You gotta love the ridiculousness of the insurance system and all the "exceptions." Absolute craziness! Sorry for the roller coaster ride. But you are right. I guess all you can do is laugh and just "be" with the situation.

All is well.



After consultation with my life insurance company's main office in St. Paul, MN the entire issue has been resolved.

My local office said exactly the opposite of what is true and binding in my policy: "If I fail to address MS medically then my policy would be voided".

My local Life Insuance rep is an idiot.

Therefore I am going to join the Rebif Train after all!

Great news indeed! Especially since for the first time in years (and after being off of Tysabri for several weeks) the numbness in my fingers has returned (i.e. Tysabri was working!).

Rebif should help and I am looking forward to it!

-Vic

Hooray!!!!!!

Yaaay!

Well, finally something sounds reasonable and good, although it is kwappy that you had to stop Ty and are feeling the results of being off of it.

BUT, in honor of your upbeat attitude toward this whole mess, I am just really, really happy that this part worked out, and that you too can be a biffer.

Great news, Vic. I hope Rebif keeps you stable..

Happy to hear the good news, Vic!

Bravo to you for asking the hard questions and holding the insurance business to the standard they SHOULD live up to!

Infusion number one is done with no problems. The worst part was waiting an hour for the doctor to come and personally meet me and do the Tysabri talk. I feel a bit headachey now with my stomach off a bit but that could be because I barely ate today.

This doc told me flat out to start taking 2000 IU of D3 daily along with a multivitamin with iron. He also said his patients are generally noticing a change somewhere in the range of 2-4 infusions.

The place where I get my infusions done is a palace; it's beautiful. A chandelier in the waiting room. You get your own private little suite with these special chairs. They have a TV/DVD combo with the volume coming right out of the back of the chair area so you don't disturb anyone else. They have a coffee, juice, and hot chocolate "bar". There are two nurses stations with people there all the time checking on everyone. Wooden shades, gorgeous wall paper, etc.

This guy is a pediatric doctor by trade and wanted to build this infusion site for all sorts of infusions that people need. One person was getting iron, the guy next to me was IVSM, and there were others you could get glimpses of, some with small children.

He got me in the hand on the first stick and was kind and friendly. This is so much better than trying to do this at my old neuro's office. This place is truly like the Taj Mahal of infusion centers.

I hope this works for me!
Weebs

Glad to hear things went well today! The infusion center sounds lovely!

I go to an infusion center in a hospital and it's mostly used for oncology. They've made it cheery, but it's a bare bones operation and VERY small. They DO give me coffee and crackers and peanut butter when I ask, if I have an infusion scheduled at lunchtime, they give me lunch too!

It's best to eat, and drink lots of fluids before infusion. It will help settle your stomach, and makes getting the stick easier.

Let us know how it goes and congrats on your first infusion!

(p.s. I do the Vit. D 2k per day too, along with a multivite/ iron, calcium w/D, fish oil, and a baby aspirin daily)

WOW Weebs...what a marvelous place to be infused and glad it went well
I have had 25 infusions at 3 different places; I may get water, coffee and a cookie or maybe at one even a sandwich BUT the settings are nothing like yours.

I always make sure I am well hydrated and have something in my stomache.

Hope you get great results!
Linda

I have to say I'm a tad envious of Weebs. It sounds more like a spa than an infusion center! Glad the first infusion went well, Weebs. You made it through!

I had infusion #4 today. They really need to get on the ball at my MS clinic. I was sitting in the waiting room for 40 minutes even though a chair had opened up within 10 minutes of my check in. Then I got "Where have you been?!" and a glare from the nurse in the infusion room like it was my fault. I explained to him that I got there 10 minutes early and that maybe he ought to check with the front desk and chew them out since they messed up.

I was more nervous going this time I think because the last visit was so stressful (stuck on the little itty bitty couch because they had no chair for me among other things) and I also had a yucky 2 day flu syndrome and collapsed when I got home. Today, though was a piece of cake once I got established. I'm not feeling flu-like or even tired which is great news!!! Yeah!