Because of the pandemic, I have had to reschedule both my annual lady parts exam AND my annual mammogram multiple times. And now remote learning has been extended an extra week (please please please let it be just one extra week) in January so I had to reschedule my mammogram yet again. Thankfully, this time I was able to get a new appointment merely two weeks later. Previously, I had to schedule it two months out. (This is nothing compared to the lady parts doctor, who is booked out for four months in advance. If I have to reschedule yet again, I will be more than A YEAR past when I was supposed to see her.) (I am pretty sure All Is Well, but you never know and going so long between routine check-ups makes me very nervous indeed.)

This is not the only health topic that has my blood pressure skyrocketing today. I mean, I feel deeply grateful that these health topics are very low on the importance/severity scale. But they are still bothersome. Especially the latter, which has to do with prescription refills. 

This past Sunday, I noticed that I had only a week’s worth of medication left in a bottle. This is a taken-daily medication. And it is a controlled substance, which is relevant. My previous experiences in refilling this medication have taught me to call in the refill more in advance of it running out than I might think. Twice, the medication was completely gone for a couple of days before the new prescription was filled (not a life-threatening issue, more on the frustrating/annoying end of things) and the third time I had to call back three times before the prescription was refilled.

But I thought THIS refill would be easier. For one thing, the pharmacist, last time, told me it was a three-month prescription, which I thought meant the doctor had cleared the medication to be refilled three times. Yet on the bottle it says “no refills” and when I called the pharmacy’s refill line on Monday, it wouldn’t allow me to refill it. I double checked that the medication had been filled more than a month ago (adherence to the “daily” aspect is not 100%). 

Fine. I will call the doctor. 

First, the receptionist said something perplexing. She said, “The refill is already at the pharmacy.” Which. What? I don’t understand that. But while I was trying to digest that comment, she went on to say, “It is a three-month prescription, so the next refill will be ready on December 24. And the next on January 23, and the next on February 22.”

At which point I stopped focusing on the “already at the pharmacy” aspect (and forgot about it completely until now) and started focusing on the “not yet ready until December 24.” Which was more than seven days from the day I called, seven being the number of days’ medication left in the bottle. If the refill date were December 21, I would have been FINE with that, because there was a week’s worth of medication left. BUT the prescription SHOULD be available 30 days after the previous prescription was filled, and I was 99% sure that it had already been more than 30 days.

I did have the presence of mind to say, “Can you hold on a minute? I want to look at the bottle.” And I confirmed that the prescription had been filled on November 10. More than 30 days ago, since it was at that point December 14.

“Well, maybe you got it filled early,” said the receptionist.

I laughed. “But I couldn’t have filled it early,” I said. Since it is a controlled substance, I don’t think you CAN get it refilled early. Maybe in very extenuating circumstances but… I don’t know. The receptionist agreed with me that that was unlikely and said maybe there was some mix-up at the pharmacy that had to be straightened out. And I SWEAR she said that she would call and figure it out. 

But of course at that exact moment Carla, who was of course in the room with me doing her remote learning, piped up with some sort of school question; we are WORKING on not interrupting people who are on the phone but so far that work remains in the EARLY STAGES even though the WORK has been taking place for MANY YEARS. And then the call with the receptionist was over and I was flustered and we had to do some social studies work. 

So then I started dithering over whether to call the doctor’s office again – with no guarantee that I would be connected to the same person! – and risk being a nuisance (I pictured the receptionist feeling like I don’t trust her to do her job and also being frazzled and overwhelmed by all the work she already has without having to deal with yet another over-anxious patient OR thinking, “For Pete’s sake why would **I** call the pharmacy FOR YOU?” and I wish I had just listened more closely in the first place or asked more clarifying questions why will I never learn?????), or to call the pharmacy and pretend like it was clearly me who was supposed to call all along or maybe I should just wait until the next day and see what happens. 

I was really leaning toward waiting. Because this is a controlled substance, I automatically feel like everyone thinks I am using it inappropriately, and am trying to scam my way into more medication than needed. Which is not true! And maybe no one thinks that! And OF COURSE there should be checks and balances and hoops to jump through when it comes to controlled substances! That makes sense! But I feel like my perfectly reasonable and doctor-approved request for a refill is automatically flagged as DRUG SEEKING BEHAVIOR, which adds a whole other level of stress to this. Like… why am I being so adamant about needing a refill? It surely CAN’T BE because it is a daily medication that is nearly used up! It MUST BE because I am an addict/dealer. This is all LARGELY in my head, I am assuming, but omg, when I object to people saying things like “you must have picked it up early,” then I start to worry that I am really giving off Drug Seeker vibes, you know?

My ever-helpful brain turned next to how could I PROVE that I did not pick up the prescription early? My HSA must surely have a record of payments, right? But when I tried to log in to my HSA account, a) it wouldn’t allow me to log in because the website didn’t recognize my computer and b) I never got the “code” it sent me and c) when I called the 800 number you are directed to call in case of not receiving the code via email, the recording told me that my account had been disabled in January of 2020. Which I know is not true, but then I had to help Carla with her reading assignment and got derailed from my goal once again.

Then I remembered! I BLOGGED ABOUT THE NOVEMBER PRESCRIPTION ISSUE. It was a big frustrating hullaballoo, where the pharmacy tech mixed up the dates and insisted that I was trying to pick up the prescription too early, when in reality she was thinking it was October when it was November. 

At the time, I felt warmly toward her – whomst among us hasn’t mixed up the dates in these strange time-malleable days of the pandemic???? – and figured she was doing her best. And in the end I was able to get the prescription when I needed it. But NOW I am wondering if she somehow made it look like I DID pick up the prescription early? (I did NOT; the blog post I wrote says the previous prescription was filled on September 28.)

NONE OF THIS is life-altering. It is just maddening. And I HATE feeling like I’m doing something wrong. And I HATE when systems don’t work the way they should. And I HATE calling people. I HAD TO CALL TOO MANY PEOPLE FOR ONE DAY. 

Fortunately, there is a happyish ending: The doctor’s receptionist called me back Monday afternoon. She had INDEED called the pharmacy and she told me I could pick up my prescription later in the week. Not because it wasn’t the appropriate refill date, but because the pharmacy didn’t have any of that particular medication in stock. (She offered to call in the prescription to another pharmacy if I needed the medication right away, which I declined. Hopefully that is a point in the NON-drug seeker column.) 

I thanked her for calling on my behalf and then asked her if she’d figured out what the issue was. YES, she HAD. Apparently, when I picked up the prescription on November 10, I was picking up a prescription that was coded for November 25. Even though the pharmacy had a prescription dated for October 26, they gave me the one for November 25. Does this make any sense at all? No? It makes no sense to me, either. I cannot speak to whatever fancy maneuvering had to happen to give me a refill early when I already had a perfectly legitimate refill waiting… But the result is that, in the computer, it DID look like I’d picked up the prescription early, when in fact the pharmacy tech seems to have made an error. I don’t know! I am not a pharmacy tech and have no idea what kind of shenanigans go on at the pharmacy! Where did the October 26 prescription come from, is what I want to know. And also, something I will have to clarify with the pharmacy, I guess, is whether I will be stuck on this mis-aligned schedule forever. Well, perhaps it won’t be an issue. But it is all VERY AGGRAVATING, THAT’S FOR SURE.