Gah! GI woes

This has been a very frustrating 5-6 weeks. Right after confirming I'm in a flare, I got shingles. I couldn't start Entyvio until the shingles cleared up. It was all set with insurance, and the infusion center had everything they needed. In the meantime, my GI moved out of state, which I knew, and I have an appt next month with a new GI in the practice.

I called today to schedule the infusion, and the nurse said she'd have to get updated orders since my GI left. She called back and the new GI wants to see me before authorizing the Entyvio. I called, but there are no appointments available. They will hopefully get back to me tomorrow to let me know when they can squeeze me in.

It's all the same practice, and the new GI can review my chart, see the results from the CT scan I had in March. I started Entocort about a month ago, but I'm not seeing significant improvement, and have had a couple nights debating about going to the ER. It sucks I had to wait so long for the shingles to heal and now it's just so frustrating to wait longer because this new GI "needs" to see me, and seems to be second guessing my old GI's orders. And it wouldn't be nearly as frustrating if they had just scheduled me to see the new GI sooner--especially knowing that the shingles would delay my treatment. grr

Thank you for empathizing! I feel like I'm backed into a corner. It would take 6-8 weeks to get in with a new GI at a new clinic, and I don't feel the delays are worth it. This isn't a good way to start off with a new GI, but I'm hoping he'll offer an apology and an explanation for why he's making me jump through these hoops. The office called today, and I'll see him next Thursday.

Another 10 days isn't a huge deal since entyvio isn't going to make everything better right way, but it certainly would make me feel better to know I'm starting down the road to remission. Plus my work schedule can be a challenge and I'm worried it might actually be closer to 2 weeks before I can get this scheduled.

BRelaxed, I've thought about calling to see if I can get in with someone else, but I think since they are short handed it's going to be tough. I sent a strongly worded email to the clinic's customer service. I'm sure nothing will come of it, but always makes feel better.

I'm relieved to be on the other side of shingles. Not fun, but think I got lucky and didn't get too bad a case.

Is there any way you could contact your old GI to see if he could intervene? I know that's probably a long shot. I'm so sorry. When it rains, it pours, it seems.