Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Anastasia Update

Anastasia came home today, but of course they kept her waiting nearly all day. A little after 3pm they tell her she is being discharged now. I had to wait until our daughter came home before I could leave, so we couldn't leave until almost 4pm. The hospital kicked her out of her room and made her go wait on a bench by the ER entrance. How nice is that? Why couldn't they have told her ahead of time so that she could arrange her ride? Had I known, I could have picked up our daughter at her school in Naperville and then headed over to the hospital, which is a short distance away. Instead, we had to wait for her bus to drop her off after all the other kids. Grrr.

They gave her prescriptions for anti-nausea medication and an anti-biotic for her UTI. Nothing for the tons of excess water she's retained from the IV fluids. She looks like the freakin' Michelin Man! I dropped her off at home, then I went to Targhay to have them filled. Luckily our favorite pharmacist just came back from maternity leave today. She said that the anti-nausea drug interacted with one of her regular medications. Then I asked her how much the Zofran was that she was getting in the hospital. She looked up the Zofran, it was super expensive, but she said it had the same dangerous drug interactions as the cheaper drug. WTF? So she was on Zofran 4 days last week and 4 days this week and she's been wondering why the muscles in her arms and her jaw hurt. It's a freakin' drug interaction! So our wonderful pharmacist calls the hospital and makes them approve a different anti-nausea drug that we can actually afford and doesn't interact with anything she already takes. Keep your fingers crossed she isn't allergic to this new antibiotic.

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5 comments:

  1. *lynne*August 26, 2009 at 7:00 AM

    Oh my... that's ridiculous that the doc(s) in charge of Anastasia in the hospital didn't bother with making sure there weren't drug interactions - that's the whole reason they ask for a list of all the drugs you're taking! Geeeezzz!

    I very glad that you have a good rapport with your pharmacist, and that she at least does her job properly - I feel relieved that she caught that bad interaction (and got you a better yet cheaper alternative to boot!) .

    Hope Anastasia feels a lot better soon!!

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  2. LolaAugust 26, 2009 at 7:08 AM

    @ Lynne - Had the hospital did what they were supposed to the first time (send her home with an anti-nausea prescription) she wouldn't have been suffering so much this past week and the 2nd hospitalization wouldn't have been necessary. It's so frustrating, and it's common sense. And yes, we have 2 favorite pharmacists and thank goodness 1 of them was on duty and very diligent. I hope she's feeling better too!

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  3. JD at I Do ThingsAugust 26, 2009 at 8:17 AM

    I'm glad to hear Anastasia is home. I'm sure she'll recover more quickly there than in the hospital (especially considering they were giving her the wrong DRUGS!).

    My mom gets her scrips filled at Target and has nothing but great things to say about their service. They've even called her at home to see how a particular new medication is working out. My local pharmacy would NEVER do that!

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  4. LolaAugust 26, 2009 at 8:22 AM

    @ JD - Our Target pharmacists also call us to see how we're doing after we start an antibiotic. An actual real live person calls! Not an automated call! And Anastasia's Mom wonders why we don't do Walgreens. That's why.

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  5. Auntie EAugust 27, 2009 at 7:35 AM

    Hubby worked in pharmacy for 6 years and still keeps up with the New drugs. He says there are so many drugs that the doctors really rely on the pharmacist to make sure they can mix them. Good thing you have a good pharmacist. There really is a problem Nowadays with people going to different place to get RX filled.

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