Doctors, doctors and more doctors

Doctors, doctors and more doctors

I’ll start this with the doctor for my shoulder tendonitis. I went to see him yesterday. Still flying high from my amazing weekend at my spirit junkie master class, I think I even put the doctor in a good mood.  Being that my case is slightly different from other tendonitis cases, I can’t ever rest the arm because I use it with the walker, he was able to give me a Cortizone shot early. He was actually singing as he injected me. I told him he received an A for bedside manner for the day. He wants me to look into a new walker that will give me forearm support taking some of the pressure of the shoulder. It looks like this 

they aren’t cheap and they aren’t covered by insurance. So far I can only find them online. I’d like to try it out see how sturdy I’d feel with it. I currently use a very heavy but super sturdy walker from Access. Looks like this  if I lose balance, this rollator is heavy enough to help me regain it before I fall. It’s a great security to have when I’m walking. I don’t know if the other kind of rollator can provide that type of assurance. Anyway still researching that but in the meantime my shoulder finally feels better.

Today I went to the MS specialist in New York City. We started paperwork for Ocrevus (Ocrelizumab). She said signing up for the drug is easy it is done through the Genentech’s site. I don’t do any of that, my doctor’s office does it. Let’s see what my insurance company does. If you’ve never read my blog, I’m on Rituxan also by Genentech and a very close sister to Ocrevus. My insurance company denied me getting Rituxan because it wasn’t approved for MS. The thought in switching to Ocrevus is the approval for MS is there, no reason to deny. Just makes each infusion simpler. My next Rituxan infusion was already scheduled for July 17, so I have ample time getting the authorizations approved.

That brings me to the next doctor. I called my infusion site and told them that I will be changing to the new drug, would I need to see the doctor there again? I try to do my infusion by my house, to travel into the city every time I have to do it is just too long of a day for me. The only thing that stinks, is every time I switch drugs, the oncologist needs to do blood work and a check up. I guess I understand, I’m in his office, getting a drug, technically if anything happens, I’m his patient for the day. Plus he’s a nice man. So I’m seeing him June 26 to keep everything on schedule.

The only unfortunate fact seeing my New York City doctor today, was when I asked her if we could do a six month check up and she said NO. Because I’ve had a slight worsening of symptoms, the question of whether I’m even going to stay on this drug is still not certain. I’ve been on Rituxan now for a year. She wants to revisit this again in 4 months so we have time to make changes, if needed, before the next infusion would be due.

That’s all for today. Have a lovely afternoon.

2 thoughts on “Doctors, doctors and more doctors

  1. Between my doctor and I, we have done all the paperwork for me to start on the Ocrevus. Now the hold up is training for the infusion center staff. I was told it could take up to six weeks. I guess that’s better than six months!

    1. I’m surprised it’s that long, hope it’s not the case here. They’ve had extended use with Rituxan so it’s a similar infusion hopefully it’s the same.

Leave a Reply

Verified by MonsterInsights