November 18, 2018
Sunday night. I decided to submit a request online for Lyrica, in the hope that someone from the Pain Clinic would see it first thing Monday morning and send an authorization to the San Leandro Pharmacy. I got an automated message that my prescription would be ready for pickup after noon on Thursday, November 22, which of course is Thanksgiving.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
A full week has passed with no text from the pharmacy, so I sent a message to Dr. Kalra, in the hope that he or one of his pain pharmacists would see it first thing Monday morning.
Monday, November 26, 2018
I got a response from Amy Li, pain pharmacist, saying that no one had received my request for Lyrica, meaning that the pharmacy failed to send my request to obtain physician’s authorization, which explains why the prescription had not yet been filled! However, since I had stated in my message that I would be out of medication by Sunday, November 25, Amy told me she had authorized the prescription for Lyrica (pregabalin). She also suggested that I might want to order a 3-month supply for convenience. I told her that, since she had already authorized this one-month supply request, I would go ahead and get it and change to the 3-month supply beginning with next month, presumably December. (We’ll see how THAT goes since the request, like this one in November, will be dancing around the holidays.)
I printed out Amy Li’s message, folded the sheet of paper, and put it into my bag before going in to the San Leandro Pharmacy. The cashier checked my account then told me that they were out of stock of Lyrica! That would explain why I had not received a text from the pharmacy even though the prescription had been authorized by the Pain Clinic. Before I could decide my next step, the cashier then offered to find out if they could do a partial refill. She told me to wait to hear my name. And, like last time, I saw my name on the LED board but did not hear my name called. I waited in the pickup line.
The cashier there brought a bottle with a 10-day supply. I thanked her graciously. By the time I got out to the van where Linda was waiting, I had received an email and a text message from the pharmacy telling me that my prescription was ready for pickup. Ah, the efficiency of automated systems! (These messages were obviously for the partial prescription that I had just picked up.)
Wednesday, November 29, 2018
This morning I had a text from the San Leandro Pharmacy saying that my prescription was ready for pickup. (In addition, Linda had a note from the post office saying she had a parcel from China that had shipped registered mail and needed to be picked up after 9:30 a.m.) So we started out with intent to get both on our way to Tracy.
Amazingly, the remainder of my Lyrica prescription was, indeed, ready for pickup. (I was also able to pick up Linda’s package, though I had to go back out to the van and get Linda’s driver’s license.) All went smoothly, except that I failed to bring in my prescription when we got home and I had to go back out in the pouring rain to get it!
Lessons learned:
- I will still need to submit my future requests for Lyrica (and tramadol) at least a week before I am due to run out.
- I will also need to verify, visually, that Amy Li or one of the other pain pharmacists has authorized a 3-month supply, as promised. And, if not, send a message to the Pain Clinic.
- At the same time that I submit my request online to the pharmacy, I will send a message to Dr. Kalra to let his pain pharmacists know that I need an authorization for the medication.
- I will take note of the date/time that the online automated message says that my prescription will be ready for pickup. Perhaps even print out the message, fold it, and put it in my bag.
- I will go to the San Leandro Pharmacy at that date/time and, as advised by the cashier in September, just stand there in their face until I get the medication(s)!
Finally, I am convinced that I can research online for information about medications and will get better information than from the Consultation Pharmacist.
