...I'll be able to enjoy massive quantities of rum on vacation next week.
In other words, negative.
I won't be pregnant before our 7th anniversary.
I won't be pregnant before I'm 37.
This next cycle will even be completely up in the air. If this next cycle follows my previous history, AF will show up on day 2 or 3 of vacation. (Oh joy! On our anniversary! What a treat!) The RE usually sees me on day 3, 4, or 5 to prescribe that cycle. I won't be able to get in to see her before CD6 or 7. We discussed injectables last cycle and ordered them. Thousands of dollars of Follistim are sitting in my fridge. I was really hoping to be able to donate it to someone who isn't as fortunate as me with drug coverage, but now they'll be mine. The question is whether I'll be using them this cycle or next. If we're not back for me to see the doctor in time this cycle (she won't start a new course of action without a sonogram and blood test to reconfirm no pregnancy - ya know, because AF isn't enough) we'll just go natural and skip IUI this month. At least that's what I'm thinking now. I could take the Follistim pen with me and try to convince the doctor to just let me start, but I don't really want to deal with the hassle of flying with needles and liquids.
Now, pass me a bottle of Cruzan.
Showing posts with label follistim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label follistim. Show all posts
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
...and another thing
Now I'm probably not taking the Follistim this cycle. After all that drama, now it's too late, or something. The hell? I have THOUSANDS of dollars worth of it in my fridge right now. Thank God I didn't pay for it. I just don't get it. She talked to me about it on Monday, why the hell didn't she either act on it sooner, or not have me get it this time? Their office is the one that insists that I can only buy these drugs three times in my lifetime, and now they've gone and wasted a chance? I'm so annoyed by them.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Come on, already!
I have the slowest freaking ovaries on the planet, I swear.
On Thursday I was back at the good ol' RE for blood, sono, and injection lessons. I'm sure I'll be fine after the first one, but I am dreading it. Thursday's exam showed 2 growing follies, and "many small ones." After all that I met with the... I don't know what she was - she's the clinic's expert on getting patients the most drugs for the least money, and within what your insurance plan allows. I had already called the insurance company about the injectables, and they never mentioned a limit on how many times I can be prescribed them, but the clinic expert insists that I can only get them three times in a lifetime. Since it's my nature, I argued with her, but really, whatever at this point. Dr. S said she would over-prescribe so that if I need them again next cycle I don't use up another chance, and I'll just have it on hand.
The expert called me back Thursday afternoon to tell me it was all taken care of, and I'd be getting a call from the pharmacy to set up delivery. The pharmacy called Thursday night to confirm some details, and said that I'd be receiving the package Saturday and it required a signature. Crap! FedEx service is so unreliable here - sometimes they don't even ring the bell and just leave the stupid note that they were there, so I wasn't trusting that. We've also had packages signed for by the super, and he doesn't tell us for 2-3 days. Luckily since the RE office is open on weekends, I just had it sent there.
Friday night the pharmacy calls again to tell me there's a problem with the prescription. Dr. S had said she was going to prescribe Follistim, but the expert said that insurance companies prefer Gonal-F, so Dr. S said ok, she'd prescribe that instead. I don't know what the difference is - they're both brand names of the same drug, urofollitropin. (Ugh, I just saw the side effects - great.) So anyway, the nice woman on the phone said the script came through for Follistim, and she was all worried about it costing more and she couldn't get the doctor's office to call back, and she didn't want me to spend so much. I asked her what my cost would be and she said she didn't know yet, but wanted to give me a heads up and see if I could reach the doctor. Since it was almost 8pm and she was frantic, I asked her to just get me the cost for the Follistim before there was any panic. She called me back a few minutes later and apologized that my copay was going to be $25. Please, no apology necessary. I think I can swing that. She was so relieved it wasn't an issue for me. Despite the crappy economy, $25 for thousands of dollars worth of drugs is just fine with me.
This morning we rushed from NJ to get to my RE appointment at 8:15. I think I like going on Sundays - I was in and out in 10 minutes. Today I'm at CD18, and I have an 18mm and 11mm follicle, and still have "many" small ones. The nurse said she'd call if my blood indicated I should start my injections tonight, but no call as of almost 4pm, so I'm assuming no. I'm back again tomorrow for just blood to see if I need to start them tomorrow. I want to just do it already because I'm so anxious about it!
