MERRY GO ROUND

I obtain my oral chemo, Gleevec, through a mail order prescription company. Now, that may sound a little hokie but that is the way that some insurance companies handle expensive medications. In fact, if I refuse to use their mail order service then I have to pay the difference in the cost of using a local pharmacy. Anyway, yesterday I went online to refill my prescription but it wouldn’t go through. The online pharmacy that my insurance company has me use is Prescription Solutions. So I called them. After being on hold for an eternity, I got a newbie who put me on hold several times while she apparently had to ask questions. No problem, we all have to learn sometime and at least she was asking. She eventually got a supervisor to help her figure out what was wrong. They concluded that there was a problem with my insurance company. So, they gave me a direct line to my insurance company. It was a wrong number; the number was for Medicare. So, I called the number on the back of my insurance card. After going through many automated answering devices, I ended up talking to a pharmacy representative. She told me that I need to talk to a different representative. She put me on hold and transferred me to someone else. That person couldn’t understand my problem; she said there is nothing wrong with my coverage. She then asked me if I had a direct number to the drug specialty division of Prescription Solutions. Not having it she gave it to me. This all took so long that the low battery signal started beeping on my home phone. Now, I was back at square one talking to Prescription Solutions again but to a different department. I called and spoke to a guy who said the problem was that my prescription had expired. He transferred me to the oncology division and gave me their direct number for next time. I’ve been doing this for two years without a direct number, always going through multiple transfers; that’s why I usually do it online. Anyway, the oncology department told me that Dr. Tan’s office had been sent a fax a month ago but they had not received a reply. They advised I call Dr. Tan’s office to expedite the process, so I don’t run out of Gleevec.

Gleevec is not something to run out of. It is designed to have a certain dosage circulating in me at all times. A dosage is not to be missed for any reason. So, I called Dr. Tan’s office but they were out to lunch; I left a detailed message and Prescription Solutions’ direct phone number for them to call, asking them to call me back so that I could get the prescription processed after their call. After siting and thinking about it for a moment, I decided to go up to Dr. Tan’s office myself. I got there just about 1:00 pm and told the receptionist the situation. Now, this is a different receptionist than the one I used to have all those problems with. I think that one got put out to pasture. Anyway, the receptionist called the person within their office that handles Prescription Solutions and gave her my information. She relayed back to the receptionist that she just got my phone message, would look into it, and call me. Just as I got home she called. She said that she never received a fax from Prescription Solutions but called in a renewal for me. I didn’t really care who was at fault for the problem; I was just glad she called in the new prescription. So, I called the direct line to Prescription Solutions’ oncology department and got my new prescription ordered. They’ll send it out Monday; they have “free” one day service; I’ll get it on Tuesday. Otherwise, I would have run out at the end of next week. That’s perfect. As Ma from Laura Ingalls Wilder would say, “All’s well that ends well.”