Med Snafu

Maria gets an intravenous infusion of immunoglobulin (IVIG) every 14 days to suppress her immune system. This is necessary because she has myasthenia gravis which is an autoimmune form of muscular dystrophy. IVIG is a blood product, so it requires some care in handling, and it is VERY, VERY expensive (think liquid gold). Before every shipment we get a call to let us know when it is being shipped and when it should arrive.

Last night when the package didn't arrive, we were a bit concerned. It always gets delivered right about dinner time. We called George and Regina to see if it had been delivered to them by mistake (we recently had it delivered to their house because we weren't sure when we would get home that night and we didn't want it to freeze). They didn't have it either. When it hadn't arrived by this morning, a search was on to find it.

Fortunately, it was quickly located. Unfortunately, it was still on the truck. The driver claimed that he couldn't deliver it yesterday because there was a snow storm and the roads were too bad. Hmm, it was sunny here yesterday and we haven't gotten any new snow for several days. Obviously he picked the wrong day to decide he needed a day off. I gather he is now among the unemployed.

I do feel bad for him, although the pharmacy director from the place that provides the drug told me not to (he called me to apologize for the problem). He pointed out that we are all relying on the drug to be delivered at the right time and not getting it on time interferes with every one's schedule (the nurse, us, Maria's school schedule) and that, bottom line, this drug keeps Maria alive and functioning provided she gets it when she needs it.

So, the drug got delivered tonight. The nurse will be here first thing in the morning. We'll get Maria all "juiced up" and back on the road again. And from what I heard about the interaction between the pharmacy and the delivery company, I don't expect we'll have any future delivery problems.