Update on Cameron's port wine stain

Cameron turned 5 last month, which means he is starting kindergarten!  He has had 5 laser treatments for his port wine stain in the last year.  He does fine with the treatments and doesn't seem to mind too much, or at least he doesn't say much about it.  It is harder on mom than him. It was kind of interesting last time because we got to the hospital about 20 minutes early, so I drove over to a pond nearby with turtles and ducks.  I asked if he wanted to go to see the ducks and he said "No. I just want to go to my laser surgery."  Not sure how to take that except maybe that he just wanted to go and get it over with.

These pictures are on his birthday, 2 weeks after his last treatment.  Though it isn't recommended to do a treatment in the summer because he needs to avoid sun exposure before and after, we went ahead and did it anyway for insurance reasons.  He faithfully wore a hat and sunscreen--even while playing soccer!

Which brings me to my next point.  Cameron has been on NM Medicaid the past two years.  I know I complained about government healthcare before, but I have to eat crow and say I have loved Medicaid.  It has paid 100% of everything.   It is a little harder to find a doctor and dentist at first, but it has been good for us.  Cameron was on Mediciad because when my husband started his business three years ago and we had to buy private health insurance, we couldn't find a company that would cover Cameron because of his birthmark. We didn't qualify for Medicaid in Utah, but when we moved to  New Mexico, we did.  But the business is doing well and so we are over income limits and no longer qualify. His coverage ended on July 31.

I was a little panicky because I found out that NM doesn't have a health insurance pool for kids who are uninsurable.  And if you do not have health insurance for 63 days or more, the pre-existing conditions apply.  So I needed to find insurance fast, and from previous experience it isn't a fast process.  However, I found out that the healthcare reform has changed things a little bit for kids in the last three years--apparently now a child cannot be denied on a family plan.  And I also found a company in NM that had a child coverage guarantee.  And it only took a few weeks for it all to go through.  Though we may add him to our family plan later, for now he is covered through the child coverage guarantee with Presbyterian Health.  However, the premiums for him are more than double the base premium, but we are happy to have him insured again.  Of course the question remains whether they will cover his laser...but we will fight so they will.


Here are some pictures a year before he started laser

and today--his first day of school! (gulp! my baby...)