Pharmacy - More Than Counting By Fives

So the way I understand this, when you write your blog you should write about something you know a lot about.

Well let's see.... that would be home school, home school curriculum, dogs, cleaning, cooking, shopping, Meerkat Manor, and oh yea... pharmacy, that degree I spent 6 years getting.

So, here goes.

I recently read an email from a home school group that I am a part of. The lady has cancer and was struggling to find the meds that would help ease the pain. She had called and been by several pharmacies and none of them had the particular medicine she was looking for.

I'll tell you a little secret. The pharmacies probably did have the medicine they just didn't know her or her situation and thought she was a drug seeker. Drug seekers are the bane of our existence. We do everything we can to get rid of them. We even lie and tell people that we , in fact, don't carry that schedule 2 narcotic you're looking for. I know, I know... that's awful but we can't tell the difference between a cancer patient and a drugged out stoner especially if we have never even met you. Getting rid of one of those drug seekers usually involves law enforcement. It's just easier not to go there.

I'll tell you another secret, if you want your pharmacist to bend over backwards to help you, ( and believe me, they will) you just need to get to know them. Get to know the technicians. Get to know the cashiers. You won't have to worry about driving all over town looking for your pain meds because your buddy, the pharmacist, will do it for you. She'll know that you are suffering from stage 4 kidney cancer and she'll know that you don't have the "uumph" to drive all over town looking for the medicine. She'll call everywhere she can think of and vouch for you. She'll tell the other pharmacists that you are, in fact, not a drug seeker but a patient who is suffering from cancer who just needs her meds.

I'm not saying bribe the pharmacist. I'm saying be friendly. Strike up a conversation with them and only go to that one pharmacy.

Cancer isn't the only thing we're empathetic to. What about the mom who has a one year old on her hip screaming his bloody head off because he has a strep throat. As soon as the pharmacist tells her they don't have the medicine in stock the one year old decides to puke all over the floor. Now poor momma has to schlep this poor sick kid all over town looking for drugs.

I have known pharmacists and technicians who would move heaven and earth to help out a nice patient. They'll even risk catching hell from their employer for going above and beyond. I know I did.

This is a pharmacist friend of mine and me being goobers dressing up for Halloween at work.