How A Simple Medication Refill Turned Into A Disaster

I've fallen down the rabbit hole. There is no other possible explanation for what's going on.

My prescription plan is through one of these mail-order pharmacies, Optum Rx. While I can go to a retail pharmacy for short-term prescription like if I need antibiotics, all of my long-term meds have to come through the mail and it has to be a 3 month supply. Last month I called to refill my existing prescription for my rescue med (Sumatriptan). About a week later they arrived in the mail box. Well, some of them arrived - 25 pills of the 54 pills that were prescribed.

First of all, 25 is not divisible by 3. There is no math that allows for a 3 month supply of pills to equal 25 pills. I was able to get them to send me 2 more pills cause they showed my plan was supposed to allow 27 for 3 months (WRONG - I have a long-term preapproval for 54) but they told me I wasn't allowed an explanation as to what happened. I'm left believing they are scamming me, holding 2 pills back and hoping I don't notice, saving them money. Second of all, why are they sending me less than half of the prescribed amount? If there is a problem, either my doctor's office or the pharmacy should have contacted me. Instead they sent the pills, told me there was nothing they could do to correct the problem for this 3 month time period and insisted I pay for them and they would help me resolve the problem for next time. Turns out all of this was wrong or a lie. Does it even matter which?

Anyway, this was the beginning of a month long battle with both Optum Rx and my doctor's office to try and resolve this problem, a battle that rages on STILL. I've talked to at least a dozen people between the two places and absolutely everyone I've talked to has told me something different. Each and every conversation has made the problem worse and more confusing, taking me deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.

I feel like I'm speaking a different language and everyone around me is just nodding along and pretending to understand me. I'll save you all the lengthy, confusing details and just say that it is not an exaggeration when I tell you that every single aspect of this ordeal has been screwed up. Up until this past weekend I though it was only Optum Rx that was Screwing up but now I know that it is also my doctor's office.

 I'm supposed to be managing all of this but I'm the only one who doesn't have access to the actual details. I call my doctor's office and they tell me one thing. I have no way to verify what they tell me but no real reason to believe they would be lying to me. So I call Optum Rx and relay the information and they tell me that is not what their records show. So they send me back to the doctor's office or onto someone else within their company who tells me something different still. I feel like I'm seriously going mad here.

I've lost hours playing this maddening back and forth game with them. Remember, all I was trying to do was refill an existing prescription that was previously correct. How the hell did it get this messed up!?!?!?!?!?!

I'm so angry. I don't deserve to be treated like this. Nobody does. Not only have they stolen a tremendous amount of time and energy from me but there has been a mental and emotional cost as well. Living with chronic pain is hard enough, the last thing I need is this level of bullshit and extreme incompetence. I've lost all faith in both Optum Rx and my doctor (and her employees). If they can't handle something as simple as a medication refill how can I trust them with anything.

At this point everything is on hold until I can get in to see the doctor on the 21st. I'll have to spend an hour on the road and pay my co-pay to resolve the clusterf*$% that this refill has turned into. Everything about this is wrong. None of this would have happened if I was allowed to go to a retail pharmacy.

Missing A Great Opportunity Because of Chronic Migraines

I grew up in an unusual little place called Rochester in SE Minnesota. When people think Minnesota they usually think of Minneapolis and St. Paul - the twin cities as it is frequently referred to. Those who have heard of Rochester probably only know about it because it is the home of the Mayo Clinic. In fact, if not for the Mayo Clinic, Rochester would be nothing more than a small farming community just like everything else surrounding it.

I love this place so much, but with a population around 110,000 it's not the sort of place frequented by musical acts, especially back when I was young and the population was even smaller. I did manage to see Bryan Adams three times during my teenage years and that's when I realized how much better music is when performed live. No matter how good of a sound system is, there is just no comparison. Live music has a magical quality that reaches into some otherwise untouched place in our core and stirs us. Well, assuming it's good music.

Of course, I don't go to concerts anymore. My body simply can't manage the experience. The parking, walking and getting seated. The waiting for the concert to start, putting up with the opening act and then waiting again for the main event. The extremely loud volume, the flashing lights the screaming fans all around. The standing for hours and then the crush of people all trying to leave at the same time. The pulsing and ringing in the ears for days to follow... And that's if I can even pull myself together enough to go at the scheduled time of the concert. Everything about it is a migraine trigger.

