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ProfessorTomoe

Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

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5 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Starting to panic here.

I'm going to run out of my hydrocodone prescription on Saturday. I've just learned several things:

  • The pharmacy hasn't received authorization from my doctor to fill the prescription yet.
  • They faxed over a request to the pain management clinic on Monday 10/2, although I called on Friday morning 9/29.
  • The doctor is currently on vacation.

Definitely starting to panic.

Unless he's the only doctor in the practice, someone else should be able to read your chart and write a prescription for you.  I suggest calling again, repeatedly, and if they don't give you a satisfactory answer, camp out in their waiting room Friday afternoon, and share the reason you're there with any other clients who care to chat.  In a clear but carrying voice pitched just low enough that you can't be accused of causing a scene.  That will likely get a response.  <eg>

Naturally, I normally have a lot of sympathy for the doctor's office, but in this case, where someone who already has more than enough to put up with may wind up in terrible pain because they can't get their acts together, I see no problem with fighting dirty/desperately.  *hugs*

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I am twice frustrated now.

Mrs. Prof was on the phone with me. We finished up our call, and right as we did the caller ID on our TV (FiOS) popped up with "Baylor Univ Med" in the infobox. I never got the beep in my earphone of an incoming call. I hit flash to bring it up, but no one was there. I checked to see if they left a message, and sure enough a message indicator was present. I played the message.

It was blank.

AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH

I am going to be all over the phone at 9am tomorrow.

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Okay, I am thrice frustrated now.

Apparently, they did manage to get through to our voice mail (lord knows how). The first thing out of their mouth after introducing themselves is that they don't return calls anymore.

THEN WHY DO YOU HAVE A SMEGGING PHONE LINE FOR PROBLEMS WITH PRESCRIPTIONS THAT TAKES MESSAGES?

They suggested that I call the pharmacy tomorrow after lunch, or better yet, around 3pm.

To really put a kick in the call, at the end, they said I should call them back if I have any other questions. What good would it do if you don't even answer the phone? Or am I supposed to play phone roulette and see if I get the one lucky time that someone actually PICKS UP THE DAMNED PHONE?

 

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You are really making me wish I could drive down there and drive you to your **** doctor's office myself, to get you camped out there until they get you a prescription.  If there's any way you can get a taxi there, I would be happy to pay your fare.

That said, please do try calling your pharmacy again, but starting whenever it is they open, and alternate between the pharmacy and the doctor's office every half-hour (for each) until you get someone to do something about this.  If noone picks up, leave a message, every time, and point out the fact that you were invited to do so on their last message to you.  Be polite, explain to the person who you speak to that you know it's not their fault but you really need to get this solved, and you're very worried because the weekend is coming and you can't wait until Monday.  Keep reminding them of that fact.  Make sure you know when the doctor's office closes and when the pharmacy closes, and keep reminding each one that the other is a limiting factor.

I don't think that everyone is uncaring, they just don't appreciate your situation.  So make them aware of it, and keep doing so each time you get someone new.

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7 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Add to it: the times I'm supposed to call the pharmacy are after the pain doctor's Friday closing time (noon). Isn't that convenient?

Urrgh!  Okay, definitely start as soon as the pharmacy opens, and if the doctors don't respond by 10am, start calling them every 15 minutes.  Again, unless you can get a taxi to go there, which I will happily pay for.

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Gruntle level: negative ∞

I call the pain management center and (gasp!) manage to get in touch with one of the nurses who deals with prescriptions. She asks if I've called the pharmacy (yes) and asks for my last name's first letter (J). She then puts me on hold. For 15 minutes. Mongo not happy when lady come back. She's one of these stereotypical hyper-jaded nurses who has a "you did it wrong" answer for everything.

I ask where my prescription is. She tells me the doctor hasn't reviewed it yet.

"What?" I ask. Inside, though, I'm thinking,

WTF???

I tell her that I'm going to run out on Saturday, and that I called in the prescription to the pharmacy a week ago. I'm told that I should have called the pain management center (her) to check on the prescription earlier in the week.

Wait a minute—where on the thousands of sheets of paper taped to EVERY SINGLE DOOR in your office does it say I'm supposed to do that? Nowhere! Still, that's what I'm supposed to have done. But how should I have known that was S.O.P. if it wasn't on the doors? You must be new. That doesn't matter, I did it right. I'm going to run out of prescription on Saturday (she thinks—more on this later). When did you get your last fill? September 6th, one month ago.

Short silence. Repeat above exchange. Threaten to use a word that starts with the letter "m" over the situation. Tell her this is an emergency case. (Crescendo begins here.) Tell her I expect the prescription to be at the pharmacy TODAY. Tell her that ever single sign is misleading (there's your "m" word). Get an apology from her for the 20th time. Hang up on her.

Fortunately, I still have three days left of my prescription from my primary care physician's last fill that my doctor (who's on vacation) knows about. I can make it until Tuesday of next week, maybe Wednesday.

I enjoyed the crescendo of indignation. People like her who don't care about the people they serve deserve more crescendos. Daily.

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So, did it work?  Have you checked whether they actually bothered to get the prescription filled?

Hmm, most customer service things, you can ask to speak to a supervisor.  Wonder if there's any chance you could get someone else on the line?  Ask to speak with the nurse in charge of prescriptions, and if (heavens forbid) she is, then ask/beg/demand to speak to a doctor.

And does your doc get back from vacation on Monday?

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I called the pharmacy around 1:30 p.m. and asked if the prescription had come in yet. It hadn't. They close at 5pm and are closed all weekend. Unfortunately, I got knocked out by my medicine to the point where I even missed almost all of the Astros game (and that's saying something). I didn't wake up until 5:30 p.m.

