# @aliontherun1 on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/B1HqDjIhtdZ
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/14492844-aliontherun1-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/legacy-do/1c35c88c713d5b6983591c9e994d63e3ee20b1430c28c89f59f5db2b8c85189f.jpg
- **Posted:** 2019-08-13T21:42:18.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Ali Feller (@AliOnTheRun1) — https://gondola.cc/AliOnTheRun1

## Caption

It took THREE YEARS and countless appointments, phone calls, voicemails, MyChart messages, faxes (yes, faxes), appeal letters, follow-ups, blood draws, stool samples (ugh), and tears, but my insurance company finally — OH MY GOD FINALLY! — agreed to approve the medicine that will hopefully get my Crohn’s disease into remission.

In 2016, my doctor wanted me self-administering Stelara injections every four weeks. That, he was quite certain, would get me back to a “normal” life. He felt really good about it, and so did I. But the insurance company said, “Nah. She can have it every eight weeks.” For three years, we have been pleading our case — that just a little more medicine might give my intestines the chilled-out kick they need. We heard “no” so many times. We followed up so many times. My gastroenterologist, who is the chief of medicine at nyulangone, backed everything up with test results, with so many blood samples, with colonoscopy photos (#glamourshots), and with his well-respected, insanely educated expert opinion. But still, it was a no. A no from someone somewhere who doesn’t know me or know my history or know how it feels to wake up sick every single day, and to be denied your closest hope for a temporary fix for a chronic illness.

But today, I finally got the very simple response I’ve been wanting, needing, crossing all my fingers and toes for since 2016. Today, someone somewhere said yes.

No, it shouldn’t have been this hard. No, it shouldn’t have taken three years to get my medicine approved. No, an insurance company shouldn’t have more power over my treatment than my doctor. And no, it’s not a guarantee that the increased dose will even work.

But finally, finally, we at least get a shot. We get to try. And I am so very hopeful. (Annie is excited, too! She thinks it’s going to work!)

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## Credits

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## Tags

glamourshots

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