Prescription Follies

So I go to the pharmacy to renew my Advair prescription for long-term control of my asthma.  The pharmacist informs me I have no refills left.  They will need to contact the doctor to authorize some refills.  If you're like me, then you don't refill most things until you're out of them.  Ink jet cartridges, gas, milk, prescription medicines.  These are all things that do not make the list of 'Stock up on for a rainy day'.  Needless to say, I'm out of Advair (even as I write this, out of breath, wheezing, and generally unwell ;) and it's the middle of pollen season which in Georgia is basically an all out attack on the breathing impaired by so-called sweet Mother Nature.

My doctor's office informs my pharmacy that I will need to come in for an appointment in order to get a refill.  This is where I get overly confused.  If Advair were intended to, say, cure my asthma then I would understand the need for multiple doctor's office visits for a checkup.  But it is not.  It is intended to help control the condition, a condition which hath no cure by the way.  So pray tell me, why must I go to the doctor's office to pick up a long term medication (and by long term, I mean forever) intended to only mediate the symptoms for a disease I have had for at least 28 years of my life and for which disease there is no cure?

So I called my doctor's office and informed them that I needed to get my 'scripts refilled.  Sweet-voiced Mandy says that it has been quite a while since the original 'script was given out and the doctor would like to see me.  To which I reply, 'I can assure you I still have asthma.'  After all, I have a reckless and fearless two year old toddler and a nine week old baby who would love nothing more than to display their combined efforts at driving any reasonable adult crazy with love for their cuteness and despair for their toddlernoisiness.  To no avail go my pleas so I schedule an appointment for later today.  As I write this, I can only hope that my kids do their best to drive that entire staff crazy in protest to the healthcare industry practice of forcing office visits to renew prescriptions for incurable diseases.