Tampa Day two, and other things...

Day Two...


Brian wanted to get up at 7 so we could make it up and out of the hotel before his 10:00 appointment for the pre CT scan drinks. (FYI these are not tasty). The actual CT scan was not scheduled until noon. I really wanted to sleep in. Those who know me well are thinking 7 am is sleeping in for me. I was thinking of sleeping until 8:30, I didn't get what I wanted on this day. It is what it is... After all we weren't there for me.


So at 6:30 Brian is waking me up to go down to the lobby for breakfast. For me breakfast can wait until lunch. I'm fine without it most days. Brian on the other hand wakes up nauseous and breakfast helps to aleviate, and prep his tummy for meds. So down to breakfast we went. Half awake and not sure that it was truly time to get up. UGHH!! Once we had our fill of coffee, eggs, toast etc. we went back up to the room and started packing and getting ready for the appointment, and the drive home.


We arrived early to the hospital since we knew exactly where to go, and we were able to get checked in fairly quickly. Brian was required to drink 4, 12 oz cups of what they called "Orange Gatorade" so that the CT scan would show what was needed. He was to drink one cup every 30 minutes.


The first one wasn't too bad until he got near the bottom. By that time he had a really hard time with it. Those who know Brian well, know that orange flavored drinks are not usually a problem for him. This was not the case on this day. He made it through the second cup with a little pushing. He was feeling really sick to his stomach once he finished that one. He got all sweaty and wasn't looking to good either. He went to the restroom to make sure to not make a mess of the very full waiting room. Wouldn't you know it they called him to come back for his IV while he was in there. So, I had to fetch him, and they took him back for the IV. Once back there he proceeded to give back the orange drink that he didn't really want in the first place. He never did finish the other two cups.


While Brian was in getting his IV, I ventured down to the Pharmacy to pick up the prescriptions and found out that I would have to order his Chemo meds from a mail order pharmacy. This made me very nervous. One reason is because I have never had to order via mail and was nervous about that, the other being that I didn't know if this was due to insurance or the price of the meds.


About an hour and a half later they called him back for the CT scan, and that only took about 20 minutes. He was really sick from the iodine they put in his IV so we took it slow getting back to the car. He slept most of the way home from Tampa. It was a draining trip for him so it was good that he was getting some rest. It was also nice to be back home, and in our own bed.


Other things...


Since our return we have been on a bit of a roller coaster with the prescriptions. I called the mail order pharmacy on Friday to get that ball rolling and was advised that I would need to have the Dr. fax in the prescriptions. So, I called the nurse to advise of this, and was told that I would need to fax the prescriptions back to the hospital. Once this was done I received a call from them advising this was incorrect and that the nurse would need to handle this directly with the pharmacy.


By the time I received this information it was 4:00... There goes my weekend.... I was worried about the cost of the prescriptions as the insurance website stated the Xeloda would be $1000.00 to $1500.00 per month and the Temodar would be $2000.00 to $2500.00 per month. I was shocked, though the Dr. had said these were expensive. I just thought the insurance would cover more.


I went ahead and slept in the next 2 days and man O man was that nice...


Monday Brian called the mail order pharmacy and found out that because they are owned by Walgreens we could drop off the prescriptions there and they would be able to get the ball rolling. I sure wish I had known this on Friday. It would have saved a lot of worry. Brian dropped off the prescriptions on Tuesday and we had to wait until today to find out what our portion would be. I had no idea just how worked up about these prescriptions I had been until I found out what we would have to pay for them. It was a total relief and if I hadn't been at work when I found out I would totally have had a melt down.


So the verdict is that we only have to pay $30.00 each per month. No where near the $4000.00 I thought it was going to be.


Words cannot describe just how thankful I was to be so lucky and have medical insurance that will cover these medications. Brian will receive these tomorrow and will begin on Friday....


Thanks to all for the Birthday wishes yesterday. I also would like to thank everyone for their support and words of encouragement they are so greatly appreciated.


Good night everyone, I have to get up early....