If you know me well enough, you know that this pregnancy has been different than the last one. I have had the "honor" of experiencing many pregnancy symptoms that had I experienced them the first time, I may not have gone through this experience again on purpose.
That being said, I have to talk about my day. Actually, it all started about a week and a half ago when I went to the doctor and when she asked how things were going, I remembered something that had been bothering me, but, of course, at that moment, wasn't bothering me. The doctor asked me a couple questions and then suggested a medication, and put in for the prescription to be filled and for me to pick it up if I was being bothered again.
Well, I didn't think about it again for the rest of that week. I didn't think about it again until the next doctor appointment when the nurse asked me about current meds, and when she read that one, I told her that I never even picked up the meds, so she deleted it.
The next day, the pharmacy called me to tell me that I had a prescription ready and that if I didn't pick it up within the next three days, I would have to see a doctor again to get the prescription filled all over again.
Then I was thinking, but what if I let the prescription expire, and then the next day that is when the symptoms will return, and I will have to wait until my next doctor appointment to get the meds again. And what if I go into labor before then and then I won't have access to the doctor (of course, I may not need the medicine then, because sometimes the symptoms resolve themselves when the baby is born, but I don't know that for sure). So I was a little bit freaked out, and, although at that time, I was feeling fine again, I decided that I needed to pick up the meds anyway.
So, I make this part of my agenda for the day today, that I am going to stop and pick up this prescription because I would rather have it and then not need it than really need it and not have it.
So, I run to Target to pick up the meds and I expect to pay the co-pay, and it shouldn't cost too much. I am dead wrong. The lady looks up and says that my total (including the tinfoil and marshmallows that I have purchased) was over $170. WHAT?!? I hesitate before sliding my card because I was not expecting the meds to cost that much. The lady must sense my concern and says that I must have some kind of deductible that I must have to reach. I don't know at that moment, but I actually contemplate just not getting the meds. But I don't. And to my own discredit, I don't ask any questions about the meds either, and I suck it up and pay for the meds and leave.
If you know me and this pregnancy well enough, you know that I don't even make it home before I start bawling (love being pregnant) because of the sticker shock. I mean, I was expecting $20, $30, maybe even $50, but nothing like that.
My husband and I go online as soon as we get home and find out that when a brand name is given, which is what I was given, and a generic version exists, then you end up paying the full price. Well, that helps to know, but then we wonder why I wasn't given the generic version. We look online at all the Target pharmacy, the Walgreens pharmacy, the CVS pharmacy, and the Wal-Mart pharmacy, and none of them even carry the generic form of this medicine. This lends itself to the question of how you could be charged for the name brand if no one even carries the generic brand? But I digress.
The next thing about this situation that made me so mad was that once I started to get over the cost thing, I opened the bag to pull out the medicine and found out that it was not what I thought it was going to be. This, of course, set off another wave of tears because, the bag itself said that I should have been consulted with by a pharmacist before I left, and had I been consulted with, I would not have left the store with the meds because I was not expecting the meds to be serious horse pills. If you know me well enough, you know that I am not good at swallowing pills, I am improving, but my improvement has not graduated me to horse pills. I bawled some more.
It's been a couple hours now since I bawled about all of this and milled over it all in my head and with my husband. I cried because I didn't know how to 'fix it'. My husband says that's just the type of person I am, and that sometimes you just can't fix things. He said to chalk it up to being a lesson learned.
But, now as I think about it, my two big things are that I won't have any pain again and won't need the meds, and/or if I do need the meds, I won't be able to swallow the horse pills. Anyone want to just give me $170 to just cover the bill so I don't have to worry about it anymore? I would be open to donations.
Oh and because I know someone will want to know what the meds were or what they were for, I don't care to share that information. Pregnancy has many fun little symptoms and side effects that maybe many women experience, but not everyone wants to know about all of them, and for that reason, I am not talking.
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No one needs to know what it is you have, you're right.
Also, I have a problem with how doctors never discuss cost with patients. My shrink always did - but the docs that have suggested my physical therapy and sleep study never told me that it was going to cost me a ton of money. I mean, there are things that one needs to have done regardless, but there are things that aren't life-threatening that could be put off.
That's why my shrink used to prescribe my medicines as "take 3 30mg pills" instead of "take one 90 mg pill" because of cost. They knew I wasn't made of money, and that if made upset I might snap. ;)
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