You call that a knife?...Now that's a knife!

Here's a good story from a couple of months ago. Another regular at my pharmacy brought in a few prescriptions obtained upon discharge from the hospital. Why was she in the hospital? Well, that's the fun part. Two days before, she had gotten really quite drunk. She then decided she wanted some watermelon. In order to cut watermelon, you need a big knife, right? Well, she tripped on a mop she left out in the kitchen and fell upon the knife. It went into her abdomen several inches. I'll spare you all the gory details, but I'll mention that she is now more familiar with her intestines than she was before. She showed me her beautifully stitched wound, and I could see that she did indeed use a very large knife to cut the watermelon. Now two months have passed, and here's another fun part. When she came to the pharmacy today, she had a brand new knife wound to show me. This injury occurred when her new husband (of just a few months) stabbed her in the arm during a domestic dispute. No worries though. She has since left him.

Urgency OR Emergency?

A regular patient at my pharmacy came in today to pick up her medication, and while waiting for her prescription, she obtained a blood pressure reading of 230/113. If you didn't know, that's pretty high. I figured the machine was maybe "off" somehow, so I told her to go back over and get another blood pressure reading. The second result was even higher. Her face was red, and her hands/fingers were even more red. She seemed fairly calm and asked me what she could do to bring it down. She said, "Oh, it's never been this high. Is that bad?" I told her to take a trip to the hospital. She said, "Well, I don't have time to do that today because I'm on my way to the police station to file a report. My sister is trying to kill me." I could only respond with an "Oh?". She said, "Yes, she keeps trying to kill me and she's been breaking into my house. I'm sick of it." I asked, "How is she trying to kill you?" She replied, "Well, you know those laser pens? She keeps aiming one at me. She points it here, here, and here. Yesterday she kept pointing it at my head, and I had a headache for hours. I'm truly scared." Hmmmm. That's a new one. Death by laser pointer. Anyway, she kept going on and on about it, and I said, "Hey, you really need to go to the hospital." I told her this, because I figured she was experiencing some kind of hypertensive urgency. I was wrong though. Now that I evaluate the situation, I believe it was a hypertensive emergency. What's the difference? I'll tell you. Hypertensive urgency occurs when there is a spike in blood pressure without resulting organ damage. Hypertensive emergency involves damage to one or more organs, and in this woman's case, the organ was her brain.

Best Aprons Ever!

My dear friend makes these beautiful aprons, and she keeps coming up with new things (like placemat/napkin sets and flower pins). I'm impressed with her work, and today I want to share the cuteness with you. Check these out!

Photo Collage by Dundoo - MySpace Editor


You can view more at: thecupcakegoddess.blogspot.com or www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6006010

6 - 1 = 5

Surprise! Here's another work story. Today one of my techs became too frustrated to handle a customer on the phone, so she asked me to take over. The woman on the phone wanted to know why she had 5 refills when she had 6 before. She told me that she didn't pick up her prescription last month, so she should still have 6 refills. I explained to her that she picked it up today, however, and that counted as one of the 6 refills. After that, she continued her "but why I have only 5 refill...I pick up no refill last month" broken record. I explained again that because she picked it up today, her label would show only 5 refills. That still didn't suffice. I finally told her, "You had 6 refills. You picked up ONE refill today. Six minus one is five." She then said, "But I no pick it up last month." I said, "Okay, do you agree that you picked up a refill today?" She said, "Yes." I said, "So, we both agree that you picked up your medication today?" She said, "Yes, but why I have 5 refill?" Anyway, it went on and on like that, and she finally said, "Okay, I bring all my medicine in and show you to your face that I'm supposed to have 6 refill." She never came in. The End!

Honesty is such a lonely word...

Yesterday, a customer came to me and said that on the previous day one of my technicians gave her $10 too much back in change. She said she didn't realize it until she got home. The total bill came to something like $14, and she paid with $100 (so she'd get $86 back in change --- you follow?). Well, my tech typed in $10.00 instead of $100.00 when entering the payment amount. After she entered $10.00, THEN she entered $100.00, so the register showed that we owed the customer $96. Anyway, I was just amazed that this woman came back a day later to tell me this and to give me the $10. I thanked her profusely and told her how her honesty made my day brighter. I thought I'd share this rare, but true story to inspire and give hope that there is quite a grip of goodness here in Las Vegas.

Speaking of honesty, here's another little story. I've been applying for licensure in another state since July, and I've been given the runniest run-around imaginable. I've paid the state "Board of Pharmacy" loads of money, sent fingerprints, a letter from my state board of pharmacy, and so on. They just have so many requirements and claim to be exceedingly thorough, so as not to let just any old person into the state to work. Anyway, I've been in the final stages for weeks, and I've just been waiting for the state to send approval to the testing center so the testing center can send me my authorization to test letter. The last step of getting this blasted license involves me taking a state law exam. Anyway, I've been waiting and waiting for this "authorization to test" letter, and what came in the mail yesterday? My active pharmacist license from that state. What? Yes, that's right. They sent my license. Wait! I didn't take the test. Here's where I had to make a decision. I could just keep my lips zipped, or I could call the state licensing board up and let them know that they are whacked out. I mean, for a state that's extra picky, I'm surprised they made this mistake. Well, I called the state board, and the woman on the phone seemed rather embarrassed and kindly asked me if I could return the license I received in the mail. She also thanked me for my honesty and said that if I hadn't called, they probably wouldn't have known the difference, and I could have gotten by. I made the best choice though, even though it pained me, for I still have that blasted test to take.