1. It all started yesterday. I'm seeing my neurologist up here on Thursday, and the competent and friendly office staff called to see if I'd gotten my MRI and EEG done yet (love them!). I said yes, that I'd had both tests completed in Atlanta over Christmas break, and my doctor down there was supposed to pass on the information more than a month ago. He (or his incompetent, rude, and completely bitchy nurse) hadn't.
So I had my dad call the rude office in Atlanta for me because I was on my way to class and didn't want to deal with the aforementioned bitchy nurse, who obviously has no interest in helping patients whatsoever. Apparently she told him that they couldn't pass on my medical records if I ask for them; rather, my doctor up here needed to call and ask for the records. So I called the friendly and helpful office up here, and the nurse said she'd take care of it. 20 minutes later, she calls me back. The rude and bitchy nurse in Atlanta had told her that she couldn't give my records to the office up here unless I filled out a document online and then faxed it to her. (So why did she tell my dad a completely different story?)
Never mind the fact that I'd already signed a medical release form for that Atlanta office when I first started seeing the doctor down there. Apparently that doesn't matter. I guess it doesn't matter that they're my medical records to start with, so I should be able to get them when I want them. Apparently that's not the case. Fine. Whatever. Just get your stories straight so I can figure out what the heck I need to do.
I called my dad back (bless him) and got my mom to fill out the document, forge my name, and fax it over to the office (since I have no access to a fax machine). I called this morning and told the bitchy nurse that I need some medical records faxed over to another doctor. She starts in on the spheel about me needing to fill out that form online. I'VE ALREADY DONE THAT! IT WAS FAXED TO YOU YESTERDAY!
Finally, she asks for my birth date, puts me on hold, and figures out that I did indeed fax the form over (well, my mom did. Whatever. Now they have two copies of my medical release consent). Supposedly, my records are being faxed over to the kind and helpful staff of my NoVa neurologist (love them!!!). We'll see what actually happens.
2. One of my close friends happens to have a blood clot in her leg (she broke her foot, had a cast on, developed a blood clot). She got extremely sick during class yesterday ... trouble breathing, pain in her chest, nausea ... not good things, considering that she has a blood clot. The doctor had also just upped her coumadin dosage that morning, and coumadin is a serious drug. It can really screw you up. Luckily, I've managed to avoid coumadin so far, but I've had other friends who've almost died on it because of incorrect dosages, and I really didn't want my friend to end up with a PE (pulmonary embolism, for those of you who don't hang out at hospitals a lot) or some serious side effect from the coumadin. So we went to the ER.
We went to Sibley Memorial Hospital on the advice of our teacher. It's only a couple miles from AU, and the next closest option was Georgetown, at which I've had HORRENDOUS experiences (seriously, y'all. Don't ever go to Georgetown. They're incompetent and have no interest in helping patients. Apparently all they care about there is getting their research done).
Anyway, we went to Sibley. WORST HOSPITAL EVER!!! My friend with the blood clot and possible PE wasn't even triaged for 45 minutes. She wasn't even TRIAGED!!! She could've had a clot in her lung, and she could've died in the ER waiting room before a nurse even took the time to look at her. We even went back up to the front desk and made sure they knew she had a blood clot, and the incompetent and completely unhelpful woman just said, "just tell the nurse when you get back to triage."
Finally, after we'd been waiting for about 40 minutes (during which time I'd grown increasingly vocal about my disdain for Sibley hospital), a nurse who was "fast-tracking" patients (the ones who came in with a sore throat and cough—who had absolutely no business even coming to an ER) noticed that my friend looked miserable and pretty sick. She asked what was wrong. My friend was having a hard time talking and remembering exactly what was wrong with her, so I filled the nurse in. I stressed the fact that my friend has a blood clot. The nurse then turned to me and asks, "and how do we know she has a blood clot?" Um, because I have magical powers and can sense when people have blood clots. SHE WENT TO HER FREAKING DOCTOR, IDIOT, AND THEY DID AN ULTRASOUND!!