I don't think I like this system, but I'll be damned if I'm going back to CVS.

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FINALLY!

I got my hydrocodone for the month.

The prescription was filled this morning. I called and verified that. As it turns out, they tried to call me, too, but due to the language barrier with the guy who originally took my order, he wrote a "2" down as a "5", screwing up my phone number. As a result, they couldn't call me.

Here's how it went down. It started with a hematologist appointment, where I found out I'm still dealing with leukocytosis and a high neutrophil count, but not high enough to worry the doctor about cancer. Mrs. Prof then drove me to the pharmacy, which was exquisitely well hidden in a medical complex building. We finally located it and got to the head of the line. I presented ID and asked for my prescription. Turns out they had mine set up for mailing, although that didn't happen due to the holiday. They're supposed to call me before they mail (see above phone screwup). Anyway, they found the priority mail box, cut it open, and extracted my prescription. For some reason, there was no copay. On that part alone, I'm not complaining.

Next time I need a hydrocodone prescription, I'm calling two frigging weeks in advance.

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Zofran emergency last night. Eating frozen lasagna. I didn't think I was eating too much or too quickly, but there came the signs—the muscles beneath my jaw tightening, the nausea—and it was either fight it, mad dash for the toilet, or take a Zofran. I tried #1, it was too late for #2, so I went for option #3. Of course, within 30 minutes, I was out like a light.

I woke up to the 10:00 p.m. news on the TV. Only problem: our cat Baker was on the sofa instead of Mrs. Prof. I was watching the midnight replay of the news. Couldn't get back to sleep immediately, so I worked a bit on blogging and other stuff. Finally did get back to sleep, but woke up around 4am. Gave up on sleep for the moment, finished my blogging (check the blogging thread), and made some coffee, which is giving me gas (took a gas pill just now to deal with it). Also had to put some 5% lidocaine on the spot on my ear to keep it from driving me crazy.

I have a feeling that all of this stuff is going to wear me out and have me sleeping through the day. I hope not, since I've got too much stuff (little things, plus some more tea) coming in today.

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Getting ready for Shrink Day:The Return. Not quite sure what to tell here about my sleep habits, they are sort of like they were before, but not really.

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1 hour ago, CritterKeeper said:

Just tell her what they are, in as much detail as she needs -- if it's a big problem for you, tell her that!

It was a good meeting and I think I got all my issues across well.

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I am officially a catastrophe for 2017.

Several of my prescriptions have had no copay within the past few days. I called Blue Cross's customer service line to find out what's going on. They told me that I'd met my catastrophic limit with a prescription that had been called in on October 3rd (post-hospital stay). Now I've got to figure out the best way to take advantage of this for the rest of the year.

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4 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Darn you! And I've held that title all but unchallenged in a streak every year since 2009, except for 2014 of course. But just you wait! I'LL BE BACK!

I hit my catastrophic limit in 2009, too. That's the only thing that let me get the gastric bypass. We all know how catastrophic that turned out.

I'm probably going to go to a dermatologist to get rid of this nodule on my ear. I fully expect to lose my ear and part of the right side of my face.

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8 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I'm probably going to go to a dermatologist to get rid of this nodule on my ear. I fully expect to lose my ear and part of the right side of my face.

Nah, just a stylish notch in your ear.  You can ask Mrs. Prof to explain what a piece of the ear being missing usually signals.  <eg>

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24 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

Nah, just a stylish notch in your ear.  You can ask Mrs. Prof to explain what a piece of the ear being missing usually signals.  <eg>

Given that he told me, I suspect he knows.

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43 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

Nah, just a stylish notch in your ear.  You can ask Mrs. Prof to explain what a piece of the ear being missing usually signals.  <eg>

 

18 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Given that he told me, I suspect he knows.

mlooney is right, CritterKeeper. Both Loudmouth and Baker have tipped left ears. This is my right ear, though, and it'd be a hole in the upper-middle of my ear. I don't think that would have a meaning unless I put one of Justin's earrings in it, and no, I'm not calling out the gay signal (to use The Dan's words). Mrs. Prof can attest. B)

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Urrrrgh ... gross stuff. You've been warned.

My opioid induced constipation came to a head yesterday after a week of no movement. I had to take stool softeners to get things moving. I figured there was something still up there, so I still took stool softeners. Now I'm dealing with grumbling guts that hurt bad, whether I'm standing or sitting (toilet not involved). I'm in pain.

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I think I'm hitting a physical tolerance with my hydrocodone. I had a moment after waking up that was reminiscent of the time before I was on the medicine, when everything from my back down my right side hurt intensely. I checked the clock, and sure enough—it was dose time. I may have to report this to my pain management doctor, but I don't know what he'll do. Probably drug test me (I'm in the clear there), but I don't know what else. Kinda worries me.

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FINALLY!

I've been approved for the trial implant of the spinal stimulator which will hopefully get rid of my back pain!

The implant surgery is scheduled for sometime on Wednesday, October 25th (yes, that soon!). They'll be implanting a trial Nevro HF10 spinal cord stimulator that operates at 10 KHz. The "test drive" will last about a week. If I like how it works, they can do a permanent implant later in a second procedure.

I've been on the phone about it all day last Friday and once this morning. The office manager got back to me rather quickly today. Also today, I got a letter from Blue Cross with approvals for a ton of different procedures, each of which I guess will be necessary to implant the device.

I think it'll be done outpatient, which is a blessing given my recent inpatient experience.

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