ON THE BRINK OF INSANITY

Once again I find this journey has brought me to the brink of insanity.

I think the only thing consistent about this journey is that fact it is always an unpredictable, white knuckled roller coaster ride of emotions, symptoms and complications. Just when you think you’ve reached some sort of precarious equilibrium and can settle into some sort of routine then something happens to turn your world upset the balance.

This week has been no exception...

Yesterday and today I set out to get my new IV prescriptions filled. That’s a pretty simple, no-brainer procedure in most folks' world. Not mine. Filling a prescription for me is like going into hand to hand combat. It took me 2 days, including one 6 hour straight phone call marathon to 8 different pharmacies, dogged determination, massive perseverance and 18 mini nervous breakdowns before I was able to even secure these new meds from a Canadian.

I was told by pharmacy #1 that the IV meds I had been prescribed were "not available in Canada because there was a shortage at the suppliers" Furthermore, they coldly stated that even "the hospitals were in short supply." Upon hearing this I was panic stricken. "What am i supposed to do, I need to fill this prescription."

"Sorry, can't help you." came their unapologetic apology. I hung up in disbelief, ever so slightly suspicious and more than a little panicked. And so began my 6 hour odyssey of frenzied phone calls and queries to 7 other pharmacies. Fortunately, Pharmacy #2, 3, and 4 all told me that both IV meds are widely available and that there is no shortage of them…apparently Pharmacy #1 outright lied to me (BTW, when I'm all better I'm going to go egg the store).
Pharmacy #2 and #3 couldn't order the meds, but pharmacy #4 and #5 were able (and willing) to order in the IV meds for me however the meds do not come pre-mixed and ready for administration (called re-constituting) which meant that I had to spend another couple hours on the phone trying to find a pharmacy that would be able to reconstitute my meds for me.

Unfortunately, no Canadian pharmacies were up for the challenge...fortunately, I finally put a call into Pharmacy #7 and they were more than happy to reconstitute my meds for me albeit Pharmacy #7 just happens to be a 45 minute drive from my home - of course, that would be a 45 min drive south of the border into the good ol' USA. So tomorrow I will pick up my meds from the pharmacy which is 5 minutes from my house and then drive them across the border to the American pharmacy that is 45 minutes away...did I mention that tomorrow is Friday. The Friday that is the start of the long weekend.

Oh joy.