Frequent Flyer

August 5, 2010

After spending 6 days in the hospital receiving chemo Rory and I were ready to come home. The Mayo Clinic is a nice hospital and the nurses and doctors were wonderful but we wanted to come home before he had to start the next round. We did have some fun visitors in the hospital and it really helped to make the days run smoother. One day Wes, Allen, Jake and Sarah all came and spent the day and we all had a lot of fun. Laughter really is some of the best medicine.

On Tuesday the 3 we were finally able to be discharged from the hospital. It is a long day when you are told you can be discharged from the hospital because automatically the clock stops and people start moving in slow motion. Our biggest issue that day was having Rorys prescriptions filled. One drug in particular was a nightmare-its called vancomiocin and it is a major antibiotic for the guts and Rory HAD to have it 4 times a day. I went to the pharmacy in the hospital hoping that would speed things up. When I got there they told me that they do not accept our insurance, so I told them that I would just go ahead and pay for it out of pocket thinking that if it cost me even $50 it was worth it. The pharmacist then tells me that the vancomiocin alone was $3800.00. I was floored! How can pills cost that much? I then told her I would be finding a different pharmacy that did accept our insurance since the nurse practitioner had assured me that insurance agreed to pay for the prescriptions. I then went to a Walgreens and dropped off the prescriptions, went back to the hospital picked up Ror and then went back. The pharmacist there then tells me that they have not got a authorization from the insurance company and it can take as much as 2 days to get it. I then tell her that I will pay for it out of pocket knowing that once insurance approves I can get a refund. She says that would be fine but I would need to come back to that same Walgreens (in Scottsdale) with in 5 days of the approval. That wasn't going to work not to mention that once they looked they didn't even have the vancomiocin they would have to have another pharmacy bring it over. UGGGH!! By this time I was stressed out and needed to eat. Rory and I went to Olive Garden so I could think what to do on a full stomach. After we ate we headed for Payson so we could get home by a decent hour. All the way we were on the phone trying to figure out what to do. In the end we had the prescriptions called into the Show Low Walgreens so worse case I could pay out of pocket and then go get the refund. When we got to Show Low the pharmacist there said that she would give me enough pills for two days and that way it only cost me $435 and then when insurance approved I could get the refund and the rest of the pills. What a pain in the butt!!

By that time I didn't care about anything but getting Rory and I home to our girls and enjoy a night in our own bed. The next morning we had an appointment with Dr. Thakkar in Show Low and I was able to get the refund from Walgreens but the insurance would not release the rest of the pills for two more days and I needed 4 more pills for Rory to stay on track. So frustrating!!

On Thursday morning I had my father-in-law Leland come stay with Rory while the girls and I drove back to Show Low for the remaining pills. I could have left the girls and had a less stressful trip but I wanted to spend some time with them knowing that Ror and I would be in and out of Mayo for a long time and school was going to be starting soon and I just wanted to hang out with my girls. In Show Low we got the pills, went to Wal-mart, grabbed lunch and drove home.

When I got home Rory was in bed and was burning up. I felt his head and it was like someone punched me in the stomach, I knew he had a fever and I knew what that ment. Sure enough I took his temp and it was 102.4. I called Mayo and like I predicted that wanted him to go to the Show Low ER. Because I was barely unpacked from our return from the valley I had Wendy and Leland take Rory while I quickly repacked and paid some bills. I again said goodbye to the girls and Rock drove me to Show Low. It was my 4th trip to Show Low in less than 48 hours.

When I got there they were just taking Rory back to the ER. They took x-rays and blood tests and then told us he would need to be flown back down to Mayo. Knowing Rory was in good hands I jumped in my Yukon and headed for the valley. It was a long lonely drive and the pouring rain only depressed me even more. Rory got to Mayo only an hour before I did and again it was like a de ja vu. We finally got settled and prepared for whatever was to come next.