I get my enbrel delivered every three months. And every three months it's a hassle. And as many of you know enbrel needs to be refrigerated. Now I know it comes in a cooler with cool packs but just how long can those cool packs stay cold on 90+ degree days? Are the delivery trucks air conditioned?
It drives me nuts too that they will never give me a small delivery window either. It's always 10+ hours. Who has 10+ hours to sit around and wait? I called the delivery place today because they never showed up yesterday. Turns out the moment I left (9 hours and 40 minute mark) is the very moment they showed up. But no note, nothing to indicate they had been here. I asked that they contact the driver to see when they might come and was told they have no way to contact the driver. I know that's BS because I've been down this road before. So they finally, grudgingly, get me in touch with the local dispatch office and they were very helpful, contacted the delivery man, and gave me a reasonable time estimate. But the folks at the 1-800 could care less and were hardly helpful.
Oh and the woman at the 1-800 office said, 'don't you have a neighbor who can sit and wait?' Um, no, first of all everyone I know works for a living. Second of all this isn't Beaver Cleaver Land - I don't even know my neighbors other than to wave hi. And third, I'm not about to let a stranger be responsible for signing for 4k worth of meds. Also, I don't want to advertise that I have needles in my house. It's a safe neighborhood but ya never know. I have had packages stolen off my steps before.
Have any of you encountered this delivery problem?
It drives me nuts!
I always have mine delivered to my office. If I happen to be in a meeting or out of the office a co-worker will sign for it for me.
Only once did they mistakenly send it to my house instead of my office and thankfull the temps had not been out of the 70ties that week because they just left it on the porch!! I freaked out when I saw it sitting there.
Mine are shipped in a small cooler and packed with cold packs (Save these...that work great to keep in the fridge and use as needed on swollen joints!!) They always seem really cold when I get them unpacked that evening at home.
If this is a huge problem for you; ask your pharmasist if he can order them for you. Let him be responsabile for recieving the shippments and making sure the meds are handled properly.
I use a small neighborhood drug store and know them all real well. As much as I'm in there they know me by name it's nice. If you don't have this sort of relationship with your pharmasist you might consider using a smaller one. I use to go to Wal-Mart, until I realized I was just another customer to them. They had no idea about me or my problems. It's nice to use someone you can get to know.
Good Luck.
Lovie
I get my enbrel delivred every 4 weeks. I have never had a problem.. BioScrip calls me about a week before i run out and we schedule a delivery. I never sign for them, just have them leave the package at the back door. Its is a bit shaded and the neighbors dont need to see what it is. Whenever i miss the call from Bioscrip, i just call them back and we schedule it.
When i get the package ( i am home all day now) after work (school year) the ice packs are still really cold, and sometime still frozen inthe middle. I would not worry about it unless the ice packs are no longer cold. I took one syringe and 1 ice pack on the flight to disney... it was prolly 4 hours and the stuff was still cold...and it was only ina lunch box.
If you go through Bipscrip ( is there another company?) then i dont see why you should have a problem. Fed ex always delivers my meds... tho i dont get 3 months worth at a time...
Good luck and hope things work oiut better for ya!
I used to get them from CuraScript who were great to deal with. For some reason my insurance co switched to TelDrug. TelDrug must be a lot bigger and therefore have less interest in these issues. I don't think I have ever spoken to the same person twice. When I mention how much a pain it is to arrange to be home for the entire day they just chuckle.
I get 3 months at a time and the box is HUGE. I have a hard time carrying it. So I would always arrange to be home to have it delivered. I'm not working at the moment so it works out relatively ok. I'm in the process of looking for a new job so I'm out on interviews constantly. Plus, I'm a girl on the go. I don't have 10 hours to sit and wait around.
A 10+ hour delivery window is ridiculous and unnecessary!
My pharmacy is CVS. It's a fairly new one and so far they have been good. I will check with them if I can have my enbrel delivered there. That's a great idea!
