Mystery Critter Revealed...maybe

Yesterday's check on the humane trap revealed the culprit:

The fluffy stuff is the insulation he (or she, I can't tell) clawed up. It was extremely annoyed at being confined. The moment we released it, it scooted up the nearest tree, one of our beautiful old California oaks, flipping its tail and chittering its opinion of our hospitality "in our general direction."

As you can see, the squirrel suffered no visible ill effects from incarceration. We are still in the dark about how it managed to get in the attic space, so we're keeping our "free inspection" with the pest control people tomorrow.

The squirrel population around here goes in cycles, in part dependent on how happy the oak trees are, and therefore how productive of acorns. When there's a bumper crop, the next year there's a population explosion. They have plenty of natural predators, everything from great horned owls to bobcats to coyotes and cats. And automobiles. I kid you not; I've hit one that made it to safety and then reversed course in a stellar Darwin Award performance.

Today's update: there is still something scrabbling up there above our bedroom. Dave has advanced the theory there were two squirrels, looking for a nesting site. We're still on schedule for the pest control folks...

Stay tuned.

[link] Will I still be able to walk?

My friend Karen is in danger of losing the medication she needs to control her Multiple Sclerosis and enable her to stay mobile and functioning. There is absolutely no excuse for Aetna, or any insurance company, imposing their Prior Authorization procedures (you have to try and fail a cheap drug before they will pay for a more expensive one) when a patient is already stabilized and doing well on the more expensive drug.

I'm not a fan of Big Pharma, but there is a reason why new drugs are needed, especially for conditions that are notoriously difficult to treat (like my friend's MS). I'm willing to allow that research, development, and clinical trials are costly and contribute to the price of a new drug. I don't think that everyone ought to run out and demand their doc prescribe the newest and most expensive drug when a generic might work just as well.

But once a patient has had a good result (or the best of all possible lousy results) with a drug, it's unethical to insist that patient return to inadequate treatment. Just. Plain. Wrong.

Latest updates on the TwitPlace are that Aetna is supposed to get back to my friend this morning, so this case may be settled. Thanks for listening to my rant, anyway.

Here's Karen's story:

Originally posted by klwilliams at Will I still be able to walk?

As you may know, I have MS. For a while I was taking a drug called Rebif, a series of shots three days a week that suppressed my immune system. The idea is that since my immune system is so good it's bored and has started eating my nerve endings, suppressing it will slow down this behavior. Over the last two years, while my health in general seemed to be stable, my ability to walk got worse and worse.

Enter Tecfidera, the wonder drug. While Rebif (and all the other drugs to that point) would at best suppress about 35% of MS symptoms, Tecfidera (a pill rather than shots) suppresses 50% of symptoms. I started on Tecfidera as soon as it became available. When I started on it, I could walk maybe ten steps at a time, and was working at home. I started using a walker, and needed it to get around my house. Now, less than a year later, I don't use the walker around my house, and only use it to get to work (a 40-mile trip by train and bus to downtown San Francisco) or to walk around open areas where there aren't convenient handholds or places to sit. This week, I was able to ride my bike (an adult trike) the mile downtown, park the bike, walk without a walker into a restaurant to order soup to go (to take back to my husband), and brought it back home. This is huge.

The problem? I have new insurance, Aetna, much better than my old insurance. My current three-month supply of pills was going to run out, so with a three-week supply still at hand I called my pharmacy. MS drugs are acquired through specialty pharmacies, since the drugs need special care, so they need to be shipped via UPS/Fedex. This isn't a ten minute trip downtown. They contacted Aetna for an authorization, who asked for a "prior authorization" from my doctor. Who sent it immediately. My pharmacy (Walgreen's Specialty Pharmacy, which is a dream pharmacy, and in fact a great model for any business. They're just that good.) keep checking in for the official OK, but nothing from Aetna. This past week, with my supply running low, I finally reached someone at Aetna on Wednesday, who said that a nurse needed to OK the prior authorization. I explained I had only a week's worth of pills left, but he said it might take two days. So on Friday I reached someone there, who said that the nurse couldn't OK it, a doctor had to. Why? Because while I had tried Rebif, I hadn't tried another drug (of the same type, that only has a 35% success rate) before moving to Tecfidera. But the man on the phone said he'd send it to a doctor and ask for an update by that night.

Today I called Walgreen's. Nope, nothing. I called Aetna. Nothing. They're not open. On a three day weekend. I run out of pills on Wednesday. I'm not going to get new pills in time. In fact, if Aetna tries to make me try this other drug, it may be a while. For one thing, if I have to take this new drug, my ability to walk will definitely deteriorate. Just when I had hope of getting off the walker entirely soon. Just when I had the outside hope of maybe being able to study aikido again (I am a black belt, after all). Maybe. Or maybe not.

Aetna, why are you damaging my ability to walk?