A few weeks ago, I wrote about how pain management in Wichita had failed my wife, being dropped from two pain management offices for her CBD use, despite being upfront and honest with them, they ignored her pleas for help, and requests for alternatives, as Hydrocodone was not managing her pain.
Anyway, Wichita, apparently only has two pain management offices that prescribe narcotics, our next nearest option was in Lawrence, Kansas, whom shall remain nameless for now. Not exactly ideal as it’s a 6-hour round trip drive from where we live in Wichita, but what other option do we have?
On Tuesday, I took a day off work to drive up to Lawrence, as I knew Erin was going to be in pain as she had reached the end of her supply of Hydrocodone. And, because of her negative experiences with Wichita pain management, I really didn’t want her to have to face that journey and office visit alone.
While we were on the road, the pain management office called and asked if we could arrive earlier, obviously, we could not, 3-hour drive and all, and the person on the phone confirmed a 1:45pm appointment. After being on the road for 2 hours, and 55 minutes, we arrive at their office in Lawrence, only to be told we were 42 minutes late, and that we cannot be seen today, leaving Erin up shit creek.
What is annoying is that this was clearly a miscommunication, and they were unwilling to bend a little after a patient drove 160 miles just for the appointment. They were not busy, there was literally one other person in the office. This indicates to me that this particular Lawrence doctor’s office will be just as uncaring as the Wichita doctor’s, people don’t drive for 3 hours unless it’s extremely important.
Another little detail that was not divulged until we got there, they don’t have an onsite lab, the drug test has to be sent off to Quest Diagnostics, with a minimum turnaround time of 72 hours, this does not include weekends, so Erin would be without medication for the best part of a week. A question that occurred to me later, was after the drug test comes back, would we have to pick up a physical script from the same office? which I remind you is 2 hrs, 20 mins away if we don’t stop and use the I-35 toll road.
Driving back home, I could feel my blood pressure and anger rising, as my wife sat next to me in tears, believing she was going to be without pain medication for an undetermined period of time. I’m thankful that Erin’s primary care doctor made an exception to her not prescribing narcotics rule, to help my wife out. This solved the immediate issue, but Erin still had to make another appointment in Lawrence, which is on August 23, 1:15pm, at least this is a week before the prescription needs to be refilled.
I’m hoping that Erin can find a local alternative, maybe switching to a primary doctor that will prescribe narcotics, as a 5 to 6 hour round trip is not feasible, from a time perspective, nor a cost perspective, including gas, tolls, and food costs, Erin cannot go five hours without food, this trip cost us roughly $100.