You know, when JB and I talked about kids before we were married we would go back and forth about having 2 or 3 kids (I wanted 3, he wanted 2), and now we'd give anything for just one. I certainly don't think I could put myself through all this again when and if we even get to have one child.
On Thursday I was back at the good ol' RE for blood, sono, and injection lessons. I'm sure I'll be fine after the first one, but I am dreading it. Thursday's exam showed 2 growing follies, and "many small ones." After all that I met with the... I don't know what she was - she's the clinic's expert on getting patients the most drugs for the least money, and within what your insurance plan allows. I had already called the insurance company about the injectables, and they never mentioned a limit on how many times I can be prescribed them, but the clinic expert insists that I can only get them three times in a lifetime. Since it's my nature, I argued with her, but really, whatever at this point. Dr. S said she would over-prescribe so that if I need them again next cycle I don't use up another chance, and I'll just have it on hand.
The expert called me back Thursday afternoon to tell me it was all taken care of, and I'd be getting a call from the pharmacy to set up delivery. The pharmacy called Thursday night to confirm some details, and said that I'd be receiving the package Saturday and it required a signature. Crap! FedEx service is so unreliable here - sometimes they don't even ring the bell and just leave the stupid note that they were there, so I wasn't trusting that. We've also had packages signed for by the super, and he doesn't tell us for 2-3 days. Luckily since the RE office is open on weekends, I just had it sent there.
Friday night the pharmacy calls again to tell me there's a problem with the prescription. Dr. S had said she was going to prescribe Follistim, but the expert said that insurance companies prefer Gonal-F, so Dr. S said ok, she'd prescribe that instead. I don't know what the difference is - they're both brand names of the same drug, urofollitropin. (Ugh, I just saw the side effects - great.) So anyway, the nice woman on the phone said the script came through for Follistim, and she was all worried about it costing more and she couldn't get the doctor's office to call back, and she didn't want me to spend so much. I asked her what my cost would be and she said she didn't know yet, but wanted to give me a heads up and see if I could reach the doctor. Since it was almost 8pm and she was frantic, I asked her to just get me the cost for the Follistim before there was any panic. She called me back a few minutes later and apologized that my copay was going to be $25. Please, no apology necessary. I think I can swing that. She was so relieved it wasn't an issue for me. Despite the crappy economy, $25 for thousands of dollars worth of drugs is just fine with me.
This morning we rushed from NJ to get to my RE appointment at 8:15. I think I like going on Sundays - I was in and out in 10 minutes. Today I'm at CD18, and I have an 18mm and 11mm follicle, and still have "many" small ones. The nurse said she'd call if my blood indicated I should start my injections tonight, but no call as of almost 4pm, so I'm assuming no. I'm back again tomorrow for just blood to see if I need to start them tomorrow. I want to just do it already because I'm so anxious about it!
You know, when JB and I talked about kids before we were married we would go back and forth about having 2 or 3 kids (I wanted 3, he wanted 2), and now we'd give anything for just one. I certainly don't think I could put myself through all this again when and if we even get to have one child.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sometimes customer service people do go above and beyond
After looking at the possible costs for injectables, calling my mom and crying to her about it, crying to my sister in law Liz, crying to my internet friends - all literally, as yesterday was the day of tears from morning till night, I started calling our various insurance providers to see what the deal was.
I never questioned Clomid not being covered, because I knew from others that had been on it that it's rare that it's covered. I figured who could it hurt to call and ask about Follistim. First I called our health insurance, because we have some kind of additional rider on our policy that is supposed to cover some drugs that aren't covered under our prescription insurance. No dice there. They were so rude, but that's par for the course.
Next I called our prescription drug insurance company. The first girl I spoke to was very helpful, and said she couldn't help me, but transfered me to the specialty pharmacy division. I spoke for a bit with the girl there, giving her all of my information and the doctor's information, and she said they'd get back to me.
It sort of slipped my mind today that I needed to follow-up with them if I didn't get a call, but they called me back as we were eating dinner. (Gotta love caller ID on the TV screen - I nearly flew off the sofa when I saw who was calling.) The bad news she had for me was that I was not covered by them for this drug. The good news was that she knew by JB's employer that we did have coverage for this on yet a different insurance plan. She was even nice enough to give me the phone number and the web site for this coverage.
