War on Drugs

There's a wind blowin and I live in a house of cards. The powers that be are messing with my imperfect but functional and very tenuous setup for getting Maggie what she needs. Somebody needs to FIX THIS and SOON!

About a month ago we learned that our health insurance carrier Anthem Blue Cross was Walgreens have not agreed to new contract terms and when the current contract expires on January 1, 2012 we can no longer get our prescriptions at Walgreens. 

WHAT?!?!?!? This cannot be.  I have been using the Walgreens at California and Spruce streets since Maggie was born over  17 years ago.( I used them before that too, but just for the occasional prescription we needed when we were a four healthy person household.) I know all the pharmacists and assistants and over the years have gone through more techs than you can count. I know that I can get a refill when I need it, even if it's impossible to get a hold of the doctor. They know all 16 of Maggie's medications and now have most on an auto-refill basis. Just this morning the night nurse told me we were out of Atravent and I said, that means there is a box sitting at Walgreens waiting for me to pick it up. And indeed there was.  It works.

Walgreens is pretty much the only game in this town. San Francisco is 49 square miles and by my count there are 63 Walgreens locations. (count for yourself here). When I talked to Anthem Blue Cross about this today I asked where we are supposed to go. He suggested Target - nope there isn't a single one in SF. CVS? I know there's one downtown, but it's not realistic to drive 5 miles and pay an arm and a leg to park every time I need to get some meds because it can be three or four days a week.  Anthem does have a mail order service for prescriptions, but that requires using one service for her "specialty medications", a separate service for her regular medication and a local pharmacy for her antibiotics and urgent care meds. I cannot have three separate pharmacies.It will be impossibleto keep everything straight.  I already have three medical supply companies to deal with, but if somethign screws up there I can purchase most of the stuff over the counter. I can't do that with regulated medications. Wehn he asked if I was interested I said, "No. That makes my life more complicated and it's complicated enough already."

I don't know who is at fault here, but one of these two giant corporations needs to blink so I can  keep things straight and get Maggie what she needs without increasing the burden.  I want to continue to get her drugs from my neighborhood pharmacy, even if it is part of a giant corporation. I know all the cogs in that part of the wheel. I don't know a single cog in the Anthem wheel, which may be by design. Every single time I have to deal with them I have to re-invent the wheel. For that reason alone, I believe Anthem needs to blink. Walgreens actually provides some service to the policyholders along with the medication. That's a concept Anthem seems to have lost along the way. 

This is a hassle for every anthem Policy holder that uses Walgreens and I'll bet in San Francisco that's 99% of the policy holders. FINALLY Maggie's with the majority on a health issue.  

It's time to occupy someplace because we ARE the 99%.  

I see the sky because we are looking UP.

Just a quick update. Maggie does seem better today and I am hoping that means she has turned the corner. Nights are the hardest, though because all her symptoms are worse when she's lying down. Still, things are better today than yesterday. She still needs oxygen, but I have safely lowered the rate. Couldn't lower it yesterday without creating difficulties. Not sure if the antibiotics are working now that they've been on board for two days  or if it's viral and it's finally starting to break down. Either way, I'll take it.

This is a direction I would like to continue following, thankyouverymuch.

The Most Wonderful Time....

Tuesday morning dawns rainy and wet. the start of several days of expected rain. Oh well, it is December, after all. It is curious to me that Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule and holidays from all the religions fall in the coldest time of the year, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. Many attend church services only this time of year when everyone is coughing and sick. Talk about sharing at Christmastime! "Hello sir, peace be with you, have some germs."

I understand that all these holiday are rooted in tradition and each brings hope and light at the darkest time of the year. I'm just saying, the darkest time of the year is also cold and flu season. Keeping Maggie healthy this time of year is particularly challenging. It always has been, but especially so since she's had the tracheostomy tube. It's like a germ superhighway into her lungs.  We are fighting off infection left and right. My hands are raw from washing.

Maggie seems somewhat healthier today. Perhaps this medication that is causing such problems for her gastrostomy tube is actually working. I had to change the tube four times last week and it's not very comfortable for her. (Usually the tube lasts more than a month). Even though we flush the tube after giving the medication, the residue seems to harden inside the tube and it becomes totally blocked. That means no food can get in and we have to fix it. Obviously I don't have that many clean tubes, so I've been washing them and re-using them, which is not cool. New tubes are on the way. Maggie has another week of this medication to go, too

Though changing the gastrostomy tube is a hassle for me and uncomfortable for Maggie I am glad the medication seems to be working. Maggie has this chronic condition that rears its ugly head periodically. There doesn't seem to be a thing we can do to fix it and the medication is simply a band-aid. We have tried various medications and not all of them work. Dealing with a blocked tube is a small price to pay if it works. Let's hope it keeps the symptoms at bay until after Christmas, at least. I'm so overwhelmed with all the holiday madness I don't think I can squeeze in an afternoon at UCSF.

Of course if we have to go, we have to go, but I would prefer if we did NOT, thank you very much. The hospital clinics are the worst place to be if you're sick. All that coughing and sneezing, it's worse than church.

Stay healthy, my friends.



.