During my freshman year in high school, my science teacher assigned us to interview people in the community about how they use science in their careers. Although I don’t remember most of the people I spoke with, I can tell you that I spent meaningful time with a local community pharmacist who changed my life.
What I saw was a man who loved his career and truly cared for his patients. In an instant, I knew that I wanted to become a pharmacist, and I never wavered from that goal throughout high school.
Knowing what you want to be when you grow up at age 14 is unusual, but it is very liberating. I simply had to work backwards to figure out how to achieve my goal of becoming a pharmacist.
After high school, I chose to attend Ohio Northern University (ONU) because it had a unique pharmacy program. Rather than attending college for 2 years and then applying to the pharmacy program, ONU students were admitted to the College of Pharmacy from day one.
Although it was expensive, being in pharmacy school from day one and avoiding the risk of rejection made it worthwhile for me.
In college, I spent a lot of time in the library. Although the classwork was difficult, I did well with one exception: organic chemistry.
I did fail organic chemistry—a notorious “weed out” course—but I successfully retook the class over the summer and graduated on time with the rest of my classmates. Failing a course is a difficult stumbling block, but I stood strong and persevered.
Today, I’m thankful for the wonderful pharmacy profession for so many reasons.
First, I’m thankful that community pharmacists are the health care professionals most accessible to the public. If my local pharmacist wasn’t accessible to me, then I likely would have taken a different career path.
Second, I’m proud of the work we pharmacists do, the diversity of our career options, and the relationships we share with our patients and fellow health care providers.
Pharmacy is a profession that makes a real difference in people’s lives. It certainly has made all the difference in mine.
Several months ago my cousin woke up with an absolutely massively swollen right eye, so naturally, she went to the hospital to have that checked out. They administered two CT scans, diagnosed her with a large, inoperable, cancerous tumor sitting right behind her right eye, and gave her six months to live.
Cancer is rampant in our family, so this makes sense in the context. However, she’s always been kind of easy-going and also, she refuses to believe it, so she just didn’t tell anybody and went about her life as usual.
A few weeks after the diagnosis, she was at a normal dentist appointment, and whenever anything touched her right cheek, it hurt a lot, more than it ever had at the dentist, even though she was just having a check done. Her dentist informed her that she had a severe sinus infection. She told him about her recent diagnosis, and he was absolutely not having it.
The next day they went back to the hospital together, in his free time, and he demanded they do another check and pointed out her sinus infection. It turned out he was right; she had a severe sinus infection, not a deadly tumor, that had spread up to right behind her right eye, and had caused an infection. She received normal treatment for that, and within a short time everything was back to normal. The first CT scan had been incorrectly calibrated, and the second one had been incorrectly interpreted.
Having spent many of my teenage years in hospitals myself, I’ve seen a lot, but I had never personally encountered a doctor as dedicated as that dentist before.
Extra Stupid, Patients, Pharmacy, USA | Healthy | October 14, 2018
(I stop by my local pharmacy to pick up my prescription of birth control pills and to talk to my buddy who is a pharmacist. I notice on the package it says, “To be taken orally.” I point it out to my friend.)
Me: *with a laugh* “Well, what idiot doesn’t know that?”
(My buddy’s eyes grow big and she says
Buddy: “Oh, no. You would be surprised! The reason that is now on there is we actually had a woman sue us because she claimed we didn’t properly instruct her on how the pills had to be taken orally, and she got pregnant.”
Me: “Well, then, how the heck did she use them? Where did she put them?”
(Then, it dawns on me where she must have put the pills.)
(I am working the night shift in a student team. One of our tasks is getting blood and stuff for the operating surgeons all around the hospital. This night a sixteen-year-old boy on a scooter has been hit by a car and is haemorrhaging profusely. I am called to get blood for the blood transfusion that needs to be done. However, due to the fact the boy is being reanimated while receiving a blood transfusion and an operation, there is no time to fill in a form. This is the conversation I have with the man at the blood lab
Me: “Hey, I don’t have a form, but I need blood for the sixteen-year-old patient that’s bleeding out downstairs.”
