Drug Wars

The first full week of 2009 is almost over. It’s been a wild one in Maggie’s world. We started with no night nurse on Sunday night and I have been discombobulated all week long from staying up all night. I am fine and rested, but today is the first all week that I do not feel like I am operating in an altered universe.

However, the universe is a bit altered. Maggie is still not well. There was the overdose to consider and the underlying issue itself.

Which witch is which?

I hope that there are no lasting effects from the overdose, and that yesterday’s blood work will establish that. Nevertheless, Maggie continues to fight this stubborn bug. It seems resistant to every antibiotic, which is, of course, not good news. She is not “that sick” but she is not herself either. The doctor gave me the name of the bacteria. I should know better than to Google medical and scientific terms. Yikes! Scary stuff. But even though I’m a fairly sophisticated medical consumer, I don’t understand half of what I’m reading there and cannot make the very important distinctions between Maggie’s situation and the gruesome things that get published.
Therefore, I clicked off that and played free cell on the computer for a while. That always relaxes my brain. There is something about the order and planning of the game. It has the same effect as crossword puzzles. But I can win at free cell. I always do a crossword puzzle half way and stop because I have other things to do (oh … and it gets too hard)

I have been to Walgreens about six times this week. There are refills of some prescriptions and two new antibiotics to retrieve. One was ready one was not so I will go back again today. I believe there are currently 15 or 16 prescriptions for Maggie. She uses all but three every day. The antibiotics are (relatively) temporary and the other three as “as needed”. Any way you slice it; there are a lot of drugs going into her body.

Believe me when I tell you: You do not want to get behind me in line at Walgreens.

I have run into a friend there a couple of times and she marvels at the service I get. She says they all run around because “Mary Margaret’s mother is here.” To be honest, I don’t even notice. She told me she is surprised they don’t just let me behind the counter to help myself, and I responded that my life would be SO MUCH EASIER if they would. I could just sweep the drugs off the shelves and into my giant shopping bag.

I have to say, though, I do get excellent service from this store. They are compassionate, caring, and very efficient with my unusual insurance situation. I have developed a nice friendship with one of the women and always look forward to seeing her. On the other hand another woman there will do anything possible to avoid having to wait on me. She sees me in line and waves me over to the “drop off” window. If there is any type of delay or issue with the RX, which happens often, she does not want to deal with it. While there may be a problem with one med, I am generally picking up several. I did it once, the “drop off” people explain the issue, and then I have to get back in the "pick up" line, at the end, to get the rest. Now I just smile, shake my head and stay put because I am not falling for that again. Even that is entertaining at this point. Aside from her, everyone that works there is great.

I am very aware that I could not care for Maggie at home without the support of everyone, including the helpful folks at Walgreens.

Even the one who doesn’t want to wait on me. She makes my (almost daily) trips to the pharmacy fun.