No beads or astronomy in this one, sorry, but rather a rant.
We do have medical insurance. My husband has a prescription for his insulin. What is the bloody excuse that the pharmacy where his Dr. called the prescription in to (the one he always goes to) is out of insulin??!!
So, as he had eaten lunch, by the time I got home (comparatively early) his BG was sky high. We went to the ER right away. They checked and it was about 490 (well, on that meter at least). They gave him some insulin and then had us wait an hour (watching paint dry comes to mind). Then the nurse comes back and checks (different meter from the admitting nurse). It's 459. None of us believes that after 10 units of Humalog. Comes back with a different meter and it's says 389. So they give him more insulin and a prescription. By this time it's 8 p.m. I ask the nurse whether there is any pharmacy that's still open, and she verifies that Longs on the other side of town is open until 9 (at least according to the ER's list). So, my husband and I go home, I grab my medical card and his prescription and drive over there (a bit like a bat out of hell, hoping they wouldn't pull me over for speeding) to find the pharmacy ..... closed (it used to be open until 9, the old hours are taped over with paper tape and new shorter hours written on it by hand). So, no food for DH until he can get to a pharmacy and get his (second!) prescription filled. I don't know how much we'll be charged by the ER.
So a missing delivery to a pharmacy (allegedly the order didn't come in) caused:
- a rather scary ER visit (two glucose meters reading 70 points different?? Less than 5 minutes apart??)
- a trip to a closed pharmacy
- still no insulin.
FYI: this is autoimmune caused type I diabetes, he's not overweight and never has been, not the more common type II diabetes which is commonly caused by obesity.
No blame on any of the nurses or the doctor at the ER, they were all friendly and nice enough. But, they can only work with the equipment they have at hand. But the whole thing taken together is rather scary.
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2 comments:
That is very scary indeed & unfortunate that a place that is supposed to help one heal seemed to contribute more toward the illness. I hope & pray that never happens to you ever again!
Thank you. It was very scary indeed. I managed to get to a pharmacy this morning and get back before my husband had to go to work. I called the non-emergency line of the emergency room today to inform them of the new hours of the pharmacy that was closed and they were very appreciative of that. It's the best I can do, help other people to not make an unsuccessful trip. I wish we had at a pharmacy (even if it's a different one each day) that's open 24 hours.
I'm aware of instrument limitations (after all, I'm a physicist and work in the instrument area, and deal with instrument people on a daily basis) and that not all glucose meters don't read the same, but this was scary.
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