Blood Lab: “If you don’t have the form, you don’t get the blood.”
Me: “But they don’t have the time to fill in a form, as they are operating on him while giving a blood transfusion, and he was just reanimated.”
Blood Lab: “But you don’t have a form.”
Me: “Yes, I know, but the boy is dying.”
Blood Lab: “Well, it’s not my fault if he dies; come back when you have the form.”
(Sir, I know that you were technically right, but is a form more important than the life of a sixteen-year-old boy?!)
Looking After One Child So Much You Forget About The Other
Hospital, Ignoring & Inattentive, Kansas City, Missouri, Parents/Guardians, Patients, USA | Healthy | October 12, 2018
My mother was a pediatric cardiac nurse and was taking care of a boy who had just had open heart surgery. She left for the weekend, and this story was relayed to her the next morning she was in.
The mother of the young boy suddenly started to have severe abdominal pains during the night. The nurse realized after checking her over that she had forgotten to ask her a very important question: when was the last time she had had her period? The mother said, “Oh, it’s coming any day now.”
The nurse looked at the nurse supervisor who was helping her. This is a children’s hospital, so they had no labor and delivery ward. The supervisor started to panic. This hospital is up the road from another, adult hospital. So, the supervisor decided to put the mother in a wheelchair and push her down to the adult hospital. This hospital is located at the top of a hill, so as he was pushing her down to the other hospital, the wheelchair slipped out of his hand. Luckily, he caught her before she got too far away, and got her to the adult hospital before she delivered the baby.
When my mom got back that Monday, she went to the boy’s room and saw that the mother was back already. She found that the mother had been so focused on taking care of her son before his surgery and getting him the surgery that she hadn’t realized she hadn’t had her period in over seven months.
Luckily, both the son and baby were able to leave the hospital soon after, and last my mother heard they were all doing well
The Pharmacy Version Of “I’m Looking For A Book That’s Red”
Australia, Crazy Requests, Health & Body, Melbourne, Pharmacy | Healthy Right | October 10, 2018
Customer: “I need to get a repeat on my medication. I’ve ran out of the script so can you give me an owning? I’ve been here many times.”
Me: “Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem. Can you give me your name and the name of the medication you want owning?”
Customer: “My name is [Customer] and I don’t know what the medication is called.”
Me: “Oh, okay. Do you know what the medication is for?”
Customer; “No. Just look up the medication I’m on.”
Me: “You’re on a few different medications.”
Customer: “It’s a little white tablet.”
Me: “All but one of the five medications you are on are white. Box or bottle?”
Customer: “No idea. Just give me an owing.”
Me: “Sir, sorry, but without know what the medication is for or what it is called, I cannot give you an owing. But would you know what it is if I showed you the packages it comes in?.”
(I quickly grab a few bottles and boxes of medications that the customer is on, hoping it jogs his memory.)
Customer: “Nope. I don’t know which one it is. Just give me an owing. It’s a little white pill! You’re suppose to know what I want!”
Me: “Sir, as I said, a few of your medications you are on are small white pills., I’m sorry but I want to make sure I am giving you the right medication. Are you sure you don’t know what the medication is called or what it is used for?”
Customer: “You’re no help. You’re suppose to know what I want!” *leaves the store*
College & University, Colorado, Nurses, Silly, Students, USA | Healthy | October 10, 2018
(We are sitting at break in my Med/Surg Nursing course one afternoon, and we’ve just finished clarifying that our final exam is NOT cumulative. I notice my classmate next to me has hiccups.)
Me: “Got hiccups?”
Classmate: “Yeah.”
Me: “Want me to scare them out of you?”
Classmate: *sleepily* “Nooooo! Don’t scare me.”
(Jokingly, I throw my arm around her and lean in.)
Me: “Hey, hey, [Classmate], the fourth test is cumulative!”
Classmate: “WAIT, WHAT?!”
Me: “Oh, my God, no! We just finished discussing this! I’m joking.”
Classmate: “…”
Me: “HOLY CRAP! It actually stopped your hiccups!”
(We all lost it. Forget “boo.” If you want to scare a nursing student, just tell her the exam will be harder!)
