Surgery For Trinity R.

 Our 6-year-old daughter, Trinity, has been suffering from frequent ear infections and high-grade fevers every few months for the past couple of years, often resulting in emergency room visits and hospital stays with serious rounds of antibiotics. In many cases, a simple cold turns into inner and outer ear infections (double ear infection) and has resulted in ruptured eardrums on two separate occasions. Her pediatrician has put her through a battery of allergy and asthma testing and has ruled those out as potential causes of her frequent illness.    Trinity is so full of life, and dislikes missing school because she has a passion for learning but unfortunately has missed many days because of her frequent illness'. She has also been unable to participate in many school functions and holiday celebrations as she always seems to get sick around them.  As a parent, it is heart wrenching to watch your child be so ill on a regular basis. It is also difficult having to juggle schedules and manage through emergencies and regular doctor visits resulting in missed work.   Her most recent illness occurred in February of this year. Trinity’s pediatrician had originally diagnosed her symptoms to be flu related, however, she showed little to no improvement after being administered fever reducing medications. After suffering two weeks of fevers with her temperature spiking to 105 F, the severity of her condition resulted in her being admitted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The doctors at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta performed numerous tests and exams and were finally able to diagnose her condition as double pneumonia combined with bilateral ear infections along with a kidney infection. This required a three-day hospital stay with IV antibiotics before she was released and followed by weeks of prescription antibiotics.  Being so little, and on antibiotics so much, it is getting harder to find ones that work with out causing worse side effects.    Given the frequency of her doctor and hospital visits, we finally got a referral to an ENT specialist. We met with Dr. Raol on March 5th who recommended surgery to perform bilateral myringotomy with tube insertion, a tonsillectomy, and adenoidectomy (Ear tubes with T&A).  Dr. Raol recommended all three procedures since Trinity met the criteria of having had 6 infections in the past year. The general guideline is 3 infections in 6 months or 4 infections in 12 months with 1 recent infection. Trinity was also diagnosed with adenotonsillar hypertrophy which results in sleep-disordered breathing. This has caused her to wake up gagging and choking from her sleep numerous times and disrupts her comfort level of falling back asleep.   We originally scheduled the recommended surgery for April 3rd, however, the doctor’s office, the hospital where the surgery was scheduled, and the health insurance company, all called to inform us that she was not covered for the surgery. They stated that it was considered a minor outpatient procedure and insurance would not cover the cost unless it was an inpatient emergency service. The doctor’s office claimed they could not bill it any other way as they would not be keeping her overnight.     We have investigated other insurance coverage's but do not qualify for the special enrollment criteria. After applying for additional coverage through Peachcare and being denied, we are faced with paying for the much-needed surgery “out of pocket.” The hospital quoted the procedure with anesthesia fee's to be roughly $8,945.00.  A special discount of 40% could be applied, but only if we pay in full within 30 days, which would reduce the cost to about $5,367.00. However, this does not include the surgeon fees.   After a bit of research and investigation, we found an alternative with the Northwest ENT and Allergy Center of Atlanta. They have an all-inclusive price for the recommended surgeries for $2,800 that includes all three procedures. This is our best and possibly last hope of getting Trinity the surgery she needs in a timely manner.  At much more of a palatable cost “out of pocket” which is much more affordable compared to the hospital quote which is not all inclusive. As such, we are kindly asking for your help in reaching our goal. Once we have the full amount, we can schedule her surgery, which must be paid for before they can schedule.  We are anxious to schedule her surgery and hopefully this will allow her to avoid more doctor visits and potentially more hospital stays, which are very stressful and not cheap. We are also very optimistic that this surgery will improve her quality of life and greatly reduce the frequency of illness and missed school.   The amount we are requesting is only to cover Trinity’s surgery. My husband and I truly appreciate you taking the time to read this and thank you for any and all donations. We are also happy to provide updates and to answer any questions you may have.