Got Evusheld After 19 Phone Calls!

[Ibru]

This is how it happened. If you want it, don’t give up!

Started by calling the Cardiologist since my husband has afib and there can be cardiac side effects. He said it was okay for him to get Evusheld. Then I located the two hospitals in our area that received shipments via the government website. Called the switchboard, Covid line, infusion center and pharmacy in these hospitals to track down someone that knew about Evusheld.

Both hospitals said they were giving it only to transplant patients at this time. One pharmacist said they had not given it to anyone yet, and were just developing their procedure. I talked him into using my husband as the first patient “Guinea pig” while they were working through their new procedure. We just needed a doctor’s order.

Local onc said it was too new and would not prescribe it. Our CLL specialist out of state would prescribe, but did not have privileges in our local hospital. I asked my husband’s local internist and he said he would prescribe it if the specialist agreed. (Also the local oncologist called back on a Saturday and said, after consulting with a colleague in infectious disease, he would prescribe it after all if the specialist agreed.)

Pharmacist faxed the Evusheld order form (which was created by the hospital) to the CLL specialist. He signed and sent it to our local internist who co-signed and faxed it to the hospital infusion center.

Got the shots today, monitored for an hour and sent home. Hallelujah!! Now we are waiting for data on how effective Evusheld is against omicron. Hope they are studying that.

If you want Evusheld— don’t give up!

( We are located in Indiana, USA)

[Pin57]

Niiiice work Ibru, your tenacity paid off. Congrats to you n your husband on getting him Evusheld!

[Davidcara]

As they say, nice read. Wow, 19 phone calls, wonder how many times you had to spell Evusheld? So happy for you Ibru. Ibru, kind of like ibrutinib…hmmm….

[cllady01 Former Volunteer]

Good work, Hoosier! (I am a Hoosier, but no longer in the state).

[dvd1955]

Just the opposite experience here. My oncologist had her pharmacist call me a couple days ago to recommend it. She went over it pretty thoroughly, and after I said I would like to get it, she had the scheduler call me and set it up. Good to go here!

[richutchens]

I got mine last Saturday. We are in Florida. I made one phone call and got it a week later. Except for fatigue, it’s been good. I’m a former Hoosier too. We moved to Florida 62 years ago when I was 10.

[CaptRon1976]

I was fortunate to get EVUSHELD in Hollywood FL from iCare Mobile Medicine.Dr. Nickolas is a neurologist there and is a wonderful man who reached out to GSK and is now a provider for this treatment in south Florida.

[Palmetto]

Same for husband. The doctor there is wonderful and I see now why we didn’t have to have her own doctor write a prescription we only had to bring documentation showing that John has CLL and because there is a physician on site he reviewed the documents and he became the prescribing physician. There has been so much publicity about them being small and getting the treatment but I am so grateful to them. The issue now is that his neutrophils have dropped down to almost 0 and I notified them of it but they have heard of no one else with this problem. Doctor already requesting a bone marrow biopsy again even though they neutrophils is the only symptom he has this is after only two months ago getting an undetected MRD on marrow and flow cytometry.

[Ibru in reply to Palmetto]

How long after Evusheld did his neutrofils drop to zero?

[Hiker13 in reply to Ibru]

In California, treated by Kaiser with Obinutuzumab and Venetoclax. Finished Obinutuzumab in December. My oncologist called last week to say Kaiser had a limited supply of Evusheld and I qualified to receive it. Had the injections yesterday. All went well.

[Palmetto]

Got Evusheld Jan 15 on 18th were .26. Week before Evusheld was 2.7. I’m not blaming it on the Evusheld yet it does seem possible. Will be having a bone marrow biopsy next week and will post results. Just seems so unlikely that within 60 days he could go from undetected disease to the point that it’s crowding out good blood cells to this extent.

[BooksellerGuy]

From the charts it appears that the US VHA (Veterans Health Administration) has received between 5-6K doses of Evusleld in the past month. I know--not nearly enough. If anyone hears of how they are being distributed, please post a note here. My Oncologist was clueless when I talked to her.

[Cgolen99]

Received Evusheld yesterday from my primary clinic. I called my oncologist 12 days ago and they told me I could be weeks out for that as they hadn't heard anything yet. My primary called my oncologist as I have an IVIG scheduled next week. Oncologist told my primary that she is pushing my appt and IVIG out a couple of weeks and told my primary "Give her that shot today if you can!". So that is what I did. Just FYI, as everyone else said, one shot on each side of the upper buttocks. The shots hardly hurt (maybe that was the skill of the nurse?), the shots went quickly, then they observe you for an hour. I had no problems whatsoever. It was truly a piece of cake. No issues afterward or today at all.

Of course I will continue to be extremely vigilant but it does give me a little mental relief that I may have some viable antibodies now. I hope you all can get this very very soon!