The nurse then checked my friend's pulse and said it appeared that my friend was getting enough oxygen and should just keep waiting for triage. (I'm tired of saying "my friend" at this point, so I'm just going to start calling her "Lulu" for the purposes of this blog. Don't worry, her name isn't actually Lulu). We proceeded to wait for another 15-20 minutes.
The nurse in triage then asked if Lulu was feeling flu-ish. Um, no. She has a blood clot, upped her coumadin dosage today, and now she's having chest pain and trouble breathing. The nurse seemed surprised and somewhat concerned. Then she classified Lulu as "urgent," and we walked over to register.
Approximately 40 minutes later, they finally brought Lulu back to a curtain area in the ER. There seemed to be only one competent person back there—the woman who did Lulu's EKG and gave her an IV. Then she left after taking about 8 vials of Lulu's blood.
It was a good 15 minutes before Lulu's nurse actually came in to check on her. She really did nothing at this point in time. She was supposed to take Lulu's blood to the lab, but she apparently forgot (a fact that I discovered some 1-2 hours later when I was bored and wandering around the room). After Lulu pressed the "call" button, some other nurse came in (after about 20 minutes had elapsed) and said the blood must've just been "extra." Dude, nurses don't take "extra" blood. About 15 minutes after that, the original nurse came back in and nonchalantly picked up the blood and said she was going "to run this over to the lab." Yeah. She pretty much forgot about Lulu's blood until we brought it to her attention approximately 2 hours later.
I don't know what this chick was doing for more than 2 hours, but a few other nurses came by to "check" on Lulu after she'd pressed her call button. Every time Lulu did this, it took at least 20 minutes for a nurse to respond. Seriously, the dinging of the call buttons was like Chinese water torture. They never stopped!!! And I'm sorry, but the nurses really weren't doing all that much work. I was sitting there glaring at them for about 3 hours while 2 nurses talked about shoes (both velvet shoes and kitten heels) and another nurse walked around doing Clueless impressions (it should be noted that he was male and wearing a fanny pack). Every time one of these nurses would finally come in, either Lulu or I would ask for some pain meds for her. She had been in pretty substantial pain for about 4 hours at this point. Every time, the nurses would say, "Ok, we'll mention it to the doctor."
Apparently, no one ever mentioned it to the doctor. They never mentioned that it might be a good idea for Lulu to get some fluids in her either. I repeatedly asked for them to give Lulu some saline or something, given the fact that she'd had an IV in her arm with no drugs being administered whatsoever for the past 4 hours. When Lulu finally did get her drugs (after being in the ER for more than 5 hours), her nurse told Lulu that she'd never mentioned it to her before (this being the nurse who'd forgotten to take Lulu's blood to the lab for 2 hours). Well I'm sorry, Nurse Forgetful, but how were we supposed to know that you were Lulu's nurse? You hadn't shown up in more than 2 hours. Nurse Clueless Fanny Pack came in a heck of a lot more often than you did, and so did Nurse Velvet Shoes. I think Nurse Kitten Heels might've even come in once or twice. We asked all of them for pain medication. Nurse Forgetful was entirely absent for at least 2 hours ... how were we supposed to ask her?
Anyway ... it turned out that Lulu didn't have a PE, which was exceptional news, given the fact that she'd probably have died in Sibley Memorial Hospital's ER if she had. I don't know who Sibley is, but I'd be rolling over in my grave if I was him. Don't EVER go to Sibley Memorial, y'all. Especially if your life depends on it. You'd be much better off making the 15-20 minute drive to Virginia Hospital in Arlington than driving the 2 minutes to Sibley. I'm serious.
3. I went to CVS to pick up some prescriptions today. I knew they were ready ... they were supposed to be ready on Sunday night, and since I hadn't picked them up on Sunday, I got a phone call yesterday morning telling me that my prescriptions were available to be picked up at my convenience. Awesome. It should've been a quick trip where I just ran in and out, right?
