Wednesday, February 1, 2012

And Ya Wonder Why I'm Stressed

This goes along with "a day in the life" of a chronically ill patient.

I have been trying to get my CellCept refilled.  CellCept and plasmapheresis keep me alive.  I'm not being melodramatic;  I can assure you that if I stopped taking CellCept (which I did when I had Jacob, and it wasn't pretty), and plasmapheresis I would eventually die.  SO.  Pretty important that I get my medication.

On December 27, 2011, Express Scripts called my doc to see if he had meant to change the dosage on my CellCept (from 4 pills a day to 2).  NO response.  I called at the begining of January after I received one bottle of CellCept with the directions of 2 tabs a day, and it was a 2 month supply at that dosage.

I'm supposed to receive 3 months supply, and of course, the right dose would be nice.  So I called Dr. Sullivan's office again.  Called them 3 days in a row before someone called me back.  The office manager called back, and ASSURED me it would be taken care of.

So I get a letter from Express Scripts saying that it's too soon to refill the CellCept.  Being the follow-upper that I am, I e-mail Express Scripts to see if I can get the details of the script to make sure it's correct this time.  So they get back to me, and it IS for 3 months supply this time....of TWO tablets a day.

{insert screaming, ranting, raving, and pulling of the hair}

So.  I called Express Scripts to double-verify it was wrong before I start calling people ripping their heads off.  They confirmed it was wrong, and cancelled the prescription completely.  So Monday (2 days ago) I called the office manager again and asked her what I had to do to get the correct medication.  I asked her fax in the RIGHT order, gave her the fax number, repeated the information twice, and asked her to call me when she had done this.

{chirp chirp chirp}

Yup, that's what I've heard.  It's Wednesday now, and I just called Express Scripts to see if the doc had called it in.  You guessed it:  Nope.

So I'm BACK on the phone to the doc's office, and get a gentleman who told me my doc got a new nurse, and asked me if I would like to give it one more try with HER (to get it done correctly).  I said absolutely not, I want to talk to someone in charge.  So I got the "supervisor."

Left a message with this supervisor, so we'll see what happens.  If they can't get their proverbial poop in a group, I WILL be seeking a new neurologist. (Which I already want to do, but my husband doesn't think I'm being reasonable....I'm belittling and condescending to my docs.)  Which I don't agree with, but in situations like this, if I was:  Hmm...wonder why???

And this is ONE of my many, many medications.  December 27th was 35 days ago.  Thirty-five days for one, life-saving medication.  Sure am glad I haven't run out of it!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Seriously, if I could spend the time I spend on the phone, faxing, emailing, checking Rx status online, etc RESTING instead I think it would make a huge difference in my quality of life. Sadly, I don't think switching neurologists will help with this particular problem. As a nurse, I can tell you ALL physician practices are cutting costs wherever they can, and that means overworking the staff they have and hiring the least expensive (and therefore least experienced) people to fill essential positions. The result: poor patient care. Sad, but true.

Venessa said...

Oh...wow...Kerri!! Doncha just LOVE it when WE have to do the jobs of our doctor's "staff"??! Grrrr!! I'm totally for you switching Neuro's (want me to "talk" to your hubby?) I love my PCP and Neuro both but if I had to deal with your run-around; I'd be bopping heads left & right! Praying you get this mess straightened out asap (BEFORE your Cellcept runs out!) Lots of love and loads of "flakey" hugs heading your way little trach sis!

ConnieFoggles said...

When we have a chronic illness or multiple ones, the things we have to deal with - prescriptions, forms, insurance can really do us in mentally. And stress can hurt us physically. I'm so sorry you have to deal with this. In my opinion, this is a reason to change doctors.

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