It's a New Year's miracle!
Actually, it's the miracle of a gloriously stubborn 80-something Brooklyn not-quite-retiree who speaks so softly you can barely hear him most of the time but who will coldly and remorselessly mulch you if he believes you're standing between one of his patients and the care that patient needs. Dr. S was a detective, a magician and a relentless pain in the ass of every pharma-adjacent individual in the entire city of San Francisco today, and the result is that in about an hour we'll have enough Dilaudid to get me all the way to my first visit with the oncology team, comfortable and well-rested instead of fully unstrung.
David did a lot of calling himself, shaking down phone systems with which he's much less familiar, and I clocked in a lot more phone time than my phobic self was happy with, and Dr. Reddy started with the first small push first thing in the morning, and somehow all that monumental effort turned this fucker around.
For one prescription. For a palliative band-aid that will only just get me through to the point where the truly difficult, grinding work begins. A glowing triumph that throws the greater systemic failure into stark relief.
Separate post: it was so, so good to see Nanita! For the conversation and the superlative hug and the flowers and the absolute Nanita-ness of her.
I hope it's easier after this.
Oh, I'm so glad, JZ. And the Sacklers can burn in hell slowly.
Yay Dr S, David, and Dr Reddy! I’m glad you have your meds now, JZ.
Jesus H Christ JZ, David, and Dr. S. I am glad Dr S got things taken care of.
Sheeesh. I need an Ativan after reading JZ and Hec's med odyssey. I hope you have/get what you need. I am so sorry you have to deal with b.s. like this ever, but especially right now.
It's inhumane. I really had to restrain myself from going full-on Shirley MacLaine, when we hit the bureaucracy wall for my mother's meds.
I’m so glad that my catch-up saw the solution (or at least a temporary one) I was really hoping I wouldn’t get to the end and it’s still a shitshow!! And glad you got to see Nanita and she got to see you, and the house!
I drove allllll day (about 830am to 730pm) and need to do the same thing again tomorrow. Ack. But I will be glad to get home. And giving the dog a Benadryl seemed to work pretty well for him in the car, thankfully. We are now in Redding and hoping to get home to seattle tomorrow night. Fingers crossed.
I'm very tired, but we got the meds. Primarily because of Dr. S.
It's weird because with a cancer diagnosis you don't usually think the most stressful parts will be (a) getting past the ER waiting room to get a CT scan; (b) sleeping on a gurney in a loud, brightly lit hallway for two nights with several loud neighbors; and (c) filling your prescription.
We haven't even gotten to surgery and chemo yet.
I mean...Jacqueline really hasn't even been able to start to process the diagnosis yet. It's all been so fraught and fucky.
Tomorrow should [knock wood] be easier.
JZ and David, I'm relieved that you got the meds, but I'm also livid that you had to jump through so many hoops to get them. It's a dystopian healthcare system, and it shouldn't be like this. I'm sorry.
