“Vicodin, I got addicted to that little pill. The reason I don’t talk about it too much in the press is because it isn’t funny, and I love to be funny in interviews. If you joke about that period in your life, it doesn’t seem right.”~ Matthew Perry
This past Monday I was visited by my doctor.
In recent past, I haven’t found it to be a bother. But ever since Norco (Vicodin) was placed higher on the classification scale, ultimately deeming it an addictive substance, things haven’t really been the same between he and I.
It comes from a serious injury that I sustained many years ago from a situation that I was in with a man who was high on drugs and it turned violent. I was left with chronic pain in my back and he went to jail. There’s a blog post here some where that talks briefly about it.
My doctor however has been quite “stubborn” for lack of a better term. I understand completely that he could lose his license if he is audited and they think that he’s pushing Vicodin. But because of this chronic injury, I believe that I have had a legitimate case to use it. I’ve lost the argument so many times with the doctor that I just gave up fighting because apparently playing CYA is more important.
Anyways before I get off track some more, on Monday when he finally arrived at my home, I was particularly not feeling too well and had one hell of a migraine and was suffering the moment he arrived.
The companion nurse could even tell that I was miserable due to the fact that my blood pressure was higher than usual.
I was also sitting there looking at them with my head crooked and turned to the side because it was the most comfortable position to sit in. My intention was to lay down after they left and hoped that I would take a nap and it would dissolve when I woke up.
The very moment that the doctor heard that my blood pressure was unusually high and the fact that I admitted to being in severe pain, he pulled away (for once) from his tablet and stopped typing and clicking and looked at me and said that he was going to prescribe Norco for me for five days.
Are you serious?
Wait, what?!??
Some how that captured his attention.
I thought I was dreaming when I heard him say it. Could it be real? Could he be totally serious?? I looked at him funny and he stared back with a straight face awaiting my decision as to whether or not five days of Norco was something that I wanted.
He asked if I wanted the prescription to be sent to a local pharmacy that would have delivered it directly to me. Probably the next day.
However the shenanigans doesn’t stop there.
During the time that I DID have a 30 day prescription of it, my insurance was switched and then suddenly the pharmacy was not accepting it to take care of the co-pay.
Instead of Norco costing me a few dollars out of pocket, it was well over $60!!
My insurance information at that pharmacy apparently has not changed either. So I said “No, send it to the pharmacy company that you guys use. I am dead broke right now that I cannot afford the co-pay.” And that means that five days of painkillers would be delivered to me in the mail. And I wouldn’t be receiving it right away. I would have to wait for it.
I could just HEAR the doctor sneering about it. Damnit, just do as I ask!! It is not like you’re going to go back to prescribing this stuff to me again. That is obvious.
So he did. And Tuesday I received a call from the company informing me that they received a new prescription for Norco.
But then over the phone I could just sense the confusion they had when they realized that it was only a five day supply. They knew that in my history that I was at one time receiving a 30 day supply. So only receiving a five day prescription was totally mind blowing to them for whatever reason.
Me too!!
I was told that it would be delivered and I should expect it on Friday. And because it is a painkiller that I was going to need to sign for it. Which is not a big deal.
Naturally that migraine did go away. And the medicine is still going to arrive. But it is going to help with all of this serious back pain I am currently dealing with because of the fact that I keep killing wheelchairs and keep having to switch to another temporary one. Even though it was only a year ago when I ordered a brand new one. I’m currently battling for a new one that would be taken care of by Medicare and not getting anywhere with it. But the point being that even though the migraine is gone, this medicine is going to help with all this chronic pain. All of that is for another post.
I just found it wildly interesting that I would go to war with the doctor for many months over painkillers and finally surrender the fight and trying to live with the pain and deal with it in other ways, only to be given five days worth simply because I had a headache that was temporary.
Dambreaker 