A DAY in the LIFE....

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[caption id="attachment_3343" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Danny 'Selfie' in Waiting Room Palos Verdes Medical Group[/caption]

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Welcome back My Dear Readers to The Other Shoe. As most of you, My Dear Readers, can imagine and might well have figured out on your own, this cancer has been kicking my butt. The combination of decreased stamina and increased levels of pain, though out the day, have left me completely unable to complete work for this blog or my Indiegogo Campaign. I would like to extend my deepest apologies, to you My Dear Readers, for this absence and failure on my part. However, there is one thing that could be said in my favor. YESTERDAY!

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Yesterday was one of ‘those’ days. Those days when you are just more than certain that the ‘stars are aligned against you’ or that you have committed some unknown transgression against an omniscient and omnipresent being and ‘it’ has decided to turn your world upside down as some kind of cosmic payback. That was my yesterday, My Dear Readers! The morning started out… well, the same. I wake up. Lying in bed, as my mind reboots on my reality… who am, where I am, that I have cancer. During that morning ‘reboot’, it occurs to me that today is the day for me to refill my primary pain medication.

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One might think that this realization might bring me some kind of exuberance or even adulation. Nope. At this point getting and taking these pain medications are merely a means to an end. The end of the increasing pain I am subject to each and every day… all day. Yes, there are respites in the transcendent waves of pain. However, they are becoming fewer and further between. However, I get up, do the things one does upon waking, and get my cell phone. Primary task #1, call pharmacy and order refill of primary pain medication. Easy enough, at this point I have made this call… … … 500+ times? Yeah, something like that.

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I pull out my Day Planner to confirm that I am requesting a refill on the proper date, and not before. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7…. 26,27,28,29 30! Yes, today is the thirtieth days since my last refill. I dial up the pharmacy, wade through the automated prompting, wait on hold… …. … 3, 5, 7, 10 mins, they must be busy this morning, not a ‘Good Sign’. Finally, somewhere after 10 and before 20 I get a human being…

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“Welcome to Walgreens,, Be Healthy, can I help you!”

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Ok… I am not kidding… but if you go to Walgreens… have you ever just wanted, once they say tht “Be Well” thingy… have you ever wanted to say something like: “By garsh YES! I have spinal stenosis and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma… CANCER and the only thing I need to do is… “Be Well!” Why the heck didn’t I think of that?!?!

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Well, I have. Thought about it. But, why thrown the cat out into the rain, it will just make my work with them… more difficult. (? Is that possible?). I answer,

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“Thank you, to whom am I speaking?.... Tracy, great. How are you, today, Tracy? … … Tracy, are you a pharmacist or a Pharmacy Technician? Great, may I please speak with the Pharmacist?

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Thing of it is? When ordering a refill of a ‘Class 2 Controlled Substance’ it is always best to just go for the jugular, and ask for the pharmacist. You will end up speaking to one, anyway, may as well cut to the chase.

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“Yes, I will wait, Tracy. Thank you.”

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AGAIN! Having already waited nearly a quarter hour just for someone to answer the bloody phone… have you ever? Wanted to say something like;

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‘Tracy? I have already waited nearly a quarter hour for someone to put down the Sausage Mc Muffin and answer the ringing pho9ne… may I just speak to a pharmacist now?”

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I HAVE. Back on hold with the insanely obsequious ‘hold musack’… I really could care less about ‘Muskrat Love’ right now. 3… 5… 7… 10… (sometimes)… ring, ring, ring… back on hold musak… 3… 5… 7… 10… Finally a voice answers. DANG! Not a voice I recognize… here goes!

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“Hi there, this is Daniel Hanning… H A N N I N G… birth date __/__/__.”

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“Yes, I would like to have a prescription on hold filled. Yes, it is the ______ Prescription.”

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HERE… RIGHT HERE! Is where my day began to… unravel!

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“What do you mean it is a week EARLY!?!? Yes… that is my name… WHAT? NO! I have the bottled right HERE! It was filled on __/__/__ That IS thirty days ago, correct?”

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“No sir Mr. HEnning… (they always confuse me with that darn gay magician)… The prescription was filled thirty days ago… but you did not pick it up until the 23^rd! I cannot fill it again until the 23^rd!”

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OK… let me enumerate all the things wrong with his answer:

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1. 1. First and foremost = IF a prescription was… “picked up” on the 23^rd of, let’s say, July… THEN the prescription IS ready for refill on the 20^TH NOT the 23^rd! You use a bloody CALENDER and COUNT THE DAYS! That is pharmacy 101!


