Why I'm sick today

Today represents the culmination of a series of events that started over a month ago! I feel absolutely terrible. I have a headache that won't go away. Stiffness in the neck and shoulders. Occasional bouts of vertigo and a general feeling of being ill at ease. In short, I am unwell.

I met with my physician at the end of May. At that time, he approved another 3 month prescription of my medication that I've been taking for anxiety and depression for the past 5 years. I know I've written about it before, but it really has been a major factor in improving my overall quality of life.

That prescription was submitted to the insurance company we switched to at the beginning of the year; Aetna. Within a week, I checked on the status and found that it had been cancelled. Since this wasn't the first change in insurance carriers in the past few years, I figured this was the typical, "we need a pre-authorization" routine.

I contacted my doctor's office and had them resubmit the prescription again.

One week later, I looked online at the status and found it was cancelled again! A bit later, I got a voicemail message saying that I needed to call to find out what was going on. I reached out to the insurance company and was told that the dosage was too high and that they wouldn't approve it.

I was extremely displeased. Why was I being told there was an issue, if there was nothing on my part that I could do to resolve it? Why were they calling me instead of reaching out to my doctor directly? I was then told that there was an appeal process, but that it would have to come from my doctor.

So I contacted my physician once again and asked them for help.

That was two weeks ago. Not only did they submit the appeal, but they asked for a rush processing on it because I was quickly running out of my medication.

Flash forward to today. I have tried to stretch the remaining pills from my last prescription for as long as possible and would very likely be alright if not for the added stressors of this weekend.

By stretching out the time between taking my pills a bit, I can usually keep the withdrawal symptoms to a minimum. Mostly my dreams become very vivid and bizarre. I've had to do this before because it was much better and easier than going into full on withdrawal which is a situation I found myself in a couple years back.

So Friday night, I found a bat in my home after my nap. Between the cat and I, it's a very real possibility that we've come into contact with the animal as it was found on the floor near enough to where I was sleeping. Because my system is in this semi withdrawal stage, you could injure me while I was asleep and it may or may not wake me. If it did, it's very possible, that I would chalk the experience up to part of a dream and return to slumbering.

So here's the situation, I've now got possible rabies exposure and a live bat. I'm able to capture it into a container and I start trying to find out what my next steps are.

Since the three year old cat I adopted in April is very energetic, it's possible he too has been exposed. I need to find out when his rabies vaccination took place. I dig into the paperwork that my ex brought from her friend in May. Uh oh, there's an unused voucher for a rabies vaccination and a note in the adoption agreement that the adopter will take him within 10 days to a vet for a vaccination. This isn't good.

Saturday morning, I take him and the bat to the vet. There, I'm told during the $50 visit that the office won't send the bat off to be tested, I need to contact the department of health. The also tell me that there's no way for them to give the cat a vaccination if he's been exposed. So I've basically gone in, spent money and been given a printout of the same information I've already looked at online.

The remainder of my morning is spent calling around to various places trying to find out what I'm supposed to do. Finally I call the local animal shelter and get animal control to come out and take the bat. They're not sure what the process is for me or my cat, but they will at least take care of the bat.

I've left a message with the department of health because they don't have any sort of emergency service line except to say to call 911 or go to the emergency room. Digging further on their website, I find that if I go to the doctor, they'll have to report to the department of health the next business day as well.

So it looks like my health and that of my cat is now in the hands of whoever is responsible at the department of health. I'm going to save myself the expensive ER copay and wait until Monday. Someone should be contacting me at that time, but nobody seems really sure what's going to happen.

I spend the next several hours digging into what all this means. Here's the conclusions I've been able to make.

• The bat has to be tested. This involves euthanizing the animal and sending it to the state to be examined. There's a specific process for this. The tissue has to be fresh enough that it can be tested. Here's hoping the bat survives the rest of the weekend.
• I probably have to start a rabies post exposure regimen of shots
• My cat will have to be placed into quarantine
• I then have to wait on the results of the rabies test for the bat
• A positive test will mean that my cat will remain in quarantine for the next 180 days with no human or other animal contact. (This is the most stressful part of the whole thing for me as it will have to be at my expense and should he start to show symptoms, I'll have to have him euthanized)
• I have no idea what happens if the test is negative on the bat, likely I'll have to have him vaccinated and risk being fined for not having done so sooner. 
• There's nobody beyond the department of health that knows what the process really looks like

My plans for this weekend were to get my oldest two children's final pieces of clothing in order for the trek this coming weekend. I have one stocking, 2 skirts, an apron, a bonnet, a dozen or so buttons and 2 pairs of pants in need of hemming.

Until I have things in a better position with the cat, I don't really want him around the kids. He's very energetic and has a tendency to play a bit rough. Could he scratch or nip at the kids? Yes. Do I want them exposed as well? NO!

So here's all the stuff going on now:

• I can't fit the skirts or finalize the placement of the buttons until after Monday. I don't know when or how I'm going to get all the clothing done.
• I had to cancel all my meetings on Monday, so I can be available for the DoH.
• I'm terrified of what a 6 month quarantine will do to my cat.
• I'm not thrilled about the expenses I'm about to encounter in dealing with all this. As the typical cost of quarantining an animal at the shelter is $30 for day 1 and $10 each subsequent day. ($1820 for 180 days)
• I heard that mid-August I may have to take my kids for 2 full months while my ex does some out of state training.
• My fiance is supposed to be coming out for a visit mid-September
• I'm facing a series of shots that will likely leave me ineligible to finish the blood donor study I started in May and completely ineligible to donate for over a year.
• I face fines and penalties for the inaction of the cat's previous owner
• I don't want to euthanize another animal. It's been less than 6 months since I lost Mu.
• I feel so badly for the bat. Its done nothing but somehow get into my home, but is to be euthanized.
• My insurance company won't give me the full dosage of the medicine that helps me deal with anxiety and depression
• I am feeling overwhelmed and this is leading to physical manifestations in the form of general disease

I've dealt with more. I've dealt with much harder things. The problem is, that right now, I'm in an already emotionally disoriented state due to the medication.

There's only one party responsible for putting me in this place. That's Aetna.