Flu case #2.

[rivka]

Michael has the flu.

He started feeling a bit under the weather on Tuesday night, and by Wednesday afternoon he felt (and looked) awful. Oddly, he's not running a fever at all. When Alex had it, she seemed much sicker than her relatively low fever would suggest; Michael seems to be following the same pattern.

He went to our doctor today. She prescribed Tamiflu and also an antibiotic because she didn't like the way his lungs sounded. (Our doctor hands out antibiotics like candy.)

Tamiflu needs to be taken in the first day or two of symptoms to be effective, so I became livid when I went to the pharmacy this evening and the pharmacist told me that they had to order more Tamiflu and wouldn't have it until tomorrow. I asked her why she didn't tell Michael this when he dropped the prescription off earlier in the day, or at least call us when she realized they didn't have it. She shrugged and told me that I could have the prescription back if I wanted to take it elsewhere. Then she said that, also, they didn't have the Prozac refill I had called in the day before, because she was going to have to order that too.

So I became That Customer. I raised my voice and said "This is absolutely unacceptable," and explained why. An assistant manager nearby heard me, as I had intended him to, and he came over to investigate the situation. He found my Prozac prescription already filled and waiting on the rack. Then he called around until he found another pharmacy branch that still had Tamiflu in stock and faxed Michael's prescription over there. After a few more rounds of drama (it was faxed to the wrong number and I had to track down what had happened and get them to re-send it), Michael finally wound up with meds in hand. Whew.

I hate this damn pharmacy. They are constantly running out of things and having to order more, or asking me to accept 24 hours worth of pills because they don't have enough right now to fill my full prescription. But, you know, they're a block from our house and they're open 24 hours. It's hard to change.

I had a headache earlier, but I think it was just stress. I've had a lot of that lately, and it's always ramped up by having to deal with both kids solo for long periods of time. (Even if Michael were feeling up to caring for them, we don't really want him touching them.) I was hoping that Michael had seasonal flu, for which I have already been vaccinated, but our doctor thinks it's more likely to be H1N1. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Poor Michael, and poor you. That had to be exasperating.

I have a pharmacy in the same chain by me that is, as yours is, maddeningly incompetent at times. I've complained to their management, and while things have sometimes gotten better they still aren't OK.

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there's a point where indifference to providing satisfactory care becomes legitimate medical misconduct that can and should be reported to the state licensing boards. I'll grant that there are epidemics and maybe some horrible mistake happens to one out of every ten thousand customers. But when it happens twice in one trip (like nobody noticed that you were running low on Prozac a week ago?), and consistently enough that the pharmacist on duty shrugs, I think some external professional force might be called for.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

When we all had H1N1, the doctors said that it's actually unusual for an adult to run a fever at all, so my temperature hovering around 100 was a big deal. I guess kids' temperatures are just more labile. (Makes me wonder about all those reasons we say fevers are adaptive; I suppose I might just be too old to matter to evolution any more!)

I haven't actually heard of anyone getting seasonal flu yet this year, but I will cross my fingers that you won't get any, whatever the reason.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

(Also, you rock for taking the pharmacy to task. They had your refill done already and didn't know?!)

[ailbhe]

Goodness. That pharmacy sounds... poor. Perhaps drawing the asst mgr's attention to it will have helped.

I do hope Michael's experience of the flu is relatively mild. And brief. Good luck!

[acceberskoorb.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever wished the seasonal flu on anyone, but I sure wish it on Michael now, for your sake.

I hope the whole family feels better soon...

[treadpath.livejournal.com]

Flu!!! Oh, yuck! Hope Michael feels better soon!!!

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Hope you're all better soon - your headache, M's flu, and so on.

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

Maybe their convenient location is not so convenient after all?

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

Maybe their convenient location is not so convenient after all?

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"No fever" was my experience of the flu, too. I'm really feeling better today for the first time since I got sick on 12 October. If I had been working, I probably could have managed to go to work days ago.

K.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

(like nobody noticed that you were running low on Prozac a week ago?),

Actually, my psychiatrist wrote the prescription for "up to 20mg" and I only take 10mg, so it lasts me twice as long as they expect it to. A month ago I got a few helpful automated voicemail messages from Rite Aid suggesting that I was due for a refill, but I still had half the bottle left so I ignored them. Should've taken them up on it, obviously.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Heh. One of my symptoms of being temporarily off the Prozac is a massively short fuse.

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, the moment I read that after sending it, I knew that there was fatal pronoun trouble. I meant that THEY should have procedures in place to restock THEIR supply of Prozac long before a customer is standing before them with a refill order that they can't honor. Maybe there's been a run on Tamilflu in your region this past week and it's tricky to keep an adequate supply, but not Prozac. I don't think there's any excuse for that lack of situational awareness in a fast food restaurant, much less a pharmacy. It's not your fault at all for having trust that a licensed pharmacy would be obligated to meet even low expectations.

[curiousangel.livejournal.com]

I'll take that in the spirit it was meant. :)

[zeldajean.livejournal.com]

For me, this is a symptom of low blood sugar and/or needing to eat (because I've probably forgotten).

Last week a Walmart Tire & Lube Express employee got it for his blatant attitude that some *woman* of all things could know more about her own vehicle than he, a MAN. I count it to my credit that I did not curse at all and even wished him a curt good day. (I have a terrible habit of cursing like a sailor, particularly when angry. Improving, but hard to shake the "when angry" part.)

Although this reminds me that a phone call to the manager is still in order.

Hope you all feel well soon!