Hey Doc!!

Monday, June 6th was a day full of doctors and more doctor things.

It was time for Papa's next INR. Time for his check-up with Dr. Thomas, the cardiologist. Time for my next eye exam. Lots of doctor visits. 

We started with Papa seeing Dr. Thomas. Papa has had recurring Atrial Fibrillation episodes and they are stronger than what he is used to. We shared this with Dr. Thomas. He suggested a new medication that is really good at calming that action down. I just thought of all the medication he is currently taking and groaned. I asked Dr. Thomas if there was any of the other medications he is currently taking that could be discontinued with this new medication. I pulled my printed list of all his medications from the outside pocket of my purse and quickly told him each one that Papa is taking for AFib and/or blood flow. Dr. Thomas carefully went through the list and assured me Papa should continue all meds and add this new one. Ugh!! 

Then we had the discussion about all Papa's medications coming from Humana Pharmacy. We determined we would get the first prescription through CVS so Papa could start it immediately. Then Dr. Thomas would place an order for the next round with Humana Pharmacy. This medication is started at double strength and then reduced to half that strength after the first month to six weeks. This would work perfectly. 

Dr. Thomas wanted to know about recent blood tests. It is clear he and Dr. Weckman's records don't communicate automatically. All this new insurance regulation and need to have everything in a digital format is wonderful....but we still have to carry all the information around in our noggins and make sure each doctor knows what the other doctor is doing. Thank heaven Papa has a Sandi to do that for him. He could not do that on his own anymore. The bottom line was the decision to have blood test specific to get Dr. Thomas a baseline before he starts the new drug. That can't be done in Dr. Thomas' office. So I had to walk Papa to the hospital (right next door) and get him through the check-in process. Then walk him through the hospital to the Lab so they could draw the blood to test. 

That complete, we now hoofed it over to Dr. Weckman's office on foot so we could get the next INR on Papa. That meant back through the hospital, past Dr. Thomas's office and into the building next door where Dr. Weckman's office is located. Whew!! Papa was so happy I knew the shortest way as he would have been lost. They did the INR and it was right in the correct range. Keep the warfarin dosage as it is and come back in 1 month. I told them I needed another prescription for the 1mg tablets as he has to take two at a time to make 7mg with the 5mg tablets. That means I run out of 1mg in 15 days on a 30 day prescription. Prescription was called in.

The blessing to all this walking on my poor Papa was that we had been able to park right in front of the steps to Dr. Weckman's office building. The car was right where we needed it when we left. After all that walking for Papa a few less steps is a huge blessing.

I was now cutting it close to be on time for my eye appointment because of the extra blood test. I told Papa I would pull up in front of his apartment and shove him out the door so I wouldn't be late. We both got a chuckle out of that image. He asked me to please at least stop. There is nothing quick in getting Papa from A to B anymore. 

I made it to my eye appointment exactly on time. Had a good visit  and good results. No glasses prescribed yet. Yeah!!! I love my little readers and hope that is all I need for the rest of my life. It will be a sad day when Dr. Richardson says I need real glasses. Sad.  So very, very sad. But, not today!!

Now to the pharmacy to pick up the new prescription and the refill of the old prescription for Papa. Well, fortunately I chose to go inside to pick this up instead of using the drive through. One was ready, the other was not. I had only had a bagel and we were well into the afternoon by now. I told the cashier I was going to start eating the bag of Chex mix I picked up and would pay for it when I paid for the prescriptions. She said that was fine and I took a seat. 

Soon I got the text message stating the pharmacy had a problem with the warfarin prescription and couldn't fill it. I went to the counter and explained to the cashier the need to have a new prescription for the one milligram tablets. She had me talk to  the lady at the drop off counter. The only solution, since Humana would not cover it, was for me to just buy a 30 day prescription at cost and not have it run through Humana at all. That worked for me and now I just have to work with Dr. Weckman's office to see how to make this work in the future. This was a very nice thing for CVS to do.  

I sat to wait again for the prescription to be filled. They knew I was waiting and put it to the front of the line. I paid for the meds and the Chex and headed to the grocery store.

Purchased Papa's groceries and put them away. Then I headed back to Sadieville. I was worn out and just didn't feel like cleaning at that point. Caring for the aging when you are aging quickly yourself is just not for the faint of heart.

Post Script:  Received a call from Dr. Thomas' office as I left Papa's and was heading back to Sadieville. Humana Pharmacy called his office and said their might be interactions between one of his current meds and the new one. They suggested discontinuing the old med and continue with the new med. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  I got home and called Papa and explained it was the little round pill that was cut in half. He disposed of all of them as we talked. Now, let's hope the new med works. Papa has said the last two days that he hasn't had any AFib attacks since starting this med. His reality can be off a bit sometimes but he feels good about it and that is, after all, half of any healing battle.