One busy Monday in the physician’s office where I worked, a man called up saying he’s going on vacation and would like us to please call or fax his medications to the pharmacy so he won’t be totally out of them when he comes back. Totally valid request, of course.
So he says, “First let me tell you what I’m on.”
And I’m writing everything down diligently as he says, “OK, let’s see, this bottle here is my Micronase. Yup. That’s 5 mg. I take that, um , twice a day. And then this here’s my Capoten, for my blood pressure. 12.5 mg, twice a day too. Then there’s my Glucophage– no it looks like I got enough of that. Then….” and he goes through bottle after bottle and I have other lines ringing and I keep trying to yell out to the front “Can you guys just take a message on those other calls, I’m gonna be a while!” but they don’t hear me so I see those phone lights blinking and blinking and feel terrible but he’s still going on.
And then after about 12-13 minutes, for real, he says, “Ya know what? It looks like I do have enough of all of them. I’ll be fine for about another month and a half. I’m so sorry to bother you.”
And he says good-bye!
Contributed by Bina Simon, RN
