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[Dosage0]

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ifulovelife2;1202493 wrote: Is it just me?

Lol Brenda, no it is not just you. Thank every last one of you who is worried about my pecker. It is strong enough to survive!

[Dosage0]

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Well I decided to change to 80-80-80 and am now dosing at 0800, 1400, and around 2000 again. This seems to be easier on my body since the doses are further apart.

Nothing else to report... Tuesday I get my kidney stone broken up.

[RudyB]

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good, dose. now it's just wait and see if it all comes out okay? do they know how big the pieces are?

[spacebebe01]

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Hi Dosage is it today that you get your kidney stones blasted, hope it all goes well for you, you have got a hell of a lot going on for you right now and I hope your not trying to deal with it all at once, it will just be overwhelming, when I feel overwhelmed I try to remember to break things down and just concentrate on one problem at a time, prioritising I think its called. Im not sure but are you managing to get any sleep yet? That must be near the top of your list, all I can suggest has already been said,plenty of water, some light excercise and fresh air,suppliments like valerian calcium, melotonin plus sominex or prescription sleeping pills if you can get them and the machine your friend has got sounds good. Take care and keep going, your doing well.

[Bruunhilde]

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Hey Dosage, just catching up on your thread, you HAVE been through the mill. Hope all goes well tomorrow - I'm sure it will be better, whatever they do, than passing a dime sized stone. Hopefully you won't have a hot nurse doing it and get a bonr. Or maybe that would make it easier, straight shot and all.

[Dosage0]

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Thank you people for continuing to post on my thread, I really do appreciate it.

So today I went into my operation and my doctor surprised me with three things. The first is that my share of the co-pay would be $1300 dollars. The second was that the anesthesiologist was not included in that price and that my share with him would be another $500. The third was that he was going to put in a stent after swearing up and down in the doctor's office that I wouldn't need one.

I was fucking livid. I didn't go off on him because he was about to do my surgery and because his colleges were all standing around him. I wanted to call him into an office and rip him up and down because this was exactly what he should have said up front, but I didn't. Instead I paid it and allowed him to preform the surgery. Afterwards I called my "insurance" company and screamed at the lady over the phone. I have paid $300 a month for 6 years. I could have put that money into a bank account and paid out of pocket and still had money left over. I have a choice between a PPO and an HMO for coverage. The HMO would be much cheaper but I wouldn't be allowed to see doctors like Dr. Levin who is a saint. I would have to see their shit doctors and try and find a decent one among the bunch. I am a god damn police officer and they want to treat me this way? Fuck you very much, I have broken a leg and screwed up my knee chasing dirt bags around and you cover me at 80%? That is bullshit.

My surgery went well, thank you for all the well wishings. I woke up and my side feels like I got hit in the kidneys a few times by Mike Tyson. He hits hard and I would have gone down after one, but I was unconscious so he got a few good shots in.

I spoke with the anesthesiologist and explained my situation to him and he agreed that I was screwed. I told him to charge the hell out of the insurance company and then to give me a discounted rate to which he agreed. I hate "insurance" companies that just make money off of people and provide little to no service to me. SO PISSED.

Anyhow, I went to walgreens and Dr. L still wanted me to have them call him. I tried to get him to call in the script for me, but he wanted it done this way. The pharmacist looked at me and treated me like a drug addict -- told me he wouldn't call out of state and treated me like I was a drug addict who wanted xanax from a pill farmer. I again bit my tongue as screaming at this douche wasn't going to get me what I wanted. I again tried calling Dr. L but of course I couldn't get through. Dr. L is the best doctor in the world IMO but his way of filling scripts is a bit retarded. After getting through to him he started cursing -- hilarious as his way of talking is very much like any other shrink I've spoken to. He is very calm in his delivery of everything. He told me not to go back to Walgreens but did call in the script for me.

I hate walgreens and I hate insurance companies. Both of them suck in a major way and it is not the good kind Brenda.

All in all I had a productive and painful day.

Thanks again everyone, you all are incredible people. Still at 240 mgs a day and planning to go up to 260 shortly.

Rob "Dose" Bass. I am not internationally known, but I am known to rock the microphone.

[Cassander]

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Dosage0;1205611 wrote: ... but I wouldn't be allowed to see doctors like Dr. Levin who is a saint.

