After the post I made yesterday, I thought yesterday was the worst day I'd lived through so far with so much bad news coming in from numerous phone calls. But today started off even worse than the whole of yesterday.
At around 10:30 a.m. I received a phone call from my Gastro Doctor's nurse with the worst news imaginable. She tells me that the company Abbott that makes my Humira injections just contacted her and told her that they are refusing to give me assistance on the $656.09 co-pay medicare part D thinks I can afford to pay. The nurse believes the main reason isn't my income why I was denied help, but the fact that I have insurance already and they won't help people who have insurance even if their co-pays are hundreds of dollars. The Co-pay for my Humira Injections are More than the rent I pay for my home!
So the nurse was literally freaking out with me on the phone, she normally has all the answers but she was seriously telling me that she didn't know what we were going to do if we couldn't find help. Because It's Humira or Remicade to help me fight this disease and that is the end of the line on medications and then they start cutting out my intestines. And if you can't afford the meds to help you then what do you do?
The nurse gave me one last number to try, but when I contacted my pharmacy to get the exact amount I would be paying out of pocket they gave me a number to try. Well to make a long story short, that number couldn't help me but sent me back to The Health Well Foundation that I had gotten my previous help for my Humira injections for because they heard that they had gotten new funding in for Crohn's patients, and THEY DID!!!
After 8 phone calls and being on the phone for 4 straight hours (and me sobbing, and praying for God To help me in the background) My husband Jeremy finally got through to the Health Well Foundation and we have been pre approved for a Grant of $2,500.00 for the 2013 year. Because my information is already in the system from my previous Grant with them they believe they can get me help in time for my next Humira Injection in 2 weeks!
The Down Side to this, is that the Grant will NOT cover my Humira injections for the entire year and I will run out of Grant money around July, and then we have no clue how we will get help to cover the $656.09
So now we are playing the waiting Game, Waiting for the papers to get here from the Health Well Foundation so I can fill them out, then mail them back and wait for the news that i can go get my medicine.
In the midst of all this chaos I was still having to run to the bathroom, and fight off nausea and vomiting along with severe chest pains. Which most of all this was more than likely caused by the stress I'm under not to mention the diseases.
I have cried, vomited and had diarrhea so much over the past 24 hours I became dehydrated and had to drink lots of liquids to try and get me re-hydrated. I literally could not drink enough water to satisfy my thirst it was that bad.
How many times a day do I cry out to God for help? So many I can't count, I cry out for him to stop the chaos, to stop the pain and heal my broken body and mind. And at last I got a break for a while with the help through this Grant, but after such a long fight of nearly 2 months trying to get help I'm too broken and weak to celebrate this victory. So if you are reading this celebrate for me, because in my life victories are few and far between and rarely last. But when they come I am so grateful for the peace that comes even if it only lasts a short time.
This day is only 4 hours away from being done, and I am close to having survived another day. And then waiting to see if I will survive the next.
You will survive! :) Thank you for this inspiring story. Those phone calls maybe daunting, but good thing you got something positive from them.
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