Monday, November 18, 2019

Fixing Things. It's What I Gotta Do.......

Let's see....

Since our last little cliffhanger, (Cancelled....) I've spent about 2 hours on phones, off and on, trying to make all of this work somehow.  Each call has landed on a different day.

First, a second call to Nemours to see why, after nearly two days, they haven't called back.

Next, and longest, was the insurance company. Finding out what was holding up the Botox was...opaque, to say the least.  The number on our pharmacy card reaches the mail-order pharmacy, which is a fairly useless (to us) place. We found out during the Great Transplant Medication Shortage (The Terror of Running Short....) that this is not actually considered to be OUR mail-in pharmacy (We can get 'ordinary' medications mailed to us from there if we want, but it is more expensive than using out local pharmacy. And for 'special' medicines like transplant stuff, we have to use our local pharmacy, 'cause THAT's our ACTUAL mail in pharmacy, even though we just walk in and pick them up. Don't ask me. I'm just The Fixer.). But I had to start somewhere, so....

The very nice lady who answered wasn't sure what the issue was, because Botox is in a Super Special Category that is neither "regular" nor "mail order," so it wasn't her department.  "I'm going to need to talk to someone else, and it could take quite a while. If you don't want to listen to the whole thing, I can put you on hold."

Well, honestly, I'm still at work, and I have a lot of charting and dictation to do that I really don't want YOU to listen to, so sure, sounds like a plan.  "Do you think I'll have time to run to the bathroom, because I probably should have done that before I called you!"  She assured me that if she comes back on and I'm gone, she'll wait for me.

No need to have worried. Fortunately, the Muzak was  not too grating, because a full hour after I got back to my seat, she came back on.  It turns out that the Botox authorization WAS still attached to Nemours neurology.  She could see a record of ONE call from the new neurologist requesting that it be released to them, but no calls from Nemours allowing it to be released.

By the time I had this information, it was too late on Thursday to call Nemours again.  Friday I got ahold of the injections scheduler, and she said the reason the provider hadn't called back was because she was concerned that they wouldn't be able to get the Botox, because it had been released to the new provider. Well, damn skippy. "As a matter of fact, no, it has NOT."  I filled her in on what the insurance company had said, and she was a bit miffed at them, since she herself had called them.

(So either she never called, or the insurance company made no note of the call and failed to release the medication that my kid needs, making it necessary for her to WAIT an extra three weeks. I'm placing ALL my money on it being the insurance company. I've been playing this game with them for more than a minute now.)

At this point, we are running out of options. I'm going to assume that our appointment with the new neurologist is, in fact, cancelled (something that I confess I have failed to confirm one way or the other since this all began.  If I ask her to release the medication now, this will likely backfire badly; and honestly, I don't think I can be polite to the scheduler in the new doctor's office at this point.

So:  "Can she be fit in when we are coming down in December? I'll clear my schedule and come a day early, stay a day longer, whatever works."

I got a call at the end of today:  She has an appointment.

I admit I cried when I put the phone down.  I just needed a minute. I am getting too old for this stuff.

DeeDee

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