How a Ping-Pong ball feels.

My fabulous morning (please note the sarcasm) was spent ping-ponging between phone calls to Medronic Minimed and my endo's office. But let's start at the beginning.

I opened my last box of infusion sets on May 24th. Like a good little diabetic, I got on-line and ordered my new supplies from Minimed.

Then I waited. And waited. And then I waited some more. The happy little e-mail letting me know my supplies had shipped was not in my in-box. After listening to me bitch worry, Pea called Minimed on Sunday and used the automated system to check my order status. It said my supplies would ship yesterday.

This morning, there still was no happy "your supplies are on their way" e-mail in my in-box. I have only two infusion sets left, so I called Minimed again. The automated system still said my order was processing and would be shipped . . . yesterday. I decided to talk to a live person to confirm that it had been sent.

Good thing I did. My order has not shipped yet. Minimed said they are waiting on a new prescription from my endo's office. They rattled off a list of dates over the past 2 1/2 weeks on which they talked to / faxed / called my endo's office.

Next up, I called my endo. My one and only complaint with his office is that a real person doesn't answer the phone. I worked my way through the automated menu and left a message asking what the status of my refill prescription was and if there was anything they needed from me. A few minutes later, the nurse called back and let me know that Minimed had been faxing the wrong request to them. It had all been straightened out and the refill order was faxed to Minimed yesterday.

Okay. I hung up and immediately called Minimed back. Worked my way though their automated system (again) and reached a real person. Explained the problem (again) and the latest status from my endo's office. The nice lady told me any fax received yesterday is in another department with hundreds of other faxes and could take a day or two to be sorted and processed. *sigh*

Is it just me, or is this whole situation really WRONG? If my prescription had expired and needed to be updated, why didn't Minimed let me know when I placed my order?  I certainly would have called my endo right away to get the paperwork they needed.  In the 2 1/2 weeks I've been waiting, they couldn't give me a status update? And now it will be a couple more days before my fax gets to the right department so my order can be processed and shipped?

I have two sites left. What happens if I have a repeat of Saturday and my site fails and needs to be changed out early? What if I have a repeat of two weeks ago and accidentally yank my site out in the bathroom? Luckily, a wonderful D-Friend has my back and offered to loan me a couple of spares if I need them. But how many diabetics have friends that use the same supplies and can help if an emergency arises?

I'm sorry, but I think this whole situation could have been handled much better. And when it's supplies that your life depends on, it absolutely should be.