I get my Humira delivered as well. My prescription co is MEDCO. They phone me in advance and ask if I need wipes or a new sharps container, they schedule a time, within an hour.. and the nurse who handles my case talks with me each time. I LOOOOVE MEDCO.
The Humira comes in a box about the size of 2 pepsi cubes placed together. The meds are inside a styrofoam cooler, packed inside with bubble wrap and several ice packs. Its stayed cold without any problem, the one time I wasn't home to recieve it. Fed Ex left it on my porch.
After I take it out of the shipping container I keep it in the fridge and a 3 month supply isnt as big as a 12 pack of soda, and every other week it decreases in size.
You might waant to time the melt time of the ice packs they enclose... set up a package under the same conditions as your enbrel might face and see how it goes. You may be relieved that it stays cold plenty long.
Mine is delivered 3 months at a time, sent by Caremark. When they call to schedule a delivery date, Im careful to tell them to be sure to mark the FedEx package "signature not required," "ok to leave" or whatever it takes to keep them from driving away with it. As far as temperature, you really don't need to worry. The guy who scheduled my delivery told me that when they pack it, they check them next day's temperature at the destination zip code. Higher temperature, more ice packs. I had mine delivered yesteray to my porch, which is shaded, but it was 96º out. It porbably sat on my porch for five or six hours. The meds were cold, and the ice packs were still half frozen. I never worry about being home for delivery.
Having it delivered to work is also a good option, but I just don't want my coworkers to ask a lot of questions. Plus, how do you know they'll show up while you're still there?
As far it being heavy, well being home might not help. Those FedEx guys are fast. Sometimes I'm home, and they set the package down, ring the doorbell and run to their next delivery. I can't get to the door fast enough to get them to carry it inside for me, anyway.
Well, so much for CVS's "friendly neighborhood pharmacy" marketing they seem so proud of that they have it plastered all over their walls. They won't accept delivery of my enbrel. They don't want to be liable.
I'll have to try some non-chain mom & pop pharmacies in the area.
I get the 25mg enbrel so there's a bunch of boxes in the cooler and it is too big for me to carry. But I just open it up and make a few trips from the cooler to my fridge.
I had it delivered to work once when I was in a pinch but it caused too many questions that I never had it delivered there again. I have insisted that it be delivered on a Saturday a few times and you'd think I had asked for the moon. They gave me such a hard time with that.
One would think that a very costly med that needs to be refridgerated would be enough reason to arrange for special delivery but noooo, that'd make sense, lol. This is corporate America after all <sigh>
i hope everything works out for you and i hope you feel better now that you have vented. your right though, i didnt think you were asking for the moon, just a little help. good luckUpdate: UPS finally arrived with the enbel. I opened up the cooler and the ice packs were melted, mushy and just cool to the touch. They were all floppy. The boxes of meds had gotten wet and were mushy. I pulled out some of the packs and the vials were just barely cooler than room temp, not cold.
I called UPS, furious, and declared the package unacceptable since I couldn't verify that the meds were kept at the correct temp. Because of the value of the meds they now have to send someone to my house to verify the damage. I tried to explain, over and over, that it's the temp issue, not the soggy boxes that is the issue. It was like talking to a brick wall.
I then called TelDrug and informed them of the condition of the ice packs and boxes. So they are sending another batch, this time via FedEx. So I now have two more afternoons that will be eaten up. One to wait for FedEx and one to wait for the UPS person to assess and collect the damaged enbrel.
Oy! What a day. I will not being using UPS in the future. Their 10+ hour delivery windows and lack of dilligence in delivering the meds in an appropriate time frame is just not acceptable.
Luckily I met friends for dinner and had myself a therapeutic stress relieving margarita!
Good luck... fed ex is good for me! let us know how it goes!
I get mine through Wal-mart Pharmacy Central, which is in Fl. I can call on Monday and by Tues.10 am it is there!!! Now that I work days they deliver it to my mother in law and she puts the whole thing in the frig in the garage. it is delivered by UPS meme