Each time I go to fill a prescription in this country, I feel as I did when I bought my first house and went to the bank to sign for a mortgage. I hold my breath waiting to hear what the monthly payment is going to be, hoping against hope that it won’t leave me eating rice for every meal.
My optometrist sent me to an ophthalmologist because trying to stabilize my ocular pressure was beyond him. He had me taking two different drops morning and night hoping the combination would normalize the pressure. Didn’t work. I saw a specialist the very next day. A very nice doctor who had plenty of time to answer all my questions, explain what he was seeing as he went along, chatted about retiring at the end of the year.
Side point: I liked my Canadian doctor, but he had no time for idle chitchat, not even professional chitchat unless I insisted, and even then he was half way out the door answering me.
The downside, of course, to all the attention, is that I pay for every test he and his assistant put me through. The good news is that my eyes are healthy, but the fliud isn’t draining and the doctor doesn’t know why. Could be that my body has gotten used to the old drops. Could be that my channels have collapsed or are blocked. No way of knowing. They can put a man on the moon, but they don’t have a piece of equipment that can see the channels. If they did, use of it would probably cost a trip to the moon.
So, he gives me a prescription for two new drops. He calls these his “second string”. Being an ex-coach, I don’t like the sound of that. Sometimes, your second string outplays the first string, but not often. Unless it’s Duke’s second string and then….never mind.
I used to have to put one drop in each eye before going to bed. Then, I had to put one drop of one drug in at night and then one drop of another in the morning. 10 minutes tops out of my day, but felt like hours taken up with this stuff. Now, I have two different drugs to put in my eyes in the evening, waiting 10 minutes between drugs, and again in the morning. My life feels as if it is revolving around caring for my eyes. Better than going blind like Aunt Mary…so, I’ll not complain.
I had a bad feeling about the cost of these “second string” drugs. One was generic, the other not. Costco was my best bet for a good price. However, even with a discounted price, the non-generic cost me $117; the generic cost me $63.00. The one drug will last me almost 2 months. The other, a month. If they work, it’ll be worth it. If not…?
Today cost me $493. I can afford it, but as John says, “Every penny we spend on essentials, keeps us from going to Tahiti.” Or something like that. As soon as I get my permanent residency status, I can apply for Medicare, and, then, these costs go away. Even the doctors and pharmacists are looking forward to that day. I believe that it grieves them that I’m paying out of my own pocket. My new doctor told me he’d hold off as long as he could on laser surgery until I got insurance.
Moving through the American health system is somewhat like an innocent moving deep into the forest, unaware of which animal is going to gobble her up, and which one is tame and friendly. And leaving a trail of breadcrumbs isn’t going to help.
