Hello there. I'm kinda new here. What I mean, is that I've been reading what you folks have been saying for a long time now, and haven't really posted before. Not that I wouldn't have liked to, but rather because I'm on the shy side and didn't feel comfortable doing so. I did respond to some party plans, but basically that's it. I've mostly been inspired just reading the support you've given each other, and find you all to be a great source of strength in this battle. But now that I read this post on Embrel, I wanted to give my two cents, as this is real close to me.

My Rheumy put me on the waiting list in early January as the Methotrexate and various other Rx's weren't doing squat. I'm really having some troubles walking and even getting out of bed in the morning, and basically am just about unable to function anymore, and my Rhuemy was ready to do anything to get me lined up. My family history has not been good with AS, and all of my affected family members are totally disabled, and I'm well on my way there. Anyhow, I got the same letter you've recieved, but let me tell you about the conversation I have with them a week or so ago. As I was originally told that I should be approved by early March. I first looked at their web site, and I called the number up that they referred to in both an earlier letter and what was on the web site and really pressured them on their responses. Basically I was told that they have not approved anyone since last December, and have no intentions to do so until their new facitlity is completed. I again pressed on for additional information an got an admission that the best I could really hope for was sometime in the fourth quarter, and when pressured further, the response was "possibly next year". I'm hoping that this is not the case, but when I went back to my Rheumy and discussed, he responded that he had heard the same thing from someone else. I'm hoping that maybe the story has changed but I personally kinda doubt it. Maybe I'm too skeptical.

The bad news is that the Embrel is not available to me now, but the good news is that I just talked to my GP about 10 minutes ago, and he said the insurance company just agreed to put me on Remicade. Yahoo!

On another note, it's nice to meet you all, and look forward to talking with you in the future.