16 September 2022
This business of treading water until the beginning of next year makes for a lot less news. Very little is going on. One day the same as the next.
I do have one update and one amusing anecdote to pass the time, though.
The update is on Joyce's skin condition. I haven't told anyone else this (including Dr. Tong) because, you know, you only squeak when you need some grease.
But the Clobetasol worked. A week after we started putting it on twice a day, her skin cleared up and has stayed clear.
We still don't know what that was all about. But we have half a tube of the stuff left if the problem recurs.
The amusing anecdote is another episode in the Santyl story.
Very little is going on.
"Oh no!" I hear you sighing. Take it easy now. This time the good guys win.
When we started the sixth week of this batch, we opened the last tube. So I suggested we order a new batch of six tubes (at something like $100 a tube now that Joyce is in the bubble for Part D of Medicare).
Joyce logged into her Kaiser account, went to the pharmacy, found Santyl on her drug list ready to reorder and reordered.
The default delivery option is to mail it. It saves the pharmacy a lot of grief and the patients, too, come to think of it. So we left it at that.
Two days later it arrived at the door. But they had shipped the tubes (which come in thin cardboard boxes) in no more protection than a plastic envelope. And some genius had elected to toss the bag so it landed on three of the boxes, crushing the tubes.
Half the order was damaged.
This turned out to be a crisis for Joyce, who hates to make a fuss. But I showed her the phone number on the receipt that came with the order and she called. It was a 20 minute wait so she elected to have them call back and they did.
She explained half her order had been damaged and was put on hold (which seemed like a disconnect but really was just a transfer). Some guy promised to send three new tubes no charge.
She asked if they could pack them in bubble wrap or a box (you know, like Amazon does) so they too wouldn't be damaged but the guy said he was only authorized to report what happened not to suggest the obvious solution.
While we were waiting for the replacement tubes to arrive Kristine the LVN inspected the damaged tubes and pronounced them safe to use.
Lesson learned. Select delivery by mail to reduce your medication costs.