My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer

Mel, we do all miss you and when ready will be really happy to see you again.

It is a lovely sunny day. Woke up not too long ago, got laundry going, have a ton of boxes to flatten and put out in recycle bags, some garbage as well. Many bags, many trips I can see happening. More boxes arriving for 4 bags of cat food. Amazon made me purchase two at a time, that is all right. Cats will be happy. Cannot believe how much the cats like the crumps, kind of like seasoning that is beef flavoured but both clean their bowls and seem to really enjoy it.

I have decided to put aside 5.00 per week to pay for Walmart deliveries since I do enjoy the delivery instead although not needed currently, later I may need it. Also think I can put aside some of my rewards to go toward groceries as well. I do have a lot of food to get through though. Planning on chopping in pizza to some eggs with a bit of cheese. Egg can be prepared with frozen potatoes or diced peppers as well, microwave then chop with pizza, cheese and egg and reheated again. Lots of options. EDITED, I did chop up the egg, barbecue chips and peppers with the pizza, used mayo as a binder and used sour cream and onion seasoning, was good and very filling.

I am hoping everyone has a good day, in pockets for everyone who needs me as well.

Cookie - Yes, that walk did amazing things for me, and it was too short lived. Our sun is supposed to go away though pretty soon, and we will be back to our usual cloudy, "drippy dreary" stuff again. I grew up in a small town-ish area south of Seattle and there was a marina there too, with lovely views of the water, Mt. Rainier, and the Olympic mountains. I miss being that close to the water and seeing those views every day. That's one of the reasons I went up to the small town north of Seattle the other day - to get a lot of that same look and feel back. I'm only minutes from the water where I am now, but just no constant daily views like I had all those years ago. Those mountains and the water really get in your bones; as so much about where we grow up always does, and sometimes you just don't feel right without it. Also glad for all of you Eagles fans. I'm not a big sports person, but if I was following, I'd probably root for the Eagles too. Whenever teams not from my locale are involved I invariably root for the one closest to me, or one from a place I had been at some time. Way back in the 70's I spent about a month in Philadelphia and did get over to NJ for an Atlantic City boardwalk day out during that time. I have always retained a certain fondness for that stay, Philly, and the little bit of NJ that I was able to see. Also had some family from PA a couple generations and more back, so go Eagles!

Irish and Chicagoan - I continue to be sorry about the troubles you've all been having with the Ibrance. I've been doing Verzenio and so far my clinic has managed all the paperwork for me, and I've gotten it for free. Eli Lilly though did just tell me that I had to do a new application, when I went to order my new prescription for this month, so I hope I don't run into any problems. My clinic is on it again though, and they are just going to update me with any info. I just wish Eli Lilly had told me I had to "renew" for 2025 back in November or December, instead of waiting until I was running out of my current pack of pills. I wish you both luck with the Ibrance, and yes Chicagoan, $150 isn't too bad, but over time, it could be a lot.

Intolight - Yes, I've found Lilly real good about sending refills, once I have the prescription all in order, and I've appreciated that about them. This time though, I didn't hear a word about re-applying for 2025 until late last week. I'm glad you got re-upped in October, so you are good. Just don't know why I didn't get the word sooner. Also my current (and last) pack for this week/year (half gone) says I have 2 refills left, and as you probably know, those refills are for 4 weeks at a time. I asked if they could send one of the refills and they said no, that what's on the package doesn't always reflect "the truth", and in this case "the truth" is I'm apparently no longer able to get any Verzenio until this 2025 paperwork gets taken care of, in spite of supposedly having 2 refills left. Oh well, it will get sorted out one way or another. Again, I'm just glad you got all taken care of in plenty of time.

My goodness, have to say that I am tired today, at least my mind wants me to know that. Trying to tell myself I am looking forward to the end of the day instead as my mind saying it is tired does me no good. Going to start telling myself that and try to use that as the repetitive thought instead.

Hello ladies. Sondraf, I'm sorry you are still not home. Sometimes don't you feel like saying "to whomever makes those medical decision in the hospital", how about talking to me first. Everyone is always so busy it seems and the patient is lost in all the hee-hooray. Hope you get some lovely time with your Mom. Mom's seem to fix everything. Mine is gone, too.