Cedar Rapids, Ignoring & Inattentive, Iowa, Patients, Pharmacy, USA | Healthy | October 8, 2018
(I’m a Certified Pharmacy Technician at a midwest grocery and pharmacy chain. I’m not exaggerating when I say I get far too many of these calls EVERY DAY.)
Me: *answers phone with usual friendly attitude* “This is [My Name] at [Pharmacy]; how can I help you?”
Customer: “I need a refill on my prescriptions.”
Me: *pulls up profile after asking for name and birthdate* “Okay, which ones did you need refilled today?”
Customer: “Oh… I don’t know the names.” *describing various pills*
Me: *sighs and facepalms* “Right, let me get you on with the pharmacist.”
(Long story short, folks: you, as the customer, are personally responsible for knowing exactly what goes into your body and what prescriptions need to be refilled. WE DON’T HAVE ALL DRUGS MEMORIZED JUST BY HOW THEY APPEAR IN OUR HEADS!)
Extra Stupid, Georgia, Insurance, Lazy/Unhelpful, USA | Healthy | October 7, 2018
(My daughter requires glasses to see, so we go in for our regular eye appointment in November. Everything goes well until it comes time to pay for the appointment and glasses, at which point the staff inform me that my daughter’s vision insurance has already been used this year, and therefore won’t cover her new glasses. Confused, since her last appointment was fourteen months ago — definitely over a year — I head home to contact our insurance company to get things straightened out.)
Me: “I’m trying to figure out why my daughter’s insurance has been marked as used this year. Our last appointment was in September of last year, fourteen months ago.”
Insurance Rep: “Oh, we have an appointment on file from January of this year, so her insurance has already been used.”
Me: “But we didn’t have any eye appointment in January. Something’s not right here.”
Insurance Rep: “I don’t know what to tell you. You had an appointment in January, so you have to wait until next year to use her insurance again.”
Me: “And I’m telling you her last vision appointment was September of last year. We didn’t have any January appointment. Your records are wrong.”
Insurance Rep: “Give me a moment to check.”
(She puts me on hold for a while as she looks into this.)
Insurance Rep: “I don’t know what to tell you. You used her coverage for an appointment in January at a clinic in Missouri.”
Me: “We live in Georgia. We haven’t been to Missouri in the last year, let alone for a vision appointment. Who was the appointment for?”
Insurance Rep: “Oh, [Male Name, nowhere near my daughter’s relatively unique name].”
Me: “That’s not my daughter.”
Insurance Rep: “Oh. Let me look into this some more.”
(She puts me on hold again.)
Insurance Rep: “Okay, so, it looks like that vision clinic put the wrong patient information in when they filed his appointment.”
Me: “So, this is going to be fixed, and my daughter can get her glasses, right?”
Insurance Rep: “Unfortunately, it’s going to take six weeks or more to correct this error.”
Me: “But that puts us in next year, and my daughter needs her glasses.”
Insurance Rep: “I’m sorry, but that’s the best we can do.”
Me: “Even though it was your company’s mistake?”
Insurance Rep: “I’m sorry. Perhaps you can work something out with your vision clinic in the meantime?”
Me: “Fine.”
(Luckily, the vision clinic is at least willing to work with me on a reimbursement plan that will allow us to get the glasses now and have the insurance company cover the cost once they finally get around to fixing the problem without it applying against the next year. But aside from our insurance company not realizing that an adult man in Missouri is not my 10-year-old daughter in Georgia, the real gem is what happens when my husband calls the insurance company for a follow-up.)
Husband: “So, how can we be sure this doesn’t happen again next year?”
Insurance Rep #2 : “You’ll just have to call in every now and then to make sure her insurance hasn’t been used yet.”
Husband: “You mean you don’t have anything in place to make sure that my daughter’s insurance doesn’t get accidentally applied to someone else’s appointment in another state?”
Bigotry, Doctor/Physician, Georgia, Hamilton, Medical Office, USA | Healthy | October 4, 2018
(I wake up one morning to find both arms so numb that I can hardly use them. In a panic, I get my mother to drive me to the local doctor’s office. He sends me to get bloodwork done at a different facility. This takes place during the follow-up visit.)
