Doxil shortage

Mom's chemo schedule was a little off this week, due to a shortage of her chemo drug - Doxil. There is a nationwide shortage apparently... and they told her on Wednesday when they were doing her iron infusion, that they were going to give her one of the last two bags. Another woman is getting the same treatment, so there goes the last bag.

She is rescheduled for a doctor appointment in 5 weeks, but they didn't reschedule her for chemo. The nurses at Trinity weren't sure if more Doxil would turn up at that point or not.

As if having cancer isn't bad enough, the drug that you depend on is now is shortage. And it's about the only thing that mom has that we can have a little glimmer of hope of something working. If this becomes a bigger setback it could throw her CA125 count off. It has been such a delicate thing - I think consistency is the key with Doxil. And keeping her on the regimen is crucial.

The chemo went fine yesterday and the were able to hook her up in another part of the hospital (not the normal Chemo room at Trinity) due to the fact that the Infusion Center had the Doxil and not the Cancer Room. It's confusing but at least it got accomplished.

They didn't have a CA125 number available, so mom said she was going to call today and find out. Her blood work was fine - and it looks like the iron infusions worked well. She had her last iron infusion Wednesday and they didn't schedule any more.

One of the nurses at Trinity, Sherry, is helping with all of this Medicare Part D(onut hole) issue, so we should have some good options worked out by the time Caterpillar discontinues her prescription plan. Mom expects to get their final letter soon, and thinks that she'll have until at least September to be covered under Caterpillar before going to Blue Cross Blue Shield's Medicare Part D. There are options where mom can get grant assistance from some foundations during the gap phase.

Interesting point: Supposedly the Obamacare plan was to eliminate these caps set by prescription plans, however, some companies such as Caterpillar, were able to write themselves out of the equation  and continue to enforce the limit. I suspect this was done by lobbyists - which in my mind tells me who really runs our government. I have to do some [more] reading about Obamacare prescription plans but that's my immediate impression. I wish I could read more than two pages at a time without falling asleep.

Her feet are taking a beating- fortunately cousin Gayle brought some Udderly Smooth lotion and cousin Dennis sent some of the Udderly Smooth tubes for her to keep handy, so she's good to go. Our HyVee store in Rock Island is now carrying the 4 oz tube, so that's nice. At least someone listens to me! I put in the request a few months ago and they have been carrying it since June. Now if only I could get them to stock TAB soda again, I would be a happy camper.