My January, Part V: The search for drugs continues…

My two days in California were relaxing. My purpose for the trip was to get educated on how to train new hires in the company in general policy and safety issues. The organizers were very gracious and made sure I had an extra chair on which to perch my swollen right leg.
Speaking of the infamous leg…the infection was doing all kinds of crude things, reminiscent of the great plagues of biblical times. It gradually went from blisters to open wounds to crusty protrusions over the span of the trip, covering about 50% of my leg from toe to knee. One night I woke up and I believe I saw locusts circling. It reminded me of what some of the zombies looked like on the recent AMC “Walking Dead” series. The swelling, however was going down, and I would find on my way home that the coverage of the disgustingness gradually decreased.
You may recall from about three or four blogs ago, I was prescribed lovenox as I headed out on my trip, and they could only find three days of dosage in the entire city of Sioux Falls. That means I had to find some more in California.
In addition, I had horribly misjudged the amount of insulin I would need to get me through until I got home.
A quick call to Dr. Snow’s sidekick Nurse Linzie, and she called ahead to a Tracy Wal-Mart with a prescription. Having an hour for lunch during the training, I thought I would make a quick run to pick up the meds. Of course, nothing goes quickly when you need it to go quickly. I arrived to a very long line at the Wal-Mart pharmacy counter. About 45 minutes later, I found myself at the front of the line, ready to grab my stash and make a run for the training center. Yeah, right.
We are sorry, we don’t have any lovenox in stock, if you would like we will make some calls to other pharmacies to try to locate some,” the beleaguered young counter jockey told me. I thanked her and said I didn’t have enough time but would come back later in the day. “And,” she added “you will be able to pick up your insulin on February 3rd.”
I told her that yes, I had plenty at home, however I needed one vial to get me back to Minnesota, as I had not brought enough with me to make it home.
She apologized that there was nothing she could do about it.
I told her I would be back later in the day to attempt to resolve the issues, and made a beeline back to the training facility.
After another two grueling hours of training we were released for the day, and I returned to the friendly local Wal-Mart.
To my dismay, I found another long line. I plopped myself down between a funny-smelling old guy with a walker and a young mother with two very vocal babies on one of those metal benches the store provides.
I was hardly there for more than a couple of minutes, thinking I would really like to move, but didn’t want to look rude, when one of the pharmacists came out to talk to me. Things were starting to look up. He recognized me from earlier in the day, and remembered that I left wanting, but couldn’t remember the specifics. I explained the lovenox issue and he escorted me to a different window, where a young woman was asked to find me some of the elusive drug in the surrounding area. I stood at the counter for a long period of time while the pleasant attendant repeatedly made calls and was rejected by stores that normally are their competition. After maybe 20 minutes, another lady came by and offered to help make calls. I was impressed that they were taking these great lengths to find me some blood thinner. After a few more minutes, the second lady handed the phone to the first lady, and told her she found some. A Walgreens a few miles down the road had the other four days of dosage I would need. I thanked them multiple times and headed for Walgreens, where I scored my stuff.
Still looming was the problem that I would be running out of insulin by Friday evening.
Being the procrastinator that I am, I left the issue until Thursday.
Originally, my plan for Wednesday evening was to take the one-hour trip to San Francisco and do a bit of sightseeing, but I had promised to behave myself, and I headed to my room to put my leg up and watch a couple of movies.
Thursday was a shorter day of classes, and at about 1:30 I stepped out into the glorious 60 degree sunshine, and started my long journey home.
When I finally remembered I still had drug issues a couple of hours later, I placed a quick call to Dr. Snow and he recommended that we switch to another type of insulin that would get me past the Aetna issue. Forgetting I was two hours earlier on the West Coast than the Midwest, I placed a call for Nurse Linzie and was told she had left for the day. After I realized my mistake, that I was still mired in Pacific Time, I resolved that I was going to have to wait until Friday and cross my fingers. The unlucky person who answered the phone, another of my fine care-givers, Nurse Laura, listened patiently to my painful story. We were about to conclude, when she spotted Linzie trying to head home and pulled her from the verge of freedom. She was summoned to the phone and I explained my plight. I gave her the name of a pharmacy I would be driving near in Salt Lake City, and she assured me she would fix my problem; as I mentioned last week she literally saved my life. Imagine me driving on the return trip through Utah, my blood sugar goes nuts I start sweating, my hands slip on the steering wheel, and I end up driving headlong into the Tree of Utah. I still get a shudder just thinking about it.
Next week: Salt Lake City during rush hour…the trip home continues.