My son had a setback over the weekend and called Dr L. He hung up and called me back and said, "Dr L is a great guy. What an amazing guy. He is a great guy."

Glad you are past the stone, Dose.

Cassander

[bobsd]

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Hey Dose,

I just wanted to let you know that I have been following your posts, and I am appreciative of how diligent you have been. Sorry to hear about the stones and the a$$holes at your insurance company. And I am even sorrier about Walgreens. How about trying another location next time, or even better, trying their mail-order program? They might suck, but they have the best bac (IVAX/TEVA). Dr. L is truly one of the most caring men I have ever known. He is so brave to be doing what he is doing. Why aren't there any other doctors out there with the balls to stand up and help the millions of addicts out there?? Anyway, hang in there!!
Greg

[spacebebe01]

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Good to hear your day was productive even tho is was blighted by assholes. And well done on keeping your cool and getting what you needed.

[LadyLush]

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Hurray!

The surgery is over most importantly! I know what you mean about insurance companies and doctors, I could go on and on. Sorry about the stent too. But all is positive in the end if the pain subsides.
Glad you got your Bac and maybe the mail order would work better for you.

Anyway happy day. I am glad your friend on another thread never responded! No more casuaties here my friend!

Get well

LL:l

[ifulovelife2]

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So the procedure went well? I don't actually understand what it involved. Please explain in detail.

[Lo0p]

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Walgreens is easy. Go to walgreens.com sign up, pick your store, go to refill prescriptions and they have an option for you to pick your medication, quantity of pills, fill out your doctor's name and number and they'll fax him a request. You go there in person and yup, they'll treat you like a drug addict (it happened to me too).

Two things:

1. Give them his office #, not his fax/home #. They'll look up his office #, verify that he is a doctor, then pull his fax number and use that.

2. Make sure you put in the web request at 5pm CST (M-F) so that, he can pick up the phone at home on his stupid antiquated fax machine and press the stupid button that sends it to the fax machine. Then he'll actually get it, and he always faxes it back immediately.

[Dosage0]

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ifulovelife2;1205881 wrote: So the procedure went well? I don't actually understand what it involved. Please explain in detail.

Well they knocked me out with the anesthesiologist and I was out the whole time. They did a treatment called ESWL (Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy) which is basically a fancy way of saying they took xrays to locate the stone, then blasted it with sound waves directed at it. It hurts your internal organs making it feel like you took a bunch of kidney shots from a boxer. This breaks the 8mm stone (dime size) into hundreds of tiny stones that you can pass without pain -- mine were small enough that I did not need a stent. The only way they can get a stent in is if you are under anesthesia, so to save me some money the doctor wanted to put it in just in case. After doing the ESWL though he found that it would not be necessary. After a day I feel alright, but it does hurt a bit.

LoOp: I'll try that next time, thanks!

Rob

[RudyB]

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well holy horcoshums, dose! god it's good it's over! what a relief that you didn't need the stent ~ how much more horrible that would have been! your insurance company, good gracious! i hate how people like you -cops, soldiers, public servants of any kind- who do so much grunt work, get the shit end of the stick on so many levels. you put your lives in danger, you work very hard when you're needed, you get paid crap, and insurance companies -whichever one you chose from a short list of mediocre options- get to dick you around! and what's up with that doctor? some people just don't think about money -at all- it seems, usually because they have so much of it (like my lawyer, for example, but he's never been careless like that with me). and some people obviously don't pay attention to the basic but essential details of their jobs! major oversight there, doc! (dammit, so you really have to pay all of that out of pocket, minus the anesthesia?!)

you're up high there on the bac, dose. how's that going? still having the apnea without the machine? are you still very sleepy? how's the drinking? and what's going on with work? i imagine you need some time off to recouperate. guess you'd have to have some shifts banked up to afford to do that, or do you have sick days to use? (dammit, it really gets me: life for the 99% can be cruelly unjust!)

yeah, man, we're rooting for you here. it's so nice of you to say thanks to us for being here, and i think we enjoy it, too (otherwise we probably wouldn't). if i didn't have the folks here holding my hand and cheering me on while i was making my sometimes harrowing way into sobriety, i don't think i would've made it at all (unless i found religion or some other way to go crazy). it feels really good to give back!

keep us posted, dose. it's onward and upward from here!

xo rudy

[ifulovelife2]

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Rob, so they didn't have to stick anything up your love-truncheon then? Phew!!!!