Monday's visit with Dr. Hull

At yesterday's visit Dr. Hull told Emma to start taking two 500mg Cellcept pills in the evening as well as two in the morning, which his office had called her about on July 1, and he gave her a new prescription allowing for the increased dossage. Emma told Dr. Hull that she had noticed 2 small hive-like spots on her leg while dressing and had treated them with the topical salve, but they had disappeared by the time the doctor saw her. He said that this phenomena is typical of bullous pemphigoid and she should not be surprised or concerned by such appearances. Emma expected to run out of pills in 3 or 4 days so we stopped at Costco Pharmacy on the way home to get the prescription filled. When she picked up the prescription they charged her much more than she had to pay previously and gave her a printout to the effect that the prescription would have to be prior authorized and it could not be filled before July 30.


After we got home I called the phone number on the printout and learned that it was a drug clearing house unrelated to Humana and I was advised that I would have to call Humana directly. When I was finally connected with a "live" person at Humana I found that this grade school dropout could not be convinced that Mycophenolate Mofetil is the generic name for Cellcept and also that we had a prior authorization for Cellcept. He insisted that we would have to get Dr. Hull to request authorization for the Mycophenolate and for the increased dossage. I could not reach Dr. Hull's office yesterday, but did so this morning and later I got a call back from Barbara to the effect that she had talked to Humana and everything was set to get a refund for the excess charge on yesterday's pills.


I had a low grade fever last week that started with a tickle in my throat Wednesday night and then a cough and head cold Thursday night. It was not noticeable at the BMT clinic or they might not have given me the Aredia infusion. The fever only got as high as 99.4 and by Monday I was back to normal. I continue to feel good, but my energy level has been lowered by the cold. Kroger brand imitation Nyquil kept me from coughing at night and Cold-Eeze lozenges, reommended by Karen, probably hastened my recovery, but caused my food to taste poorly.


I reached a caterer last Thursday, the successor of the one we used in 2000, to talk about a tenth anniversary of our 50th Wedding Anniversary. They e-mailed me a proposed menu and price list yesterday, but I have not acted on it because I am beginning to wonder whether we can afford to have an elaborate party. Emma is convinced that we cannot and that we should confine any celebration to nearby family and friends and not expect people to travel great distances to help us celebrate. More to come so stay tuned and if any of you readers of this blog think that you will attend such a gathering I would like to know soon as the caterer will want a head count. You can e-mail me at: rwillden@earthlink.com. Or you can comment on the posts I will really appreciate hearing from you.