As much as I love live music, the years of living with chronic migraines has made concert going sound like no fun at all. So what's the problem? Well, now I live in a bigger city, the kind of place everyone stops when they go on tour. I'm watching commercials and seeing billboards around town promoting all the wonderful musicians I would love to see perform. The list of musicians I love, who are still performing, is fairly small: Pink, The Moody Blues, Bob Seger, Fleetwood Mac, Nora Jones, The Beach Boys, Pat Metheny and I would see Bryan Adam again so long as it was acoustic. Of the 8 acts I listed, 5 have been or are scheduled to come through here in the 3 years since we moved to the area.

Knowing I have the opportunity to see these amazing artists perform and NOT being unable to go makes me sad. Many of these artists are old enough that you have to wonder how many more times they will go on tour. The opportunity to see them is fleeting and I feel like I'm missing out. Sure, I can listen to their music any time I want but it's not the same. I wish I could have the experience of seeing the musicians I love play the music I love. So much so that I actually wonder if I should just go and do it, even if the migraine price is high.

What do you think?

Whimsy Wednesday

Okay, I'm totally obsessed with Henri the tormented cat. In this clip he is forced to endure a cat sitter. 

Have a great day!

Some Simple Fall Decor

The start of October means I can finally put up all my fall decorations. I say - all my fall decorations - as if I have a whole bunch. Truthfully I only have a small plastic tub with a few things. Now that we have settled into our home I am ready to slowly start expanding my collection. 

I absolutely love this time of year and so I thought I would share the little things I've done this year to bring fall into our living space.

By the front door I've added these scarecrows to
the milkcan with sticks. You can also see the bench
I am gearing up to redo.

I just love these little scarecrows.

I also added a witch and a pumpking to
some dried grasses for the mantel.

I made candle holders out of mason jars and burlap.

I then added some small pumpkins on each side of the line of
jar candles.

Down below I added a pumpkin. Gypsy
insisted on being a part of the pictures.

A couple years ago I made this Happy Halloween sign
from an old table cloth. 

She can hardly take her eyes off it.

Gypsy loves how it turned out.

Voila!

If You Don't Have Your Health, Then What

We've all heard it said, if you don't have your health you don't have anything. Of course, those of us who don't have our health know better. See, I have a wonderful husband, a loving family, an amazing fur baby who adores me, a comfortable home, food to eat, a bed to sleep in, a computer and internet connection, indoor plumbing, a washer/dryer...the list goes on and on. I am very blessed, despite my health problems.

Life goes on even when you feel terrible and can barely move. I think it's just hard for healthy people to conceive of what it must be like to live with a chronic condition that interferes with daily life. I remember reading about a study a number of years ago that showed most people thought they wouldn't want live if they were paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. BUT, people who were paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair were still living lives of purpose and fulfillment.

Being confronted with a challenge of this size each and every day shapes you in a way that you can't anticipate. It's ugly and it's hard but that doesn't actually devalue life. I may not be able to contribute to our family finances but I can prepare healthy, tasty meals and I can do laundry and clean. I can take care of things at home so hubby can concentrate on work. Even when I can't manage to pull a meal together, I'm still a human being and my life has value. Anyone who doesn't get that, has no place in my life.

The saying is sort of a double edged sword. On the one hand, it underscores the impact health, or lack of health, has on our lives. My lack of health dominates every day of my life, impacting every aspect of my life. It's a pretty big deal. On the other hand, it implies if you have anything going in your life then you must be healthy. In that way, it may actually feed the existing myths. All those people out there who think you must be feeling better because you are up and out of the house - looking normal.

When it comes down to it, something as complicated as health and illness can't be summed up in an adage. Come to think of it, isn't most of life too nuanced for adages? Isn't that what makes life the incredible journey that it is? Why are we constantly trying to over simplify?

Looking For Help As My Health Shifts

I feel as though my health has been shifting as of late. Physically, I'm having frequent lower back pain and increasingly more hip and knee pains. Plus I suspect that my chronic migraines have gotten worse. I'm having more long stretches of pain and overall the severity of my pain is up a little. Mentally, my brain fog has gotten more pronounced and I'm struggling to deal with it. 

I don't have a trusted PCP to sit down with and help me figure out what, if anything, I can do. I guess I could just google some folks and hope they can help but I just hate doing that. I've seen a lot of bad providers by picking them randomly but since I can't seem to find anyone who can recommend people, I don't really have much of a choice. 

How I long for the simplicity of my healthier days.

Okay, enough of that. I'm headed over to google now.

Whimsy Wednesday

I love these clever videos of Henri, the tormented French cat. I hope it brings you a smile and some cheer on this Wednesday.

Have a great day!!