DOCTORSLETMEDOWN

I finally got my hep a & b vaccinations started & had my first of the three injections yesterday Oct 2nd. 2003.
It will be 2 years this November since I was diagnosed with hep c & everyone including my gastro said you need to be vaccinated for a & b but my gastro nor my primary would give it to me they both said they did not do it & that they did not think my insurance company would pay for it.
I talked to my insurance provider which is cigna & was told a year ago that they would not pay unless it was an epidemic but that I could go to the health department & get it done.
Long story short in the mean time I have read up & ask questions about the vaccine it's safety ect.
I found out about TWINRIX the combination a & b vacccine & started over trying to get it done.
My gastro nor my primary nor my wife's gastro had heard of it.
I wrote letters to my gastro & my primary & my insurance company asking why after almost two years was I still not able to get this vaccine & why they would not cover it considering if I got a or b on top of the c it could be deadly.
I made it plain not that I was too good to go to the health department ( I AM NOT ) but why should I have to when I am paying over $600.00 a month for insurance.
I made it plain that I intended to talk with anyone that would listen to me about the trouble I was having getting help getting this vaccine & that included the news media.
IN TWO DAYS my primary called & had the first dose in his office & wanted me to come get my first of 3 shots which I did.
WHY does it take this kind of hassle to finally get what should have been very routine ?
So to any one out there with hep c it is MY opinion from everything I have read & researched you need to be vaccinated for a & b & do what ever you have to to get it done.
I am the biggest of chickens when it comes to needles but I promise the nurse was putting a band aid on my arm & I did not know I was ever stuck I never felt it.
It was not bad at all & I had no problem from it other than my arm is a little sore.
It's 3 shots you do the first wait a month & do the second & then the last one in 6 months.
It did not cost me anything by the doctor ordering the vaccine & giving it to me in his office but the bill he gave me a copy of that he sent the insurance company was for $185.00
I guess that it what it will be each time if that's the case that's $555.00 for the series.
You could do the A & B seperately but I liked the idea of getting stuck less times by doing the combination A & B TWINRIX.
Everything I have read about this vaccine is good.
Here is their site & you can read about it for yourself. [url="http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_twinrix.pdf"]http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_twinrix.pdf[/url]
You need acrobat reader to view it & if you don't have it you can get it free almost anywhere on the net that has free downloads.