Well, first thing this morning I called to have a prescription filled- a prescription that is more a part of my “quality of life” than I think I would like to care to admit. Supplementing with Imodium is not the most preferred method of making sure I am not sick and, by extension, in the bathroom for long periods of time. On the flip-side, being forced to take something to ensure quality of life seems a bit off-the-deep-end and I am not sure what to take, give to that either.

Anyway, went and spoke to the doctor. He tells me he is very (to some power of a multiple of ten) confident that I have IBS. Asked if I was still on a Celiac diet. When I indicated I was not, asked why. I told him that with his confidence that I did not have Celiac disease I decided to try and eat wheat based products again and so far so good. He told me to continue as I am (wheat-based products) and to come and see him if the problems start to occur again. If problems, then more blood tests. Yay!

However, when I told him that the pharmacies in the area were having trouble filling the prescription he told me to call and visit more pharmacies because this was the medication I needed to be on and I should just find it. This was rather frustrating with a side of futile and I asked, again, that he write a prescription for something else as not only the pharmacy but the doctors nurse had also indicated a severe shortage of the drug in the area.

Nothing.

He did suggest that larger retail chains with more buying power and larger inventories might be able to help me. His suggestions are unmentionable as one I don’t like and the other one was not able to help me. After I went to the doctors top suggestion, and spoke to my mother who suggested I try Walgreens, I drove straight to a Walgreens. My first question (at both places): Do you have the ability to fill this prescription?

The question is good because it is pertinent to me and the person I am speaking to and because it shortens my time at any given location if the location is unable to fill the prescription.

At the first place, the answer, after looking at a computer system and then consulting someone else was, “No. We don’t have enough to fill that prescription.” The second place looked at the prescription, checked inventories, discovered that they had caplets instead of pills, and proceeded to ask if they could call my doctor to find out if the caplet was a suitable substitution, if generic was okay, and then asked me if I wouldn’t mind waiting or coming back because they had a store in Pleasant Grove that had some and they wanted to send an employee to get the stock so they could fill my prescription.

I said, “I will be back in an hour,” and went home to discover that AT&T sent me my rebate card for purchasing the Palm Treo 680 – which is suh-weet – and proceeded to piddle around the house while I waited, watched Sister, Sister which isn’t that great of a show, but beat everything else I could find on TV, to include the History Channels show Modern Marvels, which was showcasing the history of the American family’s outdoor gadgets… a show I would’ve normally loved and one that I just wasn’t into today.

After an hour I went back to Walgreens. The same pharmacist that had spoken with me before stopped and said, “We were able to fill the prescription. I looked into why there is a shortage. Apparently, the FDA has recalled most manufacturer brands of that drug. The brand we use was not recalled.”

I said, “Thank you for all you’ve done,” paid the thirteen dollars and change, got a free something or other for being a new prescription customer, and effectively added my name and this ‘important’ prescription to a national database that can be filled wherever I am and where a Walgreens already exists.

I have to admit, that was very cool. I did not expect, when I walked through the door, for that particular brand to be polite, nice, outgoing, to call my doctor, to send an employee to a different store quite a ways away, or to research why there was no inventory of the drug. I don’t normally do this, but I have to give amazing kudos to Walgreens. Not sure if every story is this way, but the one I went to went way above and beyond and I am grateful that I had a positive experience.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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