Nurse: *while taking my vitals* “And are your arms still numb?”
Me: “Yes, but they’re a bit better than before.”
(The nurse leads me to the exam room. The doctor enters after a few minutes.)
Doctor: “Okay, your blood work looks good, except for cholesterol. You really need to lose weight. Do you drink a lot of Cokes?”
Me: “Well… yes, but—”
Doctor: “You should give up all caffeinated drinks. They’re making you fat, and it’s very bad for your health.”
(The doctor proceeded to ramble about how I needed to stop eating sugar and start losing weight. He left the room with a final order to stop drinking Cokes. I never got a chance to ask him about my numb arms, and he never once said anything about the issue I’d gone there for in the first place. I don’t have insurance and am unemployed, so I couldn’t afford to go somewhere else. I ended up asking friends online for help and figured out how to address my problem through them.)
Why Are You Hitting Yourself? Why Are You Hitting Yourself?
Bizarre, home, Non-Dialogue, Ohio, Patients, USA | Healthy | October 3, 2018
My husband is a very gentle man. Because of this, I was more shocked than angry when I was slapped awake one night. I had been deeply asleep, thanks to a muscle relaxant, so it took me a moment to fully process what happened.
I was turning my head to ask why he’d slapped me; what happened? Then, I saw movement near my waist. A hand came up and slapped my face again.
It was my own d*** hand!
Apparently, trying to strengthen my arm after a rotator cuff injury caused my arm muscles to spasm strongly, bringing my hand up fast and hard.
Bigotry, Doctor/Physician, El Paso, home, Patients, Texas, USA | Healthy | October 3, 2018
(My mom and I are discussing a cousin who lives in different state. She has been hospitalized and is losing blood due to problems with her uterus.)
Mom: “I just don’t understand why the doctors refuse to just remove it. She doesn’t intend to have any more children, and this thing is threatening her life. I had to argue for them to remove mine when I started having issues, and I was almost fifty with two adult kids already!”
Me: “Mom, let me tell you: doctors maintain this idea that a woman’s main purpose in life is to have children. They think that removing her uterus is equal to cutting off both legs. They view it as the last, most desperate act they can take. It’s ridiculous, outdated, and flawed, but it’s the sad truth.”
Sister: *who has been listening* “That actually explains a lot.”
Boston, Dentist, Ignoring & Inattentive, Language & Words, Massachusetts, Reception, USA | Healthy | October 2, 2018
(I’ve chipped a tooth. My regular dentist puts a filling in, but recommends a crown as a more stable, long-term repair. Since I already have a rather large cavity and filling in that tooth, they also refer me to an endodontist to see if I’ll need a root canal first. I call their office to set up a consult.)
Receptionist: “Good morning. Thank you for calling [Office].”
Me: “Good morning. I’ve been referred to you by [My Dentist]. I need a consultation to see if a root canal is necessary.”
Receptionist: “Okay, are you a patient of ours?”
Me: “No, I’d be a new patient.”
Receptionist: “Can I have your name?”
(I give my first and last name. My last name is somewhat unusual, and has a lot of letters that sound like other letters, so I always go the extra mile and spell it out using the phonetic alphabet.)
Receptionist: “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”
Me: *spells it again, still phonetically*
Receptionist: *spells it back, inverting the last two letters*
Me: “No, no.” *spells it out again*
Receptionist: “Oh, okay, no R.” *spells it back incorrectly*
Me: “No, there is an R.” *spells it AGAIN* “It’s like [word], but with an A at the end.”
Receptionist: *finally gets it right* “I’m not finding you in our system.”
Me: “Right, no, I’m a new patient; I’ve just been referred for a consultation.”
Receptionist: “Oh, I’m sorry, okay. I’ll need more information from you, then.”
(We very slowly and carefully go through the rest of my details.)
Receptionist: “And what do you need done?”
Me: “Just a consultation right now. I’m getting a crown, but my dentist would like to see if I should get a root canal first.”
