An Eye for an I (part II)

In the previous post I wrote about my stinkin' eye and how they are going to slice it up to fix it.  Sounds a bit like Bush and how he had to kill capitalism to save capitalism to me.

When I was at my Oct appointment, the doctor wrote out some prescriptions and gave me a brochure for medical equipment rental.

First the prescriptions.

As the operation was scheduled for early December, I didn't fill the prescription right away.  No need to have those hanging around home where I could lose them was my thinking.  So about a week before the surgery, I waltz in to the pharmacy I've gone to for the last 35 years.  Gave them those four slips of paper and left.

The next day I came back to pick up the prescription.  Hmmmm.  Only three of the four are there.  Of course I ask where the other prescription is.  Well it turns out that what is missing is the pain reliever.  It is oxycodone, a narcotic.  Unknown to me (and probably you) prescriptions for narcotics have to be filled within 30 days.  The war on drugs I guess.  I dropped the scripts off on day 31.

So I talk to the pharmacist (the managing pharmacist also the owner's son in law).  He has called the doctor's office and is waiting for a call back.  Ok.  No big deal.  I've had them call a doctor before and it's always ready the next day.  But I wait two days and come back.  Still no pain reliever.  Talk to another pharmacist who has also been there as far back as I can remember (he was also a leader in the 4-H cow club).  He calls the doctor's office while I'm there.  Of course he doesn't get an answer and will wait for a call back.  OK.  I leave again.

As a side note, I think about how any drug dealer can get this stuff.  I remember this is the very stuff Rush Limbaugh was hooked on, but I can't get it.  What a country.

A couple days later I called the pharmacy and they say that the doctor has mailed the prescription to them.  WHAT?  So I call the doctor's office.  They tell me the same thing.  Apparently narcotics can not be faxed in.

Consider this.  We're talking about the doctor's end faxing to the local pharmacy that has been there at least 50 years.  And that is risky so it has to be mailed?  I'm not a real critic of the mail system, but which method seems more secure to you?

I am getting a little worried as the operation is at the other end of the weekend and I gots no drugs here.  I figure the doctor doesn't write a prescription unless I am likely to need this.  Call me a wimp, but I'd like to have this stuff on hand after they have been chopping away at my eyeball even if I end up not needing it.  Hopefully this gets resolved in the next couple days.

But let's move on to the medical equipment.

After reviewing the brochure, I realize that basically I am renting toilet seats that I put my head in to force me to keep my eyes facing down. 

That way the gas they injected stays pressing against the back of my eye (now the topmost area as I face down).  Doesn't look too bad and I had a bit of practice at this sort of thing during my college days although even at my worst I didn't need to pray to the porcelain god for a straight week.

They have a pad you put on the bed.  You lie on the pad so now you're elevated a few inches.  The toilet seat sits in front so as you lie there with your head in the toilet seat a few inches above the bed.

There is an entire chair with the toilet seat attached to the top as well as a table top model that I have to use while eating.

I decide to rent the Vitrectomy Max Comfort Package or as I call it the Deluxe Toilet Seat Package.  I get the sleeping pad, the chair, the table top and a mirror gizmo that I can use with the table top to watch TV.  I even end up with the porta potty.  When I'm going back to the doctor for my followup the day after the surgery, I have to remove one of the toilet seats and insert the vertical support rods in to this cube.  I hold the cube to my chest so I can continue to keep my head in a toilet seat while being driven insane to the doctor's office.

The price is pretty reasonable.  $235 for the whole shebang for a week.  And that includes shipping both ways.

All the stuff came in two large boxes and was pretty easy to set up.  So far I've tried the table top for about 20 minutes and it seems to work pretty well watching TV with the mirror gizmo.  Of course 20 minutes isn't 24x7 so we shall see.  I also spent a couple minutes on the bed pad and it seems like it might work.

Next.  Pre-Admission at the hospital.