2. 2. I NEVER let a ‘Controlled Substance” prescription refill set around a pharmacy for any number of days. Reason? Sticky Fingers!


3. 3. WHY! Is ‘Nam’ screwing me around? What did I do in the ninety SECONDS I have been on the phone?


4. 4. Now… someone is grinding on my gears and standing between a patient in serious chronic pain and their medications (NO, I am one of the few Californians that does not have a Medicinal Marijuana prescription. I cannot AFFORD the $150.00 visit or the crazy prices they charge. That and I haven’t smoked pot in decades.

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Now, ‘Nam’ has ‘Poked the Bear’ and I am going to get to the bottom of this problem. I am not going to go into the details, I am already in a lot of pain… from writing. Suffice to say I was on Nam’s ‘Premium Shit List’ and he was going to make me wait THIRTY-FOUR days for a prescription refill! So, I go for the jugular.

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“Nam, I would like your California State Pharmacy Registration Number, please?... … .. Nam, you are required by LAW to provide that number to all patients upon request. According to State Pharmacy Board and CA state law… OK ‘Nam’ I am going to go ‘the other way’ now to get my prescription. Please pardon me while I put my boot prints on the BACK OF YOUR HEAD!”

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1. Call Walgreens Corporate number


2. File complaint against Nam.


3. Explain to Walgreens that I was a “State Registered Pharmacy Technician” for TEN YEARS! I KNOW my RIGHTS!


4. Inform person taking my… ‘complaint’ that they have until 5PM PDT to; call and get me my prescription or I will file a complaint against Walgreens and ‘Nam’ with the State Board.

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Now, in my wallet, I have another prescription for the same medication… only with Acetaminophen in it instead of aspirin. It is now roughly 10AM. For the next FOUR HOURS I discover just how difficult it is to get a prescription for ____ FILLED in Orange County, CA.

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After FOUR HOURS Allen and I come home…. EMPTY HANDED. L I am crestfallen, but not yet defeated. Little does anyone know but I have enough ____ to last until Wednesday morning. Allen gets ready for work, and leaves. It is now 5PM… I fall asleep, with Alexander in my arms. We are resting comfortably… When my phone rings!

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“Hello, Mr. HAnning (funny how they can get it right when they want to)… Mr. Hanning… this is Phu, at the Walgreens pharmacy… I am so sorry Mr. Hanning! IF you bring in the NEXT refill’s prescription… your doctor increased the dose, correct?”

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“Yes, it is now every four hours count 180.”

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“Yes, Mr. Hanning… I am so sorry about earlier… IF you bring in the next refill I will have your ____ filled within the hour. You or Allen can come by and pick it up. Is that OK?”

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And the worm, turns.

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“YES! That will be just fine. I, also, have refills of SIX other medications to bring in… and the refill on the _____ patch.”

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OK, My Dear Readers, I head to the pharmacy… it is about 6PM right now. I am sunburned, tired… and not driving my power chair too straight. I get to the pharmacy… all of the Pharmacy Techs are staring at me… and pointing… giggling, too. I get to the counter… ask for Phu.

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“OH! Mr. Hanning (again, flawless) I AM SO VERY SORRY about earlier. I have all your prescriptions ready for you. Did you bring the next refill’s prescription?”

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Hand over the next ‘Triple Scrip’ of ____ and the increased dosage. Also, I hand him another scrip witjh SIX medications on it… each with 90 (QD) pills… and three refills. So he is looking at (roughly) $3,000.00 of medications and refills lasting me until Christmas. Phu takes the prescriptions, and disappeares into the back. I take out my wallet to pay for the two prescriptions I am here to pick up. Then, the pharmacy tech laughs and says:

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“OH! NO CHARGE for YOU Mr. Hanning! Not for Today!”

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SO, My Dear Readers, I got my pain medications. I got them on the day I was supposed to… AND I got them FOR FREE!

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Don’t mess with the DAN!

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All in all, a terribly tiring and stressful day. However, as they say in books…

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“All’s well, that ends well!”

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Adieu!

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Thank YOU!

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P.S. My Dear Readers... I am currently WORKING to make a NEW 'Launch Video" for Danny's Cancer Treatment Fund' @ Indiegogo. PLEASE bear with me... while I get the video: shot, edited, uploaded, embeded and ready. I am HOPING to have the Campaign LAUNCH... TONIGHT! PLEASE... don't go and spend all that 'disposeable income' JUST Yet!... K? THANK YOU! ;)

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[caption id="attachment_3338" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Danny in Rolling Hills Estates August 12, 2014[/caption]