Scattered Thoughts . . .

I had another visit to Oncology at the University of Vermont Medical Center last week.  I had been up there a couple of weeks prior for some labwork which we discussed in this most recent appointment.   In the photo at right, it appears as though the hospital is empty but we found that the hallways being seemingly dark and empty was a bit misleading.  It was about 8am and my appointment was one of the first of the day so we expected the hospital to be rather quiet.  Most of the people we saw in the hallways were hospital employees.  I'm not much of a fan of waiting in lines so seeing the hospital being so quiet was good news.  I like being able to show up, check in immediately, and then quickly get called into the examining room. When we stepped into Oncology from the quiet and empty hallway, the waiting room was filled with patients waiting to be called in for their morning chemo. On the positive side, even though my health has been miserable this year, seeing all these chemo pati

It was time for me to get online and order a few more refills this past weekend. Typically, this is rather painless. I have a lot of prescriptions but I now request everything online and that has made managing these prescriptions a lot easier than in the past. I still make mistakes every now and then but it is far easier to manage.  So, I access the pharmacy website...  throw the main prescription I need into my cart...  go to my cart to pay...  and what do I see? I see this screenshot pictured here! I chuckle to myself and say, "Yeah, right..." I instantly assumed that my insurance company changed their coverage again for this new year and this is the first time I'm requesting this particular refill this new year.  Every couple of years, my doctors need to send in waivers to get coverage for certain medications. I assumed this was the case again.  I called my mail-order pharmacy this morning to see if I need to call my doctor or call my insurance company next. I

Once or twice each year, I totally screw-up my medications by forgetting to order a prescription. As I was sorting out medications for our upcoming weekend excursion, I realized that I screwed up again.  One of my medications was almost empty when I pulled out the capsules needed for the weekend. This is not good.  This particular medication is a combination of mast cell stabilizer and an H1 blocker. It is actually something I need to get compounded by a pharmacist in Washington state because it is not an FDA-approved medication... nor is it covered by insurance... so I have it made just for me. I immediately called my doctor's office to inform them that I screwed up and I need them to call out to the pharmacist to order a new prescription. I probably won't see this new prescription for almost two weeks which means I will be without this particular medication for 7-10 days before the new prescription arrives.  This also means that the quality of my health will plumme