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Tina – thank you very much for your reply – a bit tired now and am slowing down a bit – so I’ll check things again in the morning. And persist in the quest tomorrow – uh oh sounds like I’m off to somewhere in middle earth with gandalf. Better go.
Cheers Norman
Hi Gaj – Ah thanks for the tip – generally I’ve found all the front line staff brilliant (just the bureaucratic nonsense being frustrating) those that I have spoken to have made sensible suggestions that I have pursued but once again the difficulty is some one committing and saying something like “well I can understand the position that you’re in and I would like to help but I will have to have a referral from your doc that includes full bloods, fibroscan and viral load then we could take this further” – nope just doesn’t happen – what you get is “not my department sorry can’t do anything for you” and driving around the countryside for days on end will probably produce the same result as face planting the concrete pavement – a stinking great headache!
Hi Chapel – great to hear that Jeff Wong is forward and accommodating- I’m under Wellington not the Hutt and Rees Cameron is probably a little too much infatuated with his own knowledge – but the advice the other specialists gave me was to bend the ear of Wellington Gastro and go from there. I tried yesterday and was given the 4 – 6 months specialist appointment. Flying to Aus would be one of the last options as I need to get passport, visas, airfare and accommodation money (dosh being in short supply due to a bit of outlay that I made to Hobart recently).
Well I’ll just have to wait and see if anyone else has some ideas to follow. It must work if people have successfully brought the drug!
Cheers Norman
Well that’s encouraging that I’ve had so many responses – I realize that my original post was rather bereft of details so:
I live 20km North of Wellington, I have discussed this with my doc who is a real go getter but not being familiar with the DAA’s currently available cannot provide a prescription. She has referred me back to Wellington Hospital Gastro – where I have been monitored since 2009. The original Interferon/Ribavirin treatment was refused me as the chance of clearance success was less that 40% – though I would have refused such a medieval witches potion anyway.Gastro are so busy that I would have a long wait and because my doc referred me to them again I have to go back to the beginning of the process again (sometimes I think that there is an intellectual desert between the ears of many Government employees!)
FixHepc have received my payment for the Harvoni generic, I have had all the blood tests (doc said while we’re at it we’ll test for everything – felt like a deflated balloon after seeing gallons of red stuff evacuate the old bod) including a viral load. I have the consent form, customs letter all teed up and just need the scrip.
FixHepc gave me a list of NZ doctors that had written prescriptions – I phoned them and they were all mystified and denied having done so – but the Palmerston North one – cagey to begin with – slowly revealed a greater knowledge of the process as the conversation progressed.
I did find one name that was promising and that was given me by The Hepatitis foundation – Geoffrey Wong Lower Hutt Hospital Gastro (04 5666999 ex 8553) but once again there is the impenetrable bureaucratic wall to penetrate.
As others have obviously successfully navigated the regulatory obstacles that people in power that have nothing better to do put in the way I was hoping to learn from others experience.
Oh and there is a good article on it in the TalkinghepC mag :
https://issuu.com/hepatitisfoundationofnewzealand/docs/final – page 8
Any suggestions?
Cheers Norman
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