Receptionist: “You need a root canal?”
Me: “No! Just a consultation.”
Receptionist: “Okay, a consultation. When would you like to come in?”
Me: “Anytime Monday is good.”
Receptionist: “We have 3:30 on Monday?”
Me: “Yes, that would be fine.”
Receptionist: “Okay, there’s also 1:50?”
Me: “Um, either one, I guess? 3:30 or 1:50, whichever is more convenient for you.”
Receptionist: “Okay, 1:30 on Monday, then.”
Me: “I’m sorry, 1:30 or 1:50?”
Receptionist: “Yes, 1:50.”
Me: “Great, thank you.”
(I think I’ll show up before 1:30, just to be safe!)
The Doctor’s Prognosis Is Dislocated From The Truth
Doctor/Physician, England, Hospital, Ignoring & Inattentive, Lazy/Unhelpful, Manchester, Non-Dialogue, UK | Healthy | October 1, 2018
This tale’s from a few years ago, and will need a little backstory. I have a multi-systemic collagen defect disorder called hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. To explain it in detail would take all night; suffice it to say that my joints dislocate very easily and, though I’ve learned to put them back by myself, there are some I just can’t fix unaided, the wrist of my dominant hand being one of these, for obvious reasons. Bear in mind, too, that dislocations — whether full or partial — hurt. A lot.
One evening, housesitting for a friend on the other side of my city, feeding her cats, I somehow managed to pop my right wrist half out of place. I knew it was out, and I was alone in the house, but — luckily, thought I — the nearest hospital was just over the road. I necked a dose of my usual liquid morphine, grabbed my walking stick left-handed, and headed over to Accident & Emergency.
It was quiet, so I was seen in about thirty minutes and sent for an x-ray, as per routine. When my x-ray was done, though, the doctor on duty left me to sit — on a hard, plastic chair in a cubicle, that was not helping my general chronic pain, while my morphine slowly wore off — for three hours.
After those long three hours, he finally bothered to come to me, and insisted, in the most supercilious, maddening way possible, that my wrist was fine, that the x-ray showed nothing, and that I should go home. I argued with him for a minute, but gave up. Words weren’t going to get through; that much was clear.
I sighed. Then, I asked him to humour me for a moment and get a firm grip of the hand on my injured arm. He did, not looking too pleased about it.
I yanked my arm back against his hold, hard. I could hear the crack as my wrist went back into its proper position, and so did he. The look on his face was an absolute picture.
I’ve never been back to that hospital since. And if I have my way about it, I never will!
Atlanta, Bad Behavior, Doctor/Physician, Georgia, Medical Office, Non-Dialogue, USA | Healthy | September 29, 2018
My mother told me about an experience one of her coworkers had.
The coworker had diabetes before she got pregnant. Her doctor considered her case high-risk, and sent her to another office in the city for some blood work. She had a referral, and all of the necessary info was sent to the office so that these blood tests could be performed. It was supposed to be an in-and-out procedure.
When she got there, the main doctor of this practice was quite curt with her, almost rude. At first she just chalked it up to him being in a bad mood, or needing to learn better bedside manners. Then, he told her, “You know, people like you shouldn’t be getting pregnant.”
She immediately asked what he meant by that. He went on to explain that people with certain health conditions, such as her diabetes, should not be reproducing. She responded that she was there for blood work, and then she was leaving; if he had any personal concerns, she wasn’t interested in hearing them.
The doctor waved her off and told her that she needed to sign some paperwork. She asked what paperwork, as her regular office should have sent her information over. He wouldn’t answer her and just kept pushing the papers at her, telling her to sign. Finally, she took the paperwork and started reading it.
The doctor was trying to force her into signing off for an abortion.
She immediately called her regular doctor and told him what was going on. Her doctor told her to drop everything, and get out of there. Just get up, and walk out, right now. She did.
Her regular doctor apologized profusely and told her he had no idea what the other doctor was up to. He told her he was going to report the practice, and asked if she wanted to lodge a complaint. She did.
