Giving Up

For those of you following my fight against Molina Healthcare to get a bed for Jackson, you should know I have decided to give up the fight.  It wasn’t an easy decision but one I am actually pretty relieved about.  A couple of weeks ago the attorney in Seattle who was taking Jackson’s case called with some interesting/good news.  She had found a way to get Jackson a bed that was pretty foolproof.  Although it was foolproof, it wasn’t easy, and was extremely time consuming.  Her advice was to ask for a continuance for the Administrative Hearing that was already scheduled, go through the lengthy process, and see where we were then.  As I talked with her and took notes about the process, I really started thinking about why I was doing all this.  Jackson now has a beautiful, safe, awesome bed.  Our problem has been solved.  My motivation was to give Jackson a voice in court and let Molina know that their members are not just numbers, they are people, and they have a responsibility to them.  And I still think that is important.  However, I also think my time and energy could be better spent playing and working with Jackson.  Dragging him to more doctor appointments, filling out more paperwork, and making more phone calls is not the best way to spend my time with him right now.  So I am giving up.  Perhaps I am now part of the problem, another person giving up the healthcare fight.  But it turns out in the end Molina wouldn’t have bought the bed anyway, the State of Washington through the Department of Social and Health Services would have bought it.  One good thing has come from my giving up though.  I now know the process to get a bed for a special needs child and I can share that information with other parents who don’t have Dwight’s (the man who made Jackson’s bed) in their lives.  Now I can spend my afternoons in the park swinging Jackson or in our backyard sitting in the pool with my boy.  Exactly where a Mom should be on a nice summer day.