SPRING/SUMMER 2023!!...Share your sales & solutions!!!

So I went to Vons last night to pick up my refill. I wanted Proscar but they gave me Lasix. I spent 30 minutes looking for where I put the Proscar and then I finally read the paperwork and saw that they gave me Lasix. Hopefully, I can straighten it out this morning. I have no idea how Lasix got into the picture. Lasix is a water pill while Proscar is a prostate drug. With the pain that I have when I pee Lasix is about the last drug that I'd want to take.

It seems strange how many prescription errors I've been hearing and reading about. Guess maybe it has something to do with the shortage of workers and some just not bothering to not show up to work? Or maybe in this day and age everything is posted on line and travels so fast and to everyone? Hopefully, like you did, folks are checking and double checking the meds they do receive and not taking something that would not be good or possibly harmful to them.

Hopefully you can get it straightened out without too much hassle. It's been my experience that some pharmacists think they are 'god' and can do nothing wrong - hope you don't get one of those. Take care.

PS: so far, I'm doing okay. Certainly not feeling great but not as bad as I felt on Thursday. Not sure what doses of meds I was given in the ER, but I was feeling much better by the time I got home. As an example, when we left to go to the ER I wasn't even sure I'd make it out to the car using my walker (which I use on a regular basis) so my husband got the wheelchair; when we got home he grabbed the wheelchair but I didn't need it and just used the walker (less cumbersome than dealing with a wheelchair even though when we moved to this house five years ago we bought one that is considered zero entry it still has a threshold going into the house that is cumbersome to move a wheelchair over). Hopefully I continue to improve but who knows with covid?

Thank you for all your replies. They made some interesting conversations here, albiet not a nice subject but its reality now.

I still wear a mask, I got some KN95's which are supposed to be better than the blue ones that first were available. I carry a bottle of Hand Sanitizer with me and use it all the time. We do go out to eat, using sanitizer after handling the menu's. I try to be supercareful. I got creeped out at CVS today when I was next in line after a guy was buying 3 covid tests. I was able to go to a different register after he left, I worried that the air was bad where he was.....