Never Fear...Malaria Meds Are Here!

Although the insurance approved my malaria medicine over a week ago, I just received the supply on Friday, 6/21. I guess there were a few underlying issues with filling my prescription after I dropped it off last Monday (6/17) foolishly thinking it would be filled the next day. First, the Walgreens by my house lost power last Monday when we had storms with a couple inches of rain. That caused the systems to reset into a Safe Mode and prescriptions were not being filled in a timely manner. Walgreens didn't actually recognize the issue until Tuesday, which put me another day behind. I called them on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and they said they were working on it, but were having difficult finding the tablets versus the caplets. My doctor ordered tablets because caplets melt in the heat and are less effective. On Friday I called and the entire order was filled, but they had to use two manufacturers to fill the order. The total cost of the medicine was $863.29, but I only paid $55...thank God for insurance!

This is all of my medicine that I am going to take other than over the counter meds. Doesn't look like much huh?

Although this summer was going to be my summer of smut which included Fifty Shades of Grey, I decided instead to read some stories about Americans who have had experiences in Uganda. Yesterday I started reading a book called First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria by Eve Brown-Waite. The author writes about her experience in working with the Peace Corps in Uganda and finding true love during her time there. I've only read the first few chapters, but I do understand the severity of malaria based on the author's note at the beginning of the book. More than a million people in Africa die from malaria each year, and it's the number one killer of children under five years old in Uganda. That startling statistic put things in perspective for me. I am fortunate to have access to everything I need. I know I am not a parent, but I can't imagine watching my child die from a preventable disease which requires a little pill. How did I become so fortunate when other are suffering so much? Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to me.

The author donates 10% of her earnings from the book to organizations doing malaria prevention work in Uganda. If you are interested in learning more about how to help with malaria efforts in Uganda, you can visit the following organizations:

CARE http://www.care.org/index.asp?

African Medical And Research Foundation (AMREF) http://www.amref.org/

Medicins San Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/