Stelara Denied

Well, back to the drawing board as they say. The insurance company denied the Stelara. Their reason is that it is not FDA approved for crohn's. Next step, back to the gastro at Mayo and have him write a letter of appeal. After this, another round of review. This could take up to another week to 2 weeks.

All the while, I am still in pain, living on 50mcg fentanyl (which is a kin to heroine) and 8 mg of dilaudid (morphine family). I want to lower the dose of fentynyl (meaning I would have to take more dilaudid to deal with withdrawls for a week), but I really can't till the main issue is taken care of -- the crohn's.

If you looked at my food diary, most days that I stay home, I eat under 1100 cal a day, sometimes even less than that. Yet I have gained 8lbs since starting SparkPeople. There is only 1 answer for that - Prednisone. I am feeling my face swelling again, it is getting sore to the touch around the back of my neck. And I am out of Lasix. I do need this too, as my blood pressure is slowing getting higher and higher.

It is just a really emotional day today. We have been on the phone with the insurance company and credit card companies.  One card I reached a settlement with a few months ago. I had paid 3 of the 4 payments and missed the last one due to being in the hospital.  Within days, they had turned it over to a debt collection agency (not for the amount left on the settlement, but the whole amount minus the 3 payments).  The agency won't accept the last payment of $500, they wan't over $2500 or it is going against my credit for 7 years.  I am very upset about this.  We are going to discuss this with an attorney over the next few days to see what can be done.

I didn't have the money really for the settlement, but mom just stopped paying 1 of her cards for a few months so she could get that 1 paid off for me. She was trying to help me keep my credit as good as it could be considering everything.  I know she is hurting her credit, but she said at her age, she probably wouldn't buy anything else and I needed to have mine restored so that one day I might be able to purchase a better home or need a car.  End the end, it seems that we still got stiffed. 

It hurts, but somehow I know it will work out.  My God will open a door for everything to be done.  I will just wait and trust.