Onto to this Ibrance debacle. I rec'd an application from Pfizer in the mail 2nd week of Nov. Except it was for the previous resident at this address. So I promptly called Pfizer and two weeks later I rec'd the application. I filled it all out in 1 day and dropped it off at Oncologist office. Financial Aide Lady said they use a 3rd party, RX to Go, so she scanned it in to them to fill out Oncologist portion. A few weeks later I rec'd a demand for Medicare Payment Plan Program, which I had enrolled or thought so. I told my insurance agent the urgent need to fill Pfizer request. He was here at the house going over yearly programs. I watched him note this need and DH wanted the same program, also, that would spread out the $2000 co pay for drugs for 12 months. Well he didn't follow thru, so I called him and left a not so nice message. Crickets. Called next day. Crickets. Called his supervisor. Aha, he called within 10 minutes and said he'd see us the following week. Bull shit, I called Humana and we took care of it directly.

So I alerted both Pfizer and RX to go that we completed that requirement. Two weeks later rec'd message that we must prove we have that payment plan program with a CODE. Two more hours of calls and we got the code. Next day it was faxed to us and we faxed Pfizer and RX to go. Long story short, I went thru 2 reps at RX to go, never called me back. Finally the third one did and she explained that Pfizer is a mess with the program, that RX to go is short-handed (not anticipating Pfizer problems). I begged and told all of them repeatedly I am out of my Ibrance and have been. RX to go lady reached me today and said Pfizer now has all the corrected paperwork, but no decision will be made for 2 more weeks. Don't call them, they'll call us, meaning Pfizer. An angel helped me with a small supply, but I don't want anyone outside our group to know this. It is horrible treatment. I said I'd pay the copay, just get me my meds. NO was the answer. Just wait. I could scream…..

@irishlove Wow…such incompetence! You have been through so much to hit this snag. I will join in the prayers this gets resolved quickly. I wish I could help. What does your onc office say about it? Do they even know?

Oh Buster aren't you stunning. Nothing like a walk in lovely snow. Mara, hope it's rain and no other precip. Tomorrow is suppose to break a heat temp record here. Around 81! My kind of day.

Appt. tomorrow with MO. The office does not know about all this baloney. They will tomorrow. Thanks for all your support. In pockets for good scans for all and for all your needs. Gotta go to bed early (for me), since appt. is early. Yuck..

Mara - So sorry you are not feeling well. Please get better soon! Thinking of you, and in your pocket.

Intolight - I think I've got my Verzenio business straightened out with Eli Lilly. My clinic started working on the problem, but then Lilly sent me an email asking me to fill out an online form they sent. Had to create a user ID and password, etc. just to read there secure message. My clinic called with the same message and said that they could only do so much this year, but that new protocols, etc. were going to require me to deal with this electronic form from Lilly. Both the dr and I had to fill out forms for the 2025 renewal. The form they sent me wasn't real clear, and I had to keep going over it. Every time I'd hit "submit" they'd give me a message that I'd failed to do something, so I kept at and finally got it to submit. I got a message from them today saying that the application was approved and that they are in the process of sending me my Verzenio, so that's good. I told the person at my clinic how I had heard from someone on this forum (you) that you had gotten yours all taken care of in October, but that I had never heard anything about having to re-submit an application for 2025 until I was running out at the end of January 2025, and the pharmacy said they couldn't fill any more for me. The clinic person told me that yes, like you, most people get paperwork in October or November to get renewed and neither of us have any idea why I didn't get any. Also, my clinic person told me that things have changed with these drug companies giving things out for free or with discounts, etc., and she said that they now have to jump through more hoops than before. She said that some of the drug companies are now only offering discounted or "free" drugs as an absolute last resort and that they insist you apply for things like a "Medicare payment plan" (never heard of that) and/or a grant or some such thing first. You also have to apparently submit all of that paperwork to the drug company too, to "prove" that you sought all of these other possibilites first. I was glad at least that I didn't have to do any of that sort of thing. I just don't know how they expect "average" people to pay some of these exorbitant drug prices.

@chicagoan Excuse me if I am out of line here, but Pfizer has a co-pay assistance program if you have private insurance. They used to reimburse me the $150 each month. It has been a long time since I was on it, but if you go online you can still find it. If you are on medicare, it won't work. It's now called PfizerForAll. Just thought I would add this.

@intolight I was on that program for years but when I turned 65, I had to go on Medicare and am no longer eligible. The first year I paid $100 per month, last year nothing at all, so really I've had it pretty easy as far as co-payments considering how expensive Ibrance is. I appreciate you pointing it out in case I was still eligible.