16 --Take Your Medicine! / DECEPTION

Take Your Medicine!

August 10, 2018

When I was a little girl in the late 1950’s-early 1960’s, when I fell down and skinned my knee, it was time to get out the Mercurochrome.  

It would sting and burn a bit.  Turn my skin bright orangey-red.  I am not sure it did much else, to be honest!   But if you needed more than orange Mercurochrome, that meant a trip to the doctor.

Our family physician was Dr. Garland.  His office was in a dark red brick Federal-style home located in Marshville, NC.  When you walked in the front door, you entered the waiting room toward the left.  His nurse Mrs. Hill, a tiny dynamo of a lady, would call your name and lead you through double doors into the examination room.  She would be dressed all in white, from her starched nurse’s cap down to her shoes.  Dr. Garland always had on a white coat, and his stethoscope would be around his neck.  He would complete the examination, give instructions about his findings, and often write out a prescription for some medicine. 

Upon leaving Dr. Garland’s office, we would drive a couple of blocks across the railroad tracks to the drug store on the corner.  My mom or dad would hand the prescription paper to Mr. Gaddy, the pharmacist.  We would wait while he filled the order – mixing ingredients, counting out pills, then typing the label for the medication bottle.  If I was lucky sometimes we would get ice cream or a fountain soda while we waited on the medicine.  You never had to wait very long, and if need be, you could take the first dose right there in the drug store.  At any rate – you went home with the medicine that day.

Fast forward to these days of computers, insurance, and mail order service.

Upfront, I want to say I am VERY GRATEFUL to have insurance, as well as the speed of computers for communication, and mail order service because I live 30 miles from anything and a trip to the drug store means an hour’s drive round-trip.   All of these things work together for the ultimate good.  It’s just that sometimes it is not quite as fast as it was in “the good ol’ days.” 

Ultimately – computers are supposed to make things instantaneous.  The prescriptions can be zoomed electronically from the doctor to the pharmacist, where they can be filled quickly, and by the time you get to the pharmacy it should be waiting for you.  Right? Sometimes it works that way.  I have left my doctor’s office and gotten a text message from the pharmacy within minutes that my prescription was ready. 

But not always.  The best of plans can be deceiving.  Occasionally, my insurance has other “hoops” to jump through.  Some medications have to be pre-approved, whatever that means.  To MY way of thinking, if the doctor thinks I need it, that should be “pre-approval enough.”  But I don’t run Big Pharma and I suppose they have their reasons. 

Most recently, I got tripped up by the mail-order pharmacy service. 

Dr. Raja at Duke had given me a prescription that I was eager to start.  We opted for the mail-order service out of convenience.  She sent it in, and we expected to receive the medications within a couple of days.  

After a week of watching the mailbox and receiving no medication, David looked at our account online.  The medication was listed, but nothing indicated it was being processed.  He called to inquire.  The representative he spoke to indicated that it was a “specialty” medication, and had to be sent out to a “specialty pharmacy” to be filled.  She said it should arrive “soon.”

Another couple of days passed, still no indication on the website that it had been processed or sent.  David called again.  Again, the representative said it was in the “specialty” pharmacy, but this time, she gave him the number to talk to someone at that location.  So, he called the specialty pharmacy to ask why I had not received the medication.  The specialty representative said that the medication was ready to be sent, but there was no payment information on file.  Wait – didn’t that transfer from the original pharmacy?  Nope.  So don’t you think someone might have CALLED us to ASK for that information?  Nope.  This medication is primarily used by transplant patients to prevent rejection of a transplanted organ -- you'd think it would be a priority to fill it.  (In my case, it is to prevent my immune system from rejecting itself.) 

The medicine – and I – just sat in limbo, due to lack of communication. 

David quickly straightened that out, providing all the information necessary, and the medication was mailed.  I finally received it and began taking it a full two weeks after it had been prescribed.  

Again – I stress that I am very grateful for insurance and for the convenience of mail order delivery of my medication.  But man….it sure seemed easier just to cross the tracks, drive a couple of blocks, and have a fountain soda while Mr. Gaddy counted pills and typed up a label…..

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Untethered Time Travel:  DECEPTION

It is probably late in 1963, I am about 7 years old. 

I am looking for a snack.  I open the refrigerator door and stand there a while, just looking at what choices might be in there.  I like to eat carrots, 
playing Bugs Bunny:  “Ehhh What’s up, Doc?” 

I also like celery, cheese, and little sweet pickles (NOT dills).  

 I stare a while at the offerings in the refrigerator door.  My eyes fall upon a jar of something I have never tried before.  It looks pretty:  green and red  – that’s Christmas colors, so it MUST be something good and sweet, right?  I take the jar out and look at it closer.  Yes, those pretty colors are tempting, I know it’s going to be good!  I open the jar and fish one out.

I pop the green and red morsel into my mouth and bite down.

Bleah!!!  
An oily salty flavor squishes in my mouth.  That thing has the consistency of rubber and seems to get bigger as I try to chew it up.  I spit it out, fast.
 ICK ICK ICK!!  Oh, what deception!  
I've been betrayed by something that looks pretty but tastes AWFUL!

It’s a pimento stuffed olive. 

To this day, I have never put another one in my mouth.