AFO's

March 1, 2000

Thanks Ruth for your response- I live in Sacramento, California. I just found

out that I was given the wrong information (last April)from my primary facility

that I HAD TO GO TO NOVACARE to have these AFO's made, cause that's what my

insurance company would only authorize. In otherwords, I had no other choice!

Lesson learned-do not take the word of anyone, be sure to call your insurance

company yourself and verify the facts, as I have recently found out, that I

could of gone elsewhere. I have wasted almost a year trying to get NOvacare

Co. to fit me correctly and am now awaiting a call to try the plastic ones on

again. I currently wear the steel braces which this company tells me that they

cannot duplicate, so for now I am at their mercy with the plastics. I will give

this fellow a couple of more chances and then if that doesn't work for me, I

will go back to my Neruo Dr. and have her write a precription to go some other

place. I guess I'm in this for the long haul, so I'll keep you posted, but

in the meantime, if someone out there knows of any good brace makers in the

Sacramento area, I would appreciate any information. By the way, I checked

with my insurance company and they will not authorize the MD Foundation for

anything.

Thanks again and to all you CMTers keep up the communication on the web as there

is strength in numbers. I know that when I was told I had CMT 2, I had no idea

what that was and thought I was the only person on this planet with this thing.

AFter finding out all the information from you guys, it made dealing with this

alot easier-so thanks to all!

Barb

March 2, 2000

Rose, you are correct......

Hi Barb,

Jeanie here,

Have you called MDA to see if they would pay for the AFO's. I know that the

MDA here in Oregon will cover stuff such as that. You might give it a try.

What happens is if you have insurance use it 1st and what ever they don't

cover then MDA will, or if there is no insurance then MDA will cover all of

it. That is, as long as it doesn't exceed $1,700????.

Sorry your having so much trouble.

Your not alone, I just met an elderly woman (82)(Virginia) that is also

having brace trouble. She already had a plastic AFO on her one foot and it

was time for the other foot to go into an AFO. The place she went to fitted

her with a very heavy metal AFO that went up ontoo the knee instead of behind

the knee, it pinched her leg all the way down the front and over the top of

the foot. It was horrible seeing her try to get her foot into this. I went

with her too her next appt. and voiced the concerns that Virginia has told

me. Such as swelling, piching, causing pain in several parts of the foot and

the knee area. The ortho. said it was neccessary in order to correct

Virginia's walk. (In other words they were trying to re-position certain

area's). All Virgina wanted was better balancee like she had gotten with her

1st plastic AFO.... After all at age 82 she wasn't going to have time to go

thru everything the ortho. wanted in order to have her gait correct, plus she

didn't need too be able to hike or ski, - just to walk.

Take Care, Jeanie

March 2, 2000