Saying Good-Bye to 2012

Although very busy, the Bischoff Family had a wonderful holiday season.  Johnny was able to take more than a week of vacation so we had a lot of fun as a family.  Henry the elf arrived in the Bischoff household with the advent calendar on December 1st.  These were two new traditions that Reagan loved immediately.  And such great motivation to get her out of bed in the morning!  Reagan asked Santa for Rex the Toy Story dinosaur and a mermaid barbie doll and Cole was very excited about the new roller coaster and noisy trucks that he found in the living room Christmas morning.  It's amazing how every Christmas gets better when you have little children who get so excited.

We took Cole to his first theater movie, Monster's Inc.  We were hoping he would love the big screen and dark room.  He loved it so much he quickly fell asleep and took a great nap!

We had a few weeks off from therapy and doctor appointments and it was a nice relief from a hectic year.  We started 2012 with the hope that our family might avoid any sleepovers at the hospital but didn't get our wish.  At least one person in our family has been hospitalized every year since 2008.  We are hoping for a hospital free 2013 ! 

One of my favorite parts of the new year is being able to move the the insurance Explanation of Benefits file and the claims reimbursement file to the archive box in the basement.  My four month battle with reimbursements for Reagan's therapy hasn't quite ended so this will be delayed this year.  I did get notification yesterday, however, that the Medical Review board has finally approved Reagan's therapy and we should be receiving all the reimbursements owed since September.  I fax a claims report every month that generally includes about 18 pages of documentation.  It's amazing how quickly the paperwork fills the filing cabinet!  This year Reagan had 78 appointments, one hospitalization (with EEG), and one MRI at the hospital.  Cole had 27 appointments and one CT at the hospital.  So that's 108 in 2012 for the Bischoff family (not including mom and dad).  We are glad to be moving into 2013 and look forward to the excitement it will bring.  In the next six weeks we have two neurology appointments, two neurosurgery appointments, one CT scan, one evaluation at UVA and an adaptive ski class for Reagan in addition to therapy and swimming.  Updates to come!  We wish each of you and your family a Happy New Year filled with health and happiness.