building‚” Olson says. “I actually plan to live on the ninth floor of this building once the entire renovation is complete. I can’t wait.”

We had a lovely day. Dakota and I decided it would be fun to go out on Sunday evenings and take pictures of different places in our area. So that's our plan.

Praise God!

Wouldn't you know, you wait for an appointment, get the appointment and wait for the appointment day and the day of the appointment the child wakes up fine!

I'm so glad he is feeling better. He feels better and he has hardly coughed today. Praise God he feels better today. He did have a day like this last week and then turned back around the next day, but I pray this is the end of long days of being sick.

So we go to the appointment and I'm telling the doctor about Elijah's cough, how bad it is and how bad he feels and he's looking at Elijah sitting there not coughing and looking great and probably wondering what's wrong with me. Oh well, at least Elijah's feeling better.

He did send him for a cat scan and put him on Allegra. I called our regular doctor and asked her about the Allegra because Elijah just doesn't do well with meds and we decided to go ahead and try him on it. She said she thought about putting Elijah on it when she put Dakota on it 2 weeks ago, but decided to see if anything else helped first.

It's been great having my little boy back today that feels like playing and he's not coughing every breath so he can talk. He talks a lot, but I know I'd rather listen to him talk than to that horrible cough. When we got home from the doctor I let him take just a few minutes to collect some rolly pollies from outside and he has them in the playroom building houses for them with his Legos.

Thank you all so much for your prayers!!!

AWWW Poor Kid

Elijah, hacking his little head off, asked me how many days he has been sick.

I told him 42!

He said "42! Is that like 2 years?" Too funny!!!

He said it seems like he has been sick 2 years to him.