I have been crying for weeks on end over the enormity of not having my arthritis pain pills covered. The prior authorization was denied last week. My doctor is now filing an appeal.

Working from home because I had to wait for the arrival of the Maytag repairman (Donald, in this case), I found myself distracted, once more, by this problem. To pay for the prescription out of pocket would be $325, or so my local pharmacist told me. Try as I might, I could not get my mind around what coming up with that money each month would do to me financially and how in the world some person at the insurance company could decide that after over five years I no longer needed Celebrex. The entire situation is a bit surreal to me. After all, for all my medical challenges, I have never come across those ROTTEN HMO PEOPLE.

I did, however, manage to have one hopeful idea: buy my drugs over the Internet. After all, I've heard countless times how inexpensive Canadian drugs are. Sure enough, there are a plethora of online pharmacies.

After much searching, I discovered one that sells Celebrex for only $23 more dollars a month than it would cost were my insurance company to cover it if I were to purchase it in a 3-month supply. I promptly printed out the information, raced over to my doctor's office, and darted in the door just as it was being locked. I had to fill out a written request for a paper prescription, but I am hoping that I can retrieve it tomorrow on my way to work so that I can fax in my order. I am afraid to believe that I could have actually found a reasonable solution until my appeal can be considered. I think, perhaps, I will not breath easy until the package is in my hot little hands.