I have a dear friend who suffers from a brain injury. We are writing something to share with the world soon, a blog, a play, a memoir, so I don’t put that here (and yes, I have another person in my caregiving queue)but I asked her if I could share this one little tidbit from this week.
So she has to go to the doctor for a UTI (urinary tract infection). When you reach our age, you know when you have a UTI and in the OLD days your doctor trusted you and you could just call and tell them that you have a UTI and they would call in a prescription for an antibiotic. This really doesn’t happen now, so imagine her surprise at this conversation:
“Hello. Dr.’s office? I need an appointment because I have a UTI.”
“Ok,” says the receptionist, “which doctor do you see?”
“I see Dr. S.”
“Ok,” what pharmacy do you use?”
“I use Walgreens on Main Street.”
“Ok, very good.”
And, after getting her name and address and birthdate, the receptionist hangs up. So………………..what would you think? You would think that they talked to your doctor and called in a prescription to Walgreens on Main Street, right?
My friend goes to Walgreens on Main Street. Nope, no prescription. And the pharmacist checks with other Walgreens. Nope, no prescription. So my friend calls the doctor’s office.
“Ummmm, I called earlier because I have a UTI and the receptionist took my name and pharmacy and there is no prescription here.”
“Oh, well, you have to come in and see the doctor, we can’t just send out prescriptions without and appointment.”
“Well,” my friend says, ” since I am disabled, I don’t drive, and I have to walk or take the bus everywhere, it would have been nice if your receptionist would have made an appointment for me rather than sending me to Walgreens on Main Street without that vital information.”
Silence. Dead Silence.
“Can I make an appointment for you?” Says this receptionist. “Can you come in now?”
“Not unless you’re coming in your car to get me,” says my friend. I need to get to the bus and then get to your office. So let’s make that appointment for tomorrow.”
She goes to the doctor ‘on the morrow’ and gets the prescription called in, with an additional prescription, but not before this conversation with the PA (physician’s assistant—and BTW I LOVE PA’s I think they have made the world ever so much better MOST of the time):
My friend says to the PA: “So I have had this for about a week, but I worry whenever I get any kind of infection because my brain surgeon said infection can be very dangerous for me, as I am already compromised.”
“Well,” says the PA, “I highly doubt that a UTI would get to your brain. He was certainly being overly cautious.”
I so wish I had been there. I would have said, “Look, you can be overly cautious with your brain, but I have 40 titanium coils in my head to stop a brain bleed and I have miraculously survived a subdural hematoma that causes permanent problems……so I AND MY BRAIN SURGEON choose not to be overly cautious.”
Next installment…..Walgreens on Main Street….
You just have to laugh…….
Cathy Sikorski