Medication Prior Authorization...

I was down to my last shot last week so I called in to Aetnas specialty pharmacy Monday to order.  To my surprise the pharmacist told me that my insurance authorization for the medication had expired and my Dr. needed to resubmit a request to the insurance company before they could ship it out.  However, she assured me this could be handled the same day and they could still get it out if they received it quickly.  I called my Dr and spoke to her assistant.  She told me they had actually faxed it over last week, but no problem!  They could fax over the form again immediately.

A few hours later I called the pharmacy again to check they had received it and could ship out the meds.  "No, we haven't received the form yet."  After several phone conversations back and forth and in desperation, a call directly to my main insurance number, I learned the form had been received but it "didn't have all the information they needed on it and the request had been denied.  However, if the Drs office would just call in they could get the information they needed over the phone and appeal the denial."  By this time it was too late to get the medication out today, but they could get it out first thing the next day and I would still have it in time for Wednesday so I wouldn't miss a dose.

Wrong.  The next day was Pioneer Day here in Utah so even though I had called and left a message the night before for the Drs office, they were closed Tuesday so no-one was available to call in to my insurance.  I resigned myself to the fact that for the second month in a row I was indeed going to miss a dose, but I was trying not to stress over it.  All I could think was... of course.  It's not enough that I'm in constant pain and can barely walk.  Now I'm going to lose my medication.  Really, what else can go wrong this month?

Wednesday came and it was back and forth on the phone again with no resolution.  I was a little bit frustrated at this point.  I hadn't heard anything back from either side by the evening and we were going to go in to Thursday with absolutely no progress.  Mike was stressed out of his mind.  I had learned last month with the whole UPS fiasco that you can miss a couple of doses and be just fine but he wasn't acknowledging that as an acceptable answer.

Thursday I called the Drs office first thing in the morning and they told me they hadn't made any progress and were going to make some calls and would call me back.  Ugh.  About an hour later I got a call back from them and they told me they had talked to my nurse Brandee and she had called Jean at MS Lifelines, (she is the drug companies insurance specialist.)  Jean was going to call the insurance company and get things straightened out and if needed, get me some medication to hold me over.  A few hours later as I was leaving work I picked up my phone messages and there was a message from Jean that everything was approved and to call the pharmacy to get the medication shipped out.  I was so relieved.  I called the pharmacy immediately from my office parking lot and even though it was too late to get the shots shipped out that night for Friday delivery, they were able to arrange a special Saturday morning delivery for me so I would have the medication for the weekend.

What a stressful week!  But I was SO thankful for Jean and Brandee for getting everything sorted out for me so fast.  At the end of the day I only missed two shots and I would be able to restart the medication without starting over again with the titration pack, (smaller doses.)  I am really grateful for people who advocate for me.  While I am definitely my own advocate too, it is so nice to know I have a support system of people behind me to help me with all these things.  I'm not sure why you have to get reauthorized yearly for a medication when your disease has no cure, so they know you still need it, but I now know to reach out for that authorization several weeks prior every July in case there are complications... and if there are ANY issues, I can call MS Lifelines and get help immediately.

It's been a crazy month.  Can August get here already?

Isn't it ironic... don't you think?

I opened my desk drawer today and found that my poor little stress man that Mike bought me a couple of years ago had literally exploded.  After I got over the "awwwwwwe maaaaaaaan" of the situation, I sat him on my desk and began to laugh.  I mean, how ironic was this situation.  This little guy literally looked just like I felt.  I really needed that laugh today.

It's been a few days since I finished the steroids and I'm honestly past done with everything.  I still have a lot of pain in my back.  Nothing seems to relieve it.  It felt good for a few days, but now that the steroids are done it feels like I'm back to square one.  I can't walk for more than a few minutes at a time.  I have to use a cane to get out of bed or up off the loo.  It hurts to stand.  It hurts to lay.    It hurts to sit on the couch.  It hurts to roll over.  I haven't called the Dr back yet.  I don't want another MRI.  I definitely don't want back surgery!  I just can't take anything else right now.  I'm sick of not being able to exercise.  I'm so grumpy and fed up and I'm tired of pasting a smile on my face.  I'm so frustrated that my poor hubby has to deal with all of this on top of everything else.  Bless him he is so very kind and loving and does so much for me.  I just want to be able to do things for him.  OK, rant over.

