August 14, 2023
We headed over the Fayetteville early to get the prescription. David did not feel like riding but he felt bad about my going over by myself, so he decided to go with me. He slept most of the way there. I went up to the 4th floor and got the prescription while he continued his 2024 Colorectal Tour of the Restrooms of the United States, covertly placed some frogs of happiness at the hospital, and we headed back to Thomaston. As the old Mandalorian saying goes…this is the way. We were both so sleepy, and he immediately went back to sleep. I struggled with staying awake all the way home. I had an audio book to listen to but couldn’t quite get interested enough. I stopped at Chick-fil-A in Senoia and grabbed a Coke for the caffeine and a sandwich for the tummy. David woke up long enough to say he wanted a lemonade (lite ice and lemon) and was out like a light switch after. Fun fact: Chick-fil-A and Big Chic lemonade are his favorites. He was still sleeping really well by the time we made it back to our road, so I opted to continue to town to get the prescription filled. Long story short, we went to 4 pharmacies like crack heads trying to score. By now he was wide awake and patiently but uncomfortably waiting in the car as I tried place after place and was told the same thing. They didn’t have it. I did find out that someone had the meds, but it was brand and our insurance was apparently requiring generic. Sigh. He was so ready to go home, but he was down to his last dose and would need something soon. He honestly doesn’t take that much and it is a relatively low dose but it is heart wrenching watching him in pain, so again, sounding like a complete fiend, I asked about the cash price if we just bought it outright. $400. Jeez. How does anyone without insurance afford anything? Anyone with insurance has a hard enough time. If you don’t know about opioid prescriptions, you cannot just say oh well.. since I cannot get this one then give me another prescription for something else. It just isn’t as easy as that once it has been prescribed in the system. For reference, see the nurse and the Onc’s office that tried to say he was getting multiple prescriptions from multiple doctors and faced the wrath of my blistering keyboard strokes for daring to accuse him of such. A story for another day. There is no fury like the fury of a woman who’s husband is in pain and rationing pain medication to get to his next prescription and is suffering the effects of advanced metastatic colorectal cancer, but I digress. I sat in a parking lot and called our insurance pharmacy provider. I got a very nice and helpful lady at CVS Caremark and she said they just needed a prior authorization (PA), and once approved, we would be able to get the brand covered. She sent it to Dr. B’s office while we were on the phone and she told me to call them and give them a number to send it back to right away. She said to tell them to mark it Urgent PA and she said that would reduce the consideration time from 3-5 days down to 24 hours. I then called Dr. B’s office and explained. We went home to wait. David climbed on the couch and was asleep before he touched the cushions. Around 3:00, I got an email notification saying the PA was approved, so I took off to the pharmacy that had the brand name prescription. Not our usual beloved pharmacy where we drive up and they know us by name like Norm on Cheers, but THAT pharmacy where they work the pharmacists and staff seemingly like Hebrew slaves. There is never enough help and the people behind the counter seem to try their best, but this particular corporate pharmacy just does not seem to ever provide the proper staffing for the people that stand or sit in the incredibly long lines at that store. After explaining the situation to the tech and then being told by the pharmacist that we had already been there earlier and was told it could not be filled, I finally made them understand that we now had the insurance gods’ approval to take some of their Fort Knox fortified drugs off of their hands. So, set the timer on that drug vault you say it is in and let’s get moving, Sir. After an hour and a half of standing around, sitting in the car, and then sitting in the drive thru line because I could not muster the intestinal fortitude to go inside again, I texted David that I was heading back home and had indeed scored the Precious.
