Coping, cooperating, and crankiness

I have had enough of serious blog posts on financial stuff and now am back to my normal (whatever that may be) level of zaniness in the crazy world of my health.

Monday I had a regular six month check up with the dentist. Something I hate/fear/detest more than almost anything - its right up there with those little medical adventures that might make me feel a 'twinge'. At the appointment, it was decided that I need two bonds which are relatively painless and quick and could help prevent future issues. I am all about my long term health (or what is left of it) so opted to have them. It was also pointed out that I have two older fillings on a single tooth which are stressing the tooth and cause it to start to crack. It was also decided it was in my best interest for what's left of my long term health to have them removed and replaced with a new white filling. Lo and behold, the dentist actually had a cancellation for yesterday morning at 830. I rearranged my schedule for yesterday morning and went for the appointment.

That was one of the worst dental appointments I have had in decades. First, I needed Novocaine on the top right and top left front, as well as the middle top right. Novocaine went in and the dentist got called away to check on another patient. The assisting tech decided to be proactive and put the clamp on my tooth to get ready for the rubber dam. Well that hurt/was uncomfortable/made me cringe and my stomach hurt. Not a good start. She took it off and tried a second one. The dentist returned and said to wait until the last minute. That's okay I was stressed already.

Then the old fillings took forever to drill off. Even the dentist said it did. She started explaining in detail that I didn't need. When she was done drilling, then she started putting in little wedges to rebuild my tooth and held it all in place with another clamp. She then moved on to the bonds but the drilling fun had taken so long I needed more novocaine. Then I went to work, with a stressed out stomach, feeling like I had a frozen face. When I got to work, I was told I didn't look very good.

That was on top of the continuing fight to get my new (old) pain patches for my RA/fibro. I was on the 5mcg pain patches but my doctor thought I should increase my dose to 10mcg because of my pain levels. The 5mcg ones I got from the mail order pharmacy for 3 months at a time with a paltry co-pay of $95. My doctor sent in a new prescription for the 10 mcg which showed up in a one month increment for the same paltry co-pay.  I called the mail order pharmacy and was told they needed a new 90 day prescription. Then I called my doctors office and asked them to change the prescription to a 90 day supply.

Then I had an allergic reaction to the damn pain patches. When I took off the patch, I had a perfect rectangle of rash which lined up exactly with the patch's adhesive. I called my doctors office again and asked them what were my options and was told to either try going with out the patches (which doesn't work unless I want to live on pain pills) or putting cortisone cream on my skin ahead of time to prevent the reaction.

I waited for the damn rash to go away and tried again with the cortisone lotion. So far its working. Then another prescription showed up in the mail with its paltry $95 co-pay for one month of patches. And a note that said state law prevents them from sending more than 30 days at a time. I called the pharmacy again and was told it was by law but they weren't sure if why I had received 90 day supply of the 5mcg patches. I called my doctor's office again and asked for the 5mcg dose in a 90 day supply. Then I received another email saying a new prescription had been processed and will be sent to me. All I know is that it will have a $95 co-pay (that would be #3 this month) but I hope its for 3 months of the right patches that won't give me a rash.

In the meantime, back at the ranch so to speak, I  have been coping with increasing pain, fatigue - where getting into my pjs at 7 pm sounds like a good idea, and trying to live a 'normal' life.

All this has led to some crankiness. And with my new RA meds, I have had to give up alcohol so I can't even have a glass of wine to cope. Crankiness is ensuing because the scale has not cooperated in making me a skinny alcohol free pain patient.

Inequality in insurance compensation

I have often wondered why there are such inequalities in insurance compensation. What I am referring to is why is dental coverage so different than general healthcare coverage? Also, why are prescription medications so different from medical care received at hospitals.

Dental care is just as important for good health as general health care. One thing is that flossing is important in cardiac care some how. I don't know how this works but flossing is important. Oral cancers cause death and are usually found by dentists. I just find it ridiculous that dental coverage is so infrequently offered and the coverage is so poor. This is from the point of view from some one who just paid a $600+ dental bill for two fillings and two checkups - one for each of us. And we are on the Federal Blue Cross program which is supposed to be one of the best around.

Also, why are medications taken orally in pill form covered so differently than infusion type medications given in the hospital. So if you get an infection and are hospitalized and get IV antibiotics, its basically covered. But if you get a prescription for regular tablet antibiotics, you are hit with the big copay? It doesn't make sense. Especially with the recent advances in cancer treatments.

So you have cancer you go for chemo infusions and they take hours. Each chemo round costs an easy $10,000+. You go every couple of weeks. That's expensive but your insurance probably charges you a regular $20-$30 copay if you are lucky. Then you switch to an oral chemo which is a pill form that you take often - maybe every day or whatever they tell you. These are a premium brand name pill and you are hit with a big fat copay. My insurance would charge me $95/refill at the mail order pharmacy and a lot more if I got it at my local drug store. And if you got three different pills that would be three times the price. That adds up each month.

So finally here in Massachusetts there is a bill slowly making its way through the legislation that would require insurers to cover chemotherapy equally, whether IV or oral pill form. I would love to see this adopted nationally and applied to all prescription medications.

And have my dental care covered equally. (Yes, I floss every day.)