Where's the Revlimid?

We are still waiting to get the Revlimid. It was ordered by the Salida oncologist last Wed Nov 30 when we were at the office. As I've said, Revlimid is a tightly controlled drug - rightly so, since it is a cousin to Thalidomide - anyone remember those terribly deformed babies? Celgene, the maker of Revlimid, requires tons of paperwork to be done before anyone can get it. Doug had to state several times that he would not get anyone pregnant. Realizing that there would be many forms to fill out, we stayed at the oncologist's office an extra hour so Doug could sign and the office could fax back to Celgene, then get their approval. There was also insurance pre-approval paperwork faxed back and forth. And paperwork to and from the mail order pharmacy that actually dispenses the drug.

Finally all seemed in order. The oncologist's assistant is good - she is persistent and we left feeling that the Revlimid would be here soon. We know from our previous experience that the Rev comes via overnight delivery, and the mail order pharmacy, Medco, always calls to make sure we are home to accept delivery.

Monday (yesterday) and no phone call from the pharmacy. Doug went to their website; the order showed up there. So Doug called Medco to ask what is the problem. The nice lady checked and informed Doug that the hangup was in the billing department. Evidently they hadn't been assured of payment. Frustrating. Then Doug called the oncologist's assistant in Salida - she made three phone calls to the pharmacy, called us back to say all seems in order.

As of this writing we still have not gotten the phone call to expect delivery. I want to shake someone! The system is broken. The sooner Doug gets started on the Rev the better. Waiting is not good. I am trying to stay calm; Doug is getting good at it.

Part 2: Doug called the oncology office again. The Dr's assistant suggested we call the pharmacy directly to omit the middle person. Doug did call -- he found out there is another entity involved: Medco has a subsidiary 'specialty pharmacy' by the name of Accredo. They handle the 'high-risk' drugs. The person there said the fax from the oncologist's office went to Medco instead of Accredo. Can this get any more complicated?