Well, that is clearly not what happened. I had two prescriptions filled. They couldn't find either of them. They made me write my name and birth date down on a sheet of paper so they could see if they'd filled them. It apparently didn't matter that I'd told them about the phone call. Maybe they make erroneous phone calls to let people know their prescriptions are ready when they really aren't. I don't know.
The pharmacist came back over and told me that two prescriptions had been filled (um, no s*$@, sherlock, that's why I'm here). She then rifled through all the prescriptions in the "BO" box and couldn't find either of them. She checked once more. Still couldn't find them. Then she moved over to the "BA" box and managed to locate one of my prescriptions. Ok. I can maybe understand this one. The boxes were right next to each other, but there's a clear difference in the appearance of the letters "O" and "A." This slip up still shouldn't have happened.
The pharmacist still couldn't find that second prescription, though. So she went back over to the computer to apparently double-check that it had, in fact, already been filled (she'd already checked this on the computer once). She rifled around the "BO" box some more. She went over and looked through the prescriptions that had just been filled (or were waiting to be filled). It was very apparent that CVS had lost my filled prescription.
The pharmacist told me they were going to fill it again. By this point in time, I'd already been standing at the counter for 15 minutes, minimum. She told me it'd be another 10 minutes, so I went to sit down and wait, all the while wondering how on earth a pharmacy could lose a filled prescription!
This wasn't the first time I'd run into problems at this CVS either. One time last fall, I'd gone in and purchased my prescriptions. When I got home and opened the bag so I could actually take them, I found that they'd forgotten to put one of the prescriptions I'd already paid for in the prescription bag!!! How is that possible?!?!?
I called in, asked if there was any way I could actually get my prescription (given that I had no proof that they hadn't actually given me my pills) and was told to come in whenever I could. I went in within the hour. The pharmacist working the counter started rummaging through the "BO" box again. I could clearly see my prescription right on the very top from my viewpoint at the counter. I told her it was the one on the very top. She didn't seem to believe me. I pointed it out to her again and said, "it says 'no charge' on it." She finally saw it.
When she came back over, she tried to scan the prescription so I could pay for it. I once again pointed out the fact that it said "no charge" on it. That's why the little sticker thing was covering the bar code thing with the words "no charge" written on it. She looked confused and started to hand me the bag. Then the other cashier pharmacist came over and started looking at it to make sure I paid. At this point I began yelling, "THERE'S NO CHARGE!!! IT SAYS NO CHARGE! I ALREADY PAID FOR IT, AND YOU FORGOT TO GIVE IT TO ME! THAT'S WHY THERE'S NO CHARGE!!!!!" (I imagine I sounded somewhat like Lacey Chabert did in "Mean Girls" when she cracked and started yelling about Switzerland or whatever). The cashier gave me a doubtful look and begrudgingly handed over the prescription. I almost vowed to change pharmacies but decided to give them another chance.
Then today happened. They refilled the prescription that they'd already filled and subsequently lost, but I have no faith in that CVS. Who knows if they even gave me the right drug? I might end up taking heart medicine or something. I'm not feeling confident. I would go back across the street to the Rite Aid, but I've had bad experiences there too. At Rite Aid, no one can speak English. I'm at the end of my rope. How many pharmacies do I have to try?!?
America, we have a problem. I'm sick of dealing with people who a) can't speak English (we do live in America, after all), b) can't remember where they put my prescriptions (that's kind of a big deal), and c) seemingly have no motivation to actually help their customers and/or patients. If you want to talk about kitten heels, go work at a shoe store instead of a hospital. If you're a bitch and don't like helping people, go work in a place where you don't have to speak to anyone. If you can't speak English, take a class, and go work at McDonald's in the meantime. And if you lose medications, PLEASE don't work in a pharmacy.
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