I didn't share with you earlier in the week that I had to make an unexpected and urgent trip to one of the local urgent care centers with my little Blakey. That poor boy is just not doing too hot this holiday season, with his broken collar bone and now a double ear infection. He got himself two ear infections and was in quite a bit of pain and SUDDENLY. For some reason, I NEVER know when my two little ones have an ear infection as they NEVER complain about pain. We usually find out for some other reason, but of course the only time EVER that I am without a vehicle (we loaned it out for the day) he tells me his ear hurts. Really?! The ONLY day ever we don't have a vehicle?! Well, with nobody home (mom, husband, other family) I called my hubby to see what he thought we should do and he came home early. So, he gets out of the van and we (Blakey and I) get in and head out. We go to the urgent care with over an hour wait to be seen. :( We must, we must wait our turn. Well, he is crying because he is in soooooo much pain. Well, it's finally our turn and we go back only to discover that he has one "really bad" ear infection and the other one is infected too. Well, with some of my training I know that there is also an ear drop that they can give you to numb the pain in the ear. I'm sure some of you moms know that too. Anyway, if you aren't aware of it, it is called Auralgan.
So, the doc says that he is going to prescribe an antibiotic. Okay, so then I ask for Auralgan too. He says, "sure, I can get you that too." Okay, so now I go drop Blakey off at home because I know I will be a while at the store, since they always tell me that my faxed prescribed JUST got there whenever I go to pick it up, so I have to wait 20 minutes or so. I wanted him to be comfortable, so I took him home.
So, I go and pick up the prescription and the guy says, "okay, thank you. Have a good day." I say, "okay, thanks. Oh, are there TWO prescriptions in there?" He says, "ummmm, no. The only one in there is the antibiotic." What?! Are you (I'm sorry) FREAKIN' kidding me?! NO, I don't say that. This is just what I am thinking. He WASN'T EVEN going to tell me! I say, "well.....I was supposed to get two. I needed the antibiotic AND the Auralgan." "Oh, the Auralgan has to be special ordered, because we don't carry it in the store. So, it will be in tomorrow." Oh, no no no no! I don't think so!" Okay, this is just me thinking to myself, again. I am not normally a persistent person unless it has to do with my kiddos or coupons. It is my alter ego. ;) Do you have one? Anyway, I say "well, does another one of your stores have it in town? I will drive to get it, if I have to." "Ummm, no, we all get it from the same place, so I'm sure nobody else has it. It will have wait until tomorrow." I say, "is there a substitution or something else I can give him? He is in pain now and needs something NOW. I can give him Tylenol, but that is not going to help now. He is in pain today." So, he tells me to "wait a minute." Okay, sure. He comes back and says "well, we are going to call the doctor and see what he has to say. You know, it might take awhile?" I say, "that's okay I'll wait. If I have to, I'll call the doctor myself, just give me the word." So, I go back and look around for a little while. After a while, I go back and see what they have come up with. Now, I'm dealing with someone else, but low and behold I am getting ear drops! Yes, they are the generic version, but I don't care, they are going to numb his aching little ear. Now, I am very happy we got something for his ear, but I am a bit irritated at the service I got. Really, they had the generic version and were not EVEN going to tell me. I know that there are rules and regulations as far as this goes, but really they were going to send me away without EVEN telling me that everything that I was expecting to get wasn't even in the bag and then just tell me that they will not have the prescription in until the next day.
I have many many issues with this, but unfortunately I seem to experience this awful customer service more and more these days.
I keep thinking to myself, "what if I was just a "normal" person and had NO medical training?" I'm thinking I would have said "oh, okay and just had Blakey be in pain all night." I dunno.
My whole point here is that doctors and pharmacy staff are people just like us. Yes, they have little more (okay, a lot more) training than the rest of us, but they are people too. I know that most of us tend to think that what the doctor/pharmacy people say is golden and MOST of the time it is, but my point here is that YOU are your own advocate. If you don't agree with something, YOU must speak your mind. If you question something, YOU must speak your mind. Are you too shy/embarrassed to ask questions or "question" them? DON'T BE. They deal with soooooo many "odd" questions, behaviors, personalities, etc. I guarantee you that they have dealt with and seen it all. You have no idea. ;)
Anyway, this post wasn't supposed to be a very long post, but apparently I wanted to share my story with you all. I really really really also want to express to you that REALLY you are your own advocate when it comes to you and/or your family's health care.
Just so you know, when I deal with customer service, like I have said before, I try really really hard to kill them with kindness. So, I wasn't rude. Being rude really isn't going to get you anywhere, but I did stick to it.
I hope this helps you in the future.
Have a great day and if you are in the Spokane area please be safe out there. I'm hearing it is pretty crazy driving weather.
Cheryl
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