Drug prescription mix-ups can be a hard pill to swallow. (And yes, so can bad puns).
About a month ago, my psychiatrist called in a refill for my anti-depressants. Unfortunately, he called in the wrong amount and the wrong dosage. I didn’t notice until after I had picked up the refilled prescription. I emailed him and he responded:
LOL, you are absolutely correct. You should know that medical school was an obvious choice for me as my math is absolutely atrocious. Let me correct the order and send it in this morning so you can go in and clarify. I will write a note to the pharmacist that this is a clarification of the previous order. Sorry about the mixup.
I went to CVS, told my pharmacist about the mix-up, and after reading my psychiatrist’s message, he informed me that because I had picked up and paid for the 90 tabs in my prescription refill the day before, my insurance company, via the pharmacist’s computer, was telling him that I had to pay “full price because this is a second prescription.”
I stared at the pharmacist blankly. “But a mistake was made [I used the passive voice to protect my psychiatrist’s embarrassing math skills] on the prescription I picked up yesterday. I merely want the amount supplemented.”
“But the computer sees it as a second prescription and it’s too soon for a refill,” replied the pharmacist.
“Here’s how I see it,” I said. “I didn’t make the mistake and shouldn’t have to pay full price to remedy it. Why don’t I just take what I have and come back when these 90 tabs are gone?”
“Yes, but the amount is still wrong.”
“I understand that, but my doctor sent a message correcting it.”
“But the computer will still see it as a second prescription.”
“Okay,” I replied, ready to swallow all 90 tabs in front of him. “How about this? How about if I RETURN these 90 tabs which cancels out the first transaction, you give me back my money, and we start all over with the corrected prescription?”
The pharmacist cocked his head. He was thinking, why yes, that might work. That way I won’t have to keep repeating what the computer says to this broad.
“Why yes, that will work,” said the pharmacist.
Fifteen minutes later (because I must wait which gives me time to check out the awful Hallmark card selections), I walk out of CVS and I am — like my prescription — full-filled.
Hello, beloveds — I hope you got your email notification about this new post. Lemme tell you: hell hath no fury like tech support from a WordPress support contractor. I believe that all remaining issues have been ironed out.
Even though I was contemplating it over the last week, I won’t swallow those 90 tabs all at once.
OK Kiddo
I am with you. Go girl.
Pharmacy computers are a bummer AND yes you can still write a brilliant blog. BTW I am delighted you outsmarted the computer.
Thanks, Charlotte. Thanks, too, for checking your spam/junk box for notification about this post. I’m wondering . . . if follow-up comment notifications (if you signed up for those notifications) will initially show up in your spam/junk box.
Yes, I outsmarted that computer. I didn’t care what it saw, and the pharmacist should not have cared what it saw because he should have seen what was standing right in front of him: a vexed Rx customer.
Thanks for not swallowing all 90 pills at once. This is the hazard of becoming too dependent on technology: we lose our practical skills. Remember when Toyota accelerators stuck on their automatic cars causing crashes? No one had the instinct to shift into neutral. You probably taught the pharmacist a practical solution to outwit the computer.
Thanks for commenting, Beth, and for letting me know that you got an email notification about this post. After the hours of hell I went through troubleshooting glitches on this site, I have to confess that I may be able to outwit the computer, but there’s NO WAY to outwit a cocky, 40-years-younger-than-me tech who made me feel like I was still getting around in a horse and buggy. GRRRRRR.
Though I did get an email about the post, I am not getting them for new comments. But, don’t worry, I’ll keep checking!
I figured that would be a glitch. I hope you don’t mind that I won’t be able to return to the tech-support company that assisted me so far to have this remedied. We were in the middle of troubleshooting all these confirmation problems when a supervisor called me and said that the company had already spent more than enough time on my issues and that for them to be completely remedied, I would have to migrate my site to hosting at WordPress.com rather than hosting at Hostgator. I then got an email that classified my work order as: CLOSED.
I’ll see what my tech pal at Hostgator can do. I called him early this morning and he told me that everything WP tech support is bullsh!t and to call him about further glitches and he’ll see what he can do. But you may have to access the site every so often to check on comments. As the site administrator, I am getting email notifications about new comments which I have to approve before they appear on the site. I am getting all of those emails . . . including ones for spam that I’ve been able to delete.
So sorry, and thanks for your continued generosity and forbearance.
Well, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but I did NOT receive a confirmation email for my 1:05 comment. I check-marked wanting to receive email notifications for MY comments . . . and have been receiving those email confirmations . . . until 1:05. I’m testing with this one.
No email notification for the 1:34 comment as well which makes me wonder if whatever is happening to Beth is happening to me now. I don’t have much hair left to pull out.
Sorry my friend. I am not receiving any emails about comments, but honestly, for me the emails about a new post are most important and I got that this morning. I know to check in on the comments, but I understand as administrator, you don’t want to offer a notification service which you can’t deliver. So keep your hair. We’ll all get through this together!
Thanks, Beth. I did receive an email notification that you had posted a comment. It also showed up on my site dashboard. I’ll keep checking, too. I’m just worried that it’s a slippery slope from not getting notifications about follow-up comments to not getting notifications about a new post to not getting notifications that I’m running out of gas or notifications that my electric bill payment is late. Who knows where this might end?
Sigh. The beat goes on…and on…and on. Let’s hope not 90 times! It is such a gift that you are able to laugh at even the most annoying glitches in life–the pills, not the blog glitches; suspect it may take 90 days, at least(!), before you can belly-laugh about those. You do help us all to see the upsides of some of the silliest downsides. Thanks!
You are very welcome, Carol. Thank you for hanging in there with me, along with the other members of my beloved “test” spark and spitfires.
Interestingly, five minutes ago, I posted a comment from my iPhone and got an instant email confirmation. I’m posting this comment from my Desktop.
NO EMAIL CONFIRMATION FOR MY LAST COMMENT SENT FROM MY DESKTOP. GRRRRR. What in theeeeee hell is going on? I’m sending this one from my Desktop, too.
No email confirmation. This comment is via iPhone.
And no email confirmation for the latest iPhone comment. It worked 5 minutes ago.
I just learned that Justice Kennedy is retiring and these glitches are suddenly a drop in the bucket.
(Posted from my laptop.)
And . . . an instantaneous email confirmation. It’s all a mystery, my beloveds, all a mystery.
I’m not sure whether to comment on your prescription woes, your computer glitch woes or your Justice Kennedy retiring woes. One is quite frustrating; one is quite irritating; and one is quite scary. I know you’ll know which one is which.
A terrific and funny comment, Merrie Lee. I am frustrated, irritated and scared. GRRRR.