I remember we used to have member cards for this insurance, but then we got other drug plan insurance cards, and I think we assumed that they replaced this other thing, so we threw them out. Typical me.
I went to the website and clicked on the member button. It asked for member ID number to set up an account, so I tried the obvious, and it worked! I was in! I plugged in the information to price out the Follistim, but it came back that I would have to call for a price. Off to the phone! I navigated several menus, plugged in the same info over and over again, and finally just pressed 0 in hopes that there was a human somewhere on the other end. After holding a bit an angel came on the line. I gave her the basic information that she asked for and she said YES! OMG OMG OMG!
We have a $100 deductible, and once that is met, the Follistim will be $25! OMG! I'd even be happy to pay $100 for it!
JB's told me before that his coworkers bitch about copays - doctor visits are $15, and covered drugs (which are 99% of what most people ever need) are $5. Cost to employees? ZERO. How many people in the US get FREE health insurance? We pay ZERO for IUI's. My fertility treatments so far have been about $15,000 and it's cost us maybe $400 out of pocket, not including Clomid and HCG. (Speaking of which, if I need that again next month, I'll have to see if that's covered too. Fortunately the cost of that is a lot easier to swallow that the Follistim if it isn't.) If JB ever tells me again that one of his coworkers bitched about copays, I will personally go punch them in the face.
I never questioned Clomid not being covered, because I knew from others that had been on it that it's rare that it's covered. I figured who could it hurt to call and ask about Follistim. First I called our health insurance, because we have some kind of additional rider on our policy that is supposed to cover some drugs that aren't covered under our prescription insurance. No dice there. They were so rude, but that's par for the course.
Next I called our prescription drug insurance company. The first girl I spoke to was very helpful, and said she couldn't help me, but transfered me to the specialty pharmacy division. I spoke for a bit with the girl there, giving her all of my information and the doctor's information, and she said they'd get back to me.
It sort of slipped my mind today that I needed to follow-up with them if I didn't get a call, but they called me back as we were eating dinner. (Gotta love caller ID on the TV screen - I nearly flew off the sofa when I saw who was calling.) The bad news she had for me was that I was not covered by them for this drug. The good news was that she knew by JB's employer that we did have coverage for this on yet a different insurance plan. She was even nice enough to give me the phone number and the web site for this coverage.
I remember we used to have member cards for this insurance, but then we got other drug plan insurance cards, and I think we assumed that they replaced this other thing, so we threw them out. Typical me.
I went to the website and clicked on the member button. It asked for member ID number to set up an account, so I tried the obvious, and it worked! I was in! I plugged in the information to price out the Follistim, but it came back that I would have to call for a price. Off to the phone! I navigated several menus, plugged in the same info over and over again, and finally just pressed 0 in hopes that there was a human somewhere on the other end. After holding a bit an angel came on the line. I gave her the basic information that she asked for and she said YES! OMG OMG OMG!
We have a $100 deductible, and once that is met, the Follistim will be $25! OMG! I'd even be happy to pay $100 for it!
JB's told me before that his coworkers bitch about copays - doctor visits are $15, and covered drugs (which are 99% of what most people ever need) are $5. Cost to employees? ZERO. How many people in the US get FREE health insurance? We pay ZERO for IUI's. My fertility treatments so far have been about $15,000 and it's cost us maybe $400 out of pocket, not including Clomid and HCG. (Speaking of which, if I need that again next month, I'll have to see if that's covered too. Fortunately the cost of that is a lot easier to swallow that the Follistim if it isn't.) If JB ever tells me again that one of his coworkers bitched about copays, I will personally go punch them in the face.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Injectables
SIgh. I don't mind getting shots, I'm used to being stuck with needles for bloodwork all the time now, but I cringe at the thought of having to give myself an injection. But now it's come to that. On Thursday I'm going in for the usual b/w and sono, and then to learn how to give myself injections of Follistim.
Sadly, I'm not only terrified of giving myself shots, I'm terrified of what this is going to cost. I know we're very lucky to have the insurance we do, but doesn't make spending hundreds of dollars a month on non-insured drugs any easier to swallow.
Sadly, I'm not only terrified of giving myself shots, I'm terrified of what this is going to cost. I know we're very lucky to have the insurance we do, but doesn't make spending hundreds of dollars a month on non-insured drugs any easier to swallow.
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