Posted by c.j. on 5/9/2008, 11:49 am
65.7.42.12
Mary Ellen -
Thank you for your response in the thread below. You are right. I talked with a supervisor this morning who tells me they will provide an Inogen (only) OR a concentrator w/E-cylinders for outside use under Medicare guidlines. She also states that my concentrator is a "loaner with gratis quarterly service" since 2001 (BC/BS and I paid for the concentrator for a year or so). She also says that the Inogen is appropriate for folks on continuous O2 since it is "so sensitive" according to recent studies.
I have asked if I can buy a concentrator with a maintanence contract through them and still have the Inogen. I would have to go by the office next week to try an Inogen to see if it will work for me. She says she will have to run this idea by her supervisors. I tried to make her understand my anxiety, how stressful it would be for me to be without a concentrator with an FEV1 of 18, living alone without benefit of a caregiver and how cumbersome E-cylinders would be -- been there, done that pre: pulmonary rehab and my first LOX portable (Helios for several years and now Spirit because of the larger bolus of oxygen it gives out)
This is the smallest company in the area, a not for profit. She did state they would hold off doing anything until after my surgery the 19th which I do appreciate.