Heart to heart
Well, Kuura's trip to the vet to have parts removed went well. She charmed all the nurses and after coming round from the anaesthetic, ate one and a half sachets of wet food. I was intructed to give her a light meal of say, fish or chicken, in the evening, following her op, so as not to risk upsetting her stomach. It seemed a rather unnecessary precaution after the sachets had been wolfed down earlier.
So far Tycho has been spared a trip to Derby, We were due to go on Mon 27th Feb. On the Friday before, I got all from Stacy, who handles insurance claims at the referral vets. She's been talking to Tesco pet insurance to set things up so the vets would make the claim direct to them, rather than me paying a few hundred pounds to the vet and then claiming it back from Tesco. Tesco were worried because the only vet history they had for Tycho was his two visits to the Abbeymoor vets where I'd just taken him for his sore throat. So I told Stacy about the PDSA vet he'd been registered with in 2011 and the vet his breeder had taken him to for vaccinations and neutering. She promised she'd pass this info to Tesco on the next working day (Mon 27th) and the appointment for that day would be cancelled - postponed until we had a decision from Tesco. I was told that would probably happen in a day or two.
Monday I had a call from the referral vet, half an hour after the appointment time, asking if I was on my way. I explained the appointment was cancelled, and why. By last Thursday, I hadn't heard anything about the insurance, so I called Stacy. She said she'd got an estimate of the cost from the vet and had meant to call me that morning even though there was nothing yet from Tesco. I was promised I should hear something the next day..
Well, there was nothing on Friday, so I waited. Tuesday the 7th, I got a call from Tesco, asking me directly if there was any more medical history for Tycho. They did have details for the vet where his breeder took him but didn't know about the PDSA. Tesco said they only recieved the claim details from the referral vet last Friday, the day after I called Stacy to see how the claim was coming on and 5 days after she told me she'd sent the paperwork. It's bad enough having the insurers wondering why Tycho doesn't have more of a medical history (because he's been healthy and not needed the vet in the last 6 years !) and casting doubt on whether they will pay for expensive tests. I really don't need to be kept waiting for a decision and strung along with false promises by the person in charge of submitting the paperwork (which I'm paying an admin fee for).
On the bright side, I enquired about the claim I'd submitted through Abbeymoor vet for Tycho's treatment for the sore throat and initial test for heart trouble, and was assured that this had been approved. I'll get the money for that back in a couple of days and if they're paying out on one claim, then that's hopeful for the other.
If it's not the cats going to the vets, it's been me going to the doctor's. On the 21st I had a medical at my Dr's for the DVLA, who are still dithering over my licence renewal. Dr said he thought I was fine to drive, but he did find I had a heart murmur. I laughed, and explained that my cat had just been diagnosed with the same thing and had been referred to a specialist. The Dr said he was send me to a specialist for tests, but not the same one as the cat. Just a few days later, I got a letter with an appointment for an ECG in about 5 weeks from now. Much sooner than I expected - the overstretched NHS has been quicker than Tycho's private healthcare. The bad news is that it's for 8:15 in the morning. I had no idea they did clinics at that hour.
This Friday I'm back at the docs for a review of my meds - the Baclofen I take to ease muscle spasticity. A couple of weeks later I'm due at the hospital to see the MS nurses. This was to be at the nurse clinic in the Outpatients Dept. However, I had a bout of optic neuritis on Sunday and phoned the MS nurses to keep them up to date on Monday. Tues I got a call back and as a result of the chat, it's now an appointment at the relapse clinic on M floor in the main building. I also got a slightly later start time, so now it's 9:45am, instead of the dot of 9:00am. So that's four medical appts for me in the space of roughly 8 weeks, plus the dentist and my neuro specialist both due in May,
Still, mustn't grumble, as they say.
So far Tycho has been spared a trip to Derby, We were due to go on Mon 27th Feb. On the Friday before, I got all from Stacy, who handles insurance claims at the referral vets. She's been talking to Tesco pet insurance to set things up so the vets would make the claim direct to them, rather than me paying a few hundred pounds to the vet and then claiming it back from Tesco. Tesco were worried because the only vet history they had for Tycho was his two visits to the Abbeymoor vets where I'd just taken him for his sore throat. So I told Stacy about the PDSA vet he'd been registered with in 2011 and the vet his breeder had taken him to for vaccinations and neutering. She promised she'd pass this info to Tesco on the next working day (Mon 27th) and the appointment for that day would be cancelled - postponed until we had a decision from Tesco. I was told that would probably happen in a day or two.
Monday I had a call from the referral vet, half an hour after the appointment time, asking if I was on my way. I explained the appointment was cancelled, and why. By last Thursday, I hadn't heard anything about the insurance, so I called Stacy. She said she'd got an estimate of the cost from the vet and had meant to call me that morning even though there was nothing yet from Tesco. I was promised I should hear something the next day..
Well, there was nothing on Friday, so I waited. Tuesday the 7th, I got a call from Tesco, asking me directly if there was any more medical history for Tycho. They did have details for the vet where his breeder took him but didn't know about the PDSA. Tesco said they only recieved the claim details from the referral vet last Friday, the day after I called Stacy to see how the claim was coming on and 5 days after she told me she'd sent the paperwork. It's bad enough having the insurers wondering why Tycho doesn't have more of a medical history (because he's been healthy and not needed the vet in the last 6 years !) and casting doubt on whether they will pay for expensive tests. I really don't need to be kept waiting for a decision and strung along with false promises by the person in charge of submitting the paperwork (which I'm paying an admin fee for).
On the bright side, I enquired about the claim I'd submitted through Abbeymoor vet for Tycho's treatment for the sore throat and initial test for heart trouble, and was assured that this had been approved. I'll get the money for that back in a couple of days and if they're paying out on one claim, then that's hopeful for the other.
If it's not the cats going to the vets, it's been me going to the doctor's. On the 21st I had a medical at my Dr's for the DVLA, who are still dithering over my licence renewal. Dr said he thought I was fine to drive, but he did find I had a heart murmur. I laughed, and explained that my cat had just been diagnosed with the same thing and had been referred to a specialist. The Dr said he was send me to a specialist for tests, but not the same one as the cat. Just a few days later, I got a letter with an appointment for an ECG in about 5 weeks from now. Much sooner than I expected - the overstretched NHS has been quicker than Tycho's private healthcare. The bad news is that it's for 8:15 in the morning. I had no idea they did clinics at that hour.
This Friday I'm back at the docs for a review of my meds - the Baclofen I take to ease muscle spasticity. A couple of weeks later I'm due at the hospital to see the MS nurses. This was to be at the nurse clinic in the Outpatients Dept. However, I had a bout of optic neuritis on Sunday and phoned the MS nurses to keep them up to date on Monday. Tues I got a call back and as a result of the chat, it's now an appointment at the relapse clinic on M floor in the main building. I also got a slightly later start time, so now it's 9:45am, instead of the dot of 9:00am. So that's four medical appts for me in the space of roughly 8 weeks, plus the dentist and my neuro specialist both due in May,
Still, mustn't grumble, as they say.