I'm going to try and stay flat all weekend and see how I feel Monday.  If it isn't feeling any better at all then I'll have to bite the bullet and call the Dr.  I'm not above begging for some prayers at this point.  The thought of surgery really scares me.  Here's to hoping a weekend in bed will fix me.

Meet my nightstand...

I reached over to grab my iPad over the weekend and was met by this view.  Ugh... so many medications for so many different things, and my shots aren't even pictured as they are kept in the refrigerator.  While part of me cringes at having to pop so many different pills, the other part of me is very, very grateful for modern day medication and the quality of life it affords me.  My fatigue medication has literally changed my life.  I got three to four hours of every day back.  And my shots are literally slowing down the progression of this disease and reducing the exacerbation's I could be having.  Yes, it's a crappy month, but good heavens I suppose it could be a lot worse.  Today I'm just trying to see the cup half full.

Pain, pain go away...

It's been a REALLY crappy couple of weeks.  I started getting pain in my lower back around a couple of weeks ago just before the fourth of July.  I think it's from trying to workout with heavier weights.  (I only went from 5lbs to 8lbs, but apparently my back didn't like it.)  By Friday of that week I was barely able to walk.  It was so bad that Mike had to put a four pronged cane next to my bed to help me get up and down and get to the bathroom, but it was painful to turn over, painful to walk, painful to lay, painful to sit.  I was in absolute agony.  I stayed in bed all weekend so that I would be ready to go back to work on Monday.  Usually if I have back pain it resolves itself in a couple of days, but I could barely make it from the parking lot to my office on the third floor come Monday.  Still I pressed on knowing I only had to make it through three days that week as I had arranged to take Thursday and Friday off hoping to spend a lovely long 26th anniversary weekend with the hubby doing something fun.

Tuesday it just felt like it was getting worse so I finally caved and made an appointment for Thursday morning since I was already off.  Wednesday was our anniversary and we were supposed to go to  Rodizio, but that wasn't happening.  We did get some sushi which was lovely, (and by that I mean I had sushi and Mike had General Tso's Chicken), and he brought me some beautiful flowers home.

You know what I did for him?  I had Dee pick up a card for me to give him.  Terrible.  I am the worst wife.

We had purchased tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Eccles Theater back in November of last year for July 12th and there was absolutely no way I was going to miss that, so I went to the doctor that morning hoping that she would give me something that would help me through the afternoon/evening.  My doc wasn't sure if the injury was muscular or if I have a herniated disc, so she gave me both steroids and a muscle relaxer so we can treat both.  If these meds don't work then I'll have to go in for an MRI and go to a back specialist.  She also gave me a new medication to try after the steroids instead of ibuprofen called mobic.  This medication is usually given to much older people who have to take several ibuprofen's a day for arthritis or other pain, but she thought it would be a great substitute for me as I often take multiple ibuprofen 800's a day along with extra strength tylenol.  Mobic will hopefully be easier on my stomach and other internal organs.

I took my first steroids immediately and laid down for a rest before we left for Phantom and they absolutely kicked in quickly enough to help me through the the afternoon/evening.  The Phantom of the Opera was A.MAZ.ING.  This was my first time seeing it live and I could not have loved it more.  I was literally transported to a whole other world for the entire duration of the show.  The music was wonderful, the actors and actresses were perfect, and I was able to share the entire experience with the person I love the most.  It was just incredible.

We didn't get to do much over the weekend.  I do feel it's getting better, I'm just afraid that it will only be a temporary fix while I'm on the steroids and then be sore again.  I guess time will tell.  I'm trying to take it easy and let it heal while I'm taking them.

As usual the steroids have had a few side affects... the worst is the excessive sweating.  Just walking around the house or the office makes me sweat profusely.  I also feel easily irritated but I just keep reminding myself it's probably the meds before I blow up at someone.  Here's to hoping we can clear up the back issue and I can get back to exercising and feeling better really soon.