The next day, the other doctor’s practice was shut down, and he lost his license. Apparently he had been doing this to other women, and he was taking it upon himself to decide who was — or was not — “worthy” to reproduce or get pregnant.
Bad Behavior, Delaware, Doctor/Physician, Medical Office, USA | Healthy | September 28, 2018
(TriCare, the medical insurance that all US military dependents are on, has sent me to a new gynecologist for treatment of severe endometriosis. Her profile says that she is Catholic, but I don’t think much about it until I have my first few visits with her. Please note that my husband is unable to father a child due to chemical exposure while serving a combat tour in Iraq. We have decided that we are perfectly fine with not having children. I tell her that I don’t want to be a mother.)
New Gyno: “What?! You don’t want baby?! Why?”
(She is from the Philippines and her English isn’t entirely perfect.)
Me: “My husband is 100% unable to father a child. We have been having unprotected sex since we met over six years ago and we have never even had a pregnancy scare. I’m also not comfortable with being a mother.”
New Gyno: “But your husband almost forty and never had baby. He need baby! You have to give him baby!”
Me: “My husband is perfectly okay with not being a father. He is also in the process of being medically retired from the military, and we don’t think that it is a good time to have one now even if we could.”
New Gyno: “But baby make all the stress in your life go away. Baby make your husband’s PTSD from Iraq go away!”
Me: “What part of the fact that my husband can’t father a child do you not understand? I’m a Christian, and I believe that if God saw fit to give us a child in the last six years, he would have.”
New Gyno: “But you take birth control! All women without baby take birth control! You need to take my husband’s fertility awareness program! It $200 per session, per week!”
Me: *wondering where this came from because it’s not in my records* “Do you understand that I suffered a stroke at age twenty-six and I have a history of hypertension? If I had taken birth control for that long–” *I’m thirty-two* “–I would be dead by now! In thirteen years of being sexually active, I have never taken birth control, and I have never been pregnant! I don’t think that paying your husband $200 to learn how to count my cycles is going to get me pregnant. It’s also highly unethical for you to pressure someone into paying money that they might not have for a product that isn’t going to help!”
New Gyno: “But you lie to me about stroke! You never have stroke! You able to walk!”
Me: “I had eight Transient Ischemic Attacks!” *mini-strokes* “If you look at my face when I smile, it droops on one side. I also have partial paralysis in my right hand. I don’t know where you went to medical school, but both of those are the results of a stroke! If you want to really know why I won’t have a child, it’s because I take a cocktail of psychiatric medication to treat Bipolar Disorder and severe PTSD that my ex-husband left me with. If you’d looked at my records you would have known! All three medications are bad for an unborn baby! I also have Asperger’s Syndrome, and I don’t want any children of mine having the same problems that I have!”
New Gyno: “But you can stop medications. God give you the strength to stop taking medications! God want you to have baby! It not normal for woman to not want baby!”
Me: “You recommend stopping lithium cold turkey just to get pregnant?”
New Gyno: “Yes! I don’t believe that those medications help mental illness! Only God help mental illness!”
Me: “Are you aware that I could die if I stopped lithium cold turkey?”
New Gyno: “Why you die? It just like stopping Prozac.”
Me: “No, it’s not! I had a dose lowered once, and I got really sick. You mean to tell me that you equate an antidepressant to one of the most potent mood stabilizers on the market?”
New Gyno: “Yes! All psychiatric drugs the same!”
Me: “You have to be the craziest doctor that I have ever met! Is it your personal mission to make sure that every woman on this planet becomes a mother? I believe that if God wanted me to become a mother, he would have made me one!”
New Gyno: “Yes. All woman need to become mother! I have five children and it make my life wonderful!”
Me: “You need psychiatric help! I’m going to a doctor who understands my medical issues!”
(My husband was medically retired a few months later, and we moved to a small community in eastern Kentucky. TriCare assigned me to a young female gynecologist who was a recent medical school graduate. She agreed that it was a REALLY bad idea for me to get pregnant, and is currently trying to get TriCare to approve a hysterectomy due to my nightmarish periods and history of pelvic pain. The new gynecologist thinks that the one I saw in Delaware is a complete loon!)
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