I was going to run out of Lovenox on Sunday evening, which meant that I would need it right after a holiday weekend. Remembering that it took me 3 trips to Kroger to pick up an entire prescription of it (21 days' worth) the first go around, I decided to give them PLENTY of time to refill it. I called it in last Monday, along with another prescription, and the automated voice told me my prescriptions would be ready after 1:00 on Tuesday (l2/20). I thought no more about it. Surely, surely, I'd get this filled by the time I needed it.
On Tuesday, at 12:52--a mere 8 minutes before my prescriptions were "promised," I got a phone call from the Kroger pharmacy. They were calling to let me know that there was a problem refilling my Lovenox prescription. My insurance would only cover it once at a retail pharmacy; after that, I'd have to use a mail-order pharmacy and she rattled off the phone number. Frustrated, I called the number (after my mom called her pharmacist to see if he thought it was legit) and explained my situation. The lady on the phone was very nice, but had never "heard" of me before--she hadn't received a thing from my existing pharmacy. She took what information she could from me and said she'd be in touch with Kroger pharmacy and/or my doctor and someone would call me back within 24-48 hours to schedule a delivery and take payment information.
Nearly 48 hours later (that's Thursday if you're keeping up), J texted me to call and check on this NOW. I was trying to get ready to go to the funeral home, and got really irked that I had to make another phone call (remember my phobia?). He asked for the number and he called them. I was to call to check on the status of the order if I had not heard from anyone by 3:30 p.m. They were open until 8:00. At 4:15, I called (having given them 45 extra minutes to call me back...I don't mind taking phone calls...I just can't make them comfortably) and said I was just checking on the status of my order. The guy on the phone pulled my account up in the computer and said that it looked like there was some missing information from the prescription (which confused me since Kroger didn't have any problems filling it). He asked when I had last spoken to my doctor. I explained that it had been about 2 weeks because she was in a different state and I had already had a fill of this prescription locally. He gave me a direct line for doctors to call in prescriptions and said that if we "both reach out," then maybe we'd have quicker results. He also spoke of their "high volume of faxes" each day. By this time, it was past 4:30--too late to even call the doctor's office today. I tried calling my nurse--I'd just leave her a message--but the message on her voicemail said she was off for the holidays until December 29. Shoot. I was out of luck, or so it seemed.
Well, this did NOT set well with J. As soon as he got home, I told him what I'd found out. He instantly called them back and went through the whole story again. Apparently, they got the prescription from Kroger and made contact with the doctor and got a new prescription from her. But the new Rx wasn't completely filled out (I don't know if I believe this, but that is neither here nor there). Since they had a new Rx, it overrode the old one and they could no longer fill it. Grr. J told her that he hoped she never had any medicine that she had to have and couldn't get. Then, he asked if there was someone else he could speak with. Then he re-hashed it with the supervisor. They finally agreed to attempt to get in touch with the Kroger pharmacist and see what they could do. She assured him that someone would call back before they closed at 8:00.
They did, but just barely. They assured us that contact had been made and they would contact me on Friday to schedule a delivery. I had to go get my 3rd blood test drawn, but I was home before 11:00. I barely missed the message on my answering machine. It was a bit garbled, but best I could tell it said that I didn't need to do anything, but they were just letting me know that they almost had all of the required information. A while later (sorry...I'm not sure what time; I'm slipping, I know), the supervisor called me back to confirm delivery on Saturday and get my payment information. She said she would call me back when it had actually shipped to give me piece of mind. She did.
So, at 9:30 on Christmas Eve morning, the UPS man saved the day. I guess he could tell I was anxious for the package when I met him at the door (I saw him drive up). He asked if it was perhaps a last minute gift I was waiting on...I told him it was actually medicine that we had been waiting on. Then we wished each other a Merry Christmas and I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders.
Next problem? I noticed when I got it in the house that it only has 2 refills. Oh, boy. I get to do this all over again in February...
Hugs and love,
1 comments:
So maybe you need to call in January for February's refill? I'm glad you got it IN TIME, even if it was only barely. I hope February's refill won't be a big hassle like this one was.
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