Saturday, March 29, 2008

Arguing

Yesterday was a very busy day. I would say at least half of it was spent arguing with people. It started off with an argument with my husband, which even though it was quickly resolved set the stage for my mood for the rest of the day. I asked him to go to the grocery store to get a few items for dinners I was making for two families from church who just had babies. And he told me that he had been "doing a lot." It is my guess that every stay-at-home-mom has had this discussion with her husband, so I will let you use your imagination as to how that conversation went. Let's just say there were some words about the things that I do, some door slamming, and then I went to the store myself. Got home, made the marinade for the chicken, got myself ready for the day and realized there were some people I needed to call.

The day before I had called the pharmacy to refill Drew's sildenafil. I had enough to get me through part of Sunday and I know they like to have the request on a weekday and have at least a day to get it done. So I called Thursday. Friday Drew needed to have a blood draw so I thought I could just pick up the prescription when I was there for that. But the lady on the phone gave me a hard time because I wanted to pick it up in 20 hours instead of the 24 that they prefer. Sheesh. She tried to tell me it takes 24 hours to make it, but I know it only takes an hour because they've forgotten to make it before and I've only had to wait an hour. Anyway, I was like fine, I'll call in the morning before I come to see if it's ready. Then she calls me back and says we're out of refills. So I call the cardiologist and leave a message that we need him to call in a new prescription. Then the pharmacy lady calls me back again and says we got the refill from the doctor but the insurance is not going to pay for it because it hasn't been 28 days. How many days has it been? 17. That is nowhere close. She said we'd have to pay for it ourselves if we wanted it filled and it's $512. (I won't even mention the conversation I had with Stanford the same day about authorizations and referrals and who needs to send them where and then with UCD with differing information about the same things. And how they all seem to expect me to know what the heck to do when I've never done this before. )

So that brings me back to yesterday when I called the cardiologist-on-call, because apparently it was Cesar Chavez day and the hospital was closed. I asked him what we should do, if we should give the medicine twice a day instead of 3 times a day, or give him less, or what. And he said that probably the pharmacy didn't give us enough medication. Which I never even thought of! But in order for us to be ten days short we would have had to lose 120 mls, about 4 ounces of medication. There is no way that I spilled or lost 4 ounces of medication. So I called the pharmacy and argued with them about that for a while. We never did get it figured out because of the dang holiday. The pharmacist said he would fill a Rx for a 5 day supply and it would only cost us $75 and when the original pharmacist got back we could figure out if they made a mistake or not. Whatever.

By then it was 12 and I still had to take Drew for his blood draw to check his calcium and then over to a birthday party that started at 1. And we hadn't eaten lunch. We left for the lab and the woman there did a good job and got blood with only one stick! I'm wondering if he's getting easier now that he's older, although he still has a terrible time with IVs. He still doesn't want to get blood drawn, and he cries, but can calm down pretty quickly. This time Grandma sent 3 light up cars for his prize and he really likes them.

Then we drove through McDonalds, since we still hadn't eaten anything and went straight to the party. After playing at the park for a couple of hours we drove home and I started cooking. As soon as the food was done it was time to deliver it to the two families and I was meeting some friends for dinner. In the craziness I had forgotten to make dinner for my own family! No wonder my husband "does a lot!"

Here's hoping for a relaxing weekend!

8 comments:

Amber said...

I totally hear you sister! Cheers to a relaxing weekend!

Mother in Chief said...

I definitely have had similarly frustrating experiences with doctors and refills and pharmacies that have a hard time filling prescriptions. What is that all about??!! Time consuming. Frustrating. Draining. And the good news is that you'll get to do it all again in three weeks when your prescription is almost empty. Ack! Hopefully next time you won't also be cooking for two other families and trying to make it to a birthday party on the same day. Please, just one demand at a time. ;-)

Quayle Covey Blog said...

Thank you Andrea for the delicious meal. We devoured every last bite! Now that I read about your day, you bringing us our meal means even more. We are very greatful. Having 3 kids so little is hard! I'm tired!

Leslie said...

grrrr. what the heezy, pharmacy? don't they KNOW you have enough to deal with? geez.

Katie Scott said...

I am so sorry that the pharmacy is giving you a hard time. Hopefully they will admit their mistake!

Kathy said...

Oh Andrea...
i think we've all had to fight those battles...pharmacies, too many appointments, other service projects, and HUSBANDS! urrghhh....
sorry that it all had to happen on the same day!
Hope your Sunday is nice and peaceful...
(that pharmacy stinks though...I think that I'd just sit in the floor and cry until they gave me my meds!)
kathy

Samantha said...

I am hoping that you got your relaxing weekend! Wow, what a day you had. I sometimes find myself incredibly annoyed with the pharmacy myself. It is so frustrating! I am sorry you had such an awful day.

Heart Hugs,
Samantha

The Portas said...

Oh, I'm so sorry you had such a stressful day. Come on, Hubby! Help your wife when she asks for it! :)

Insurance/pharmacy stuff is so annoying to have to deal with. Like you need that extra thing to worry about, right?!