You never want to hear someone use the saying, "the perfect storm" in regards to medicine that was to be overnighted for use on Sunday morning. Today after school I was feeling exhausted. I actually stopped in the room of a friend and rocked in her rocking chair for a few minutes because I was SO tired!! Then, I went back to my classroom and started working . Suddenly our secretary called down and said that I had a phone call. I was very confused because it was Friday afternoon and I wasn't expecting any calls. It was CVS specialty pharmacy calling about the medication that was supposed to be shipped out today for delivery tomorrow. The very nice gentleman on the other end of the call told me that there was just a generic version of my medication released. (Awesome!!!... I am assuming at that point that it just means I will save money!!) Then he says, "When we made the test claim there were no problems, but as we went to bill your insurance today we realized that your medication co-pay jumped due to the generic being available. I don't want to you have to pay those high prices, but unfortunately we do not carry the generic medication and I know you need this medicine to be delivered tomorrow for use on Sunday morning." UGH!!!! (At this point I am so thankful that he has called to inform me of this that I just keep thanking him, yet I am so confused about what is going on and how I will get my meds. ) He tells me that he is willing to call pharmacies in the area to see if any of them have the generic medications in their inventory. (WHAT?!?! WOW!!! This is awesome!! This is going to work out!!!) I thank him a gazillion more times and he says that he will call me back after he calls the pharmacies. I ask him if he will be calling the work number again and he tells me that it is the number he has for me. I give him the cell phone number and he says that it is not in my file. SUPER weird!!! So, I wait for him to call back and when he does he says, "I was able to find the generic medication at Walgreens in Galesburg. They only have 2 boxes, but they will order the remainder of your script so that you have what you need." AWESOME!!! Then he says, "But, the problem is that your script says to dispense as written, which means that we cannot transfer your prescription and we cannot get you the generic with it." AHHHHHH!!! You've got to be kidding me. "I have already called your doctor's office, but no one is available to speak with me about this and the deadline for sending meds out for you is 5 p.m. CST." CRAP!! CRAP!! CRAP!! "I understand that you need the medication, if you are unable to contact your doctor's office we could just send one box of the medication so that you will not have to pay AS much and then it will give you some time to figure this out. You really got caught up in The Perfect Storm because the generic came out just as you needed refills and your script was written so specifically." AHHHH!!!! The perfect storm is not what I was looking to be hit with! :( So, I called and left a message on the voicemail of the IVF coordinator and then began to FREAK OUT!!! It was after 4:00 at this point and I know that the office closes at 4:30. After waiting for 10 or 15 minutes I decided to call another person at the office to see if they were available to help me. The woman called me back earlier this week and said, "If you have any further questions call me back." So, I called and told them that I was calling her back! ;) That got me right through!!! :) So, she listened to my situation and attempted to figure out what we needed to do. (I have no reception in my classroom, so at this point I decided to leave my work behind and head home... my stress level was shooting through the roof and I wasn't getting anything done sitting in the room across the hall so that I had reception!) As I talked to the nurse she put me on hold to talk to the IVF coordinator. Then she got back on and said that she was uncertain of the quality of the generic meds because they are so new. She said that they would let me try them because of the issue with getting the name brand covered. Then she told me that she would attempt to call the meds in and then call me back to confirm if everything was set up. I looked at the time and it was almost 4:30. I was really panicking and I was just down the street from my house. Mike was pulling out of our driveway to go to work and he rolled down his window to see what I was up to. I told him about my panicky moments and told him that I was waiting to see if they would be able to figure things out for me. His response... "Well, I have to get to work." And, he drove away after telling me he would see me later. UGHHHHHH!!!!! I know that he has no idea how stressed I was or that I was already hanging on by a thread, so I will cut him slack NOW, but at the time I just wanted to cry!!! I pulled into the driveway and the woman called me to say that she got ahold of the pharmacy in Galesburg and they would have enough meds to cover me until they could get an order in. PHEW!!! She then said, "If things do not work out, remember that we have an on call nurse that you can talk to who can help you." WHAT!?!?!??! And my response was, "WHAT?!? I didn't know that! REALLY?!?!??!" She then said, "Yes, you just follow the prompts when you call the number after hours." Again I said, "WHAT!!! I had no idea!" Why didn't they tell me this before? Why didn't they tell me this last cycle when I lost the two embryos... one would think that they would have said, "If you ever have bleeding like this again PLEASE call the on call number." Why did I not realzie that the 2nd option of the after hours message meant to leave a message for someone that was on call. Why didn't other patients I talked to know this either?!?! Anyway... I am glad to know for future reference that there is an on call nurse. I know that there is nothing that I can do to change the past, so I am just going to have to move forward with this knowledge and be thankful that it is now available. After talking to her I headed to Galesburg to have dinner with my mom, sister, and Grampy. On the way there I started having icky cramping. It totally freaked me out. TOTALLY FREAKED me out. I had to call a friend who has been through this and have her talk me out of hysteria. In the end I was able to get the meds and my cramping has calmed down, but WOW!! What a day. Mike will be home in less than an hour and luckily everything has been settled and there is no need for further panic. Time to relax and try to destress from a long day. I just keep reminding myself that it will all be worth it someday!!! :)
Though there were many things about today that were super stressful and not ideal, there were some awesome things as well: An amazing friend brought scotcharoos to school with a sweet note to enjoy the sweet treats and to think happy thoughts for me and the two embryos that we hope are growing and growing and growing (what a nice surprise!!), the man from CVS was SO helpful and amazing, dinner at taco hideout was delicious, and in the end my new meds were only $7!!!! Yep, how is that for AMAZING!!!! :) So, once again there is a lot of good amongst the ick of this process!! :)
Have a great weekend! Hopefully mine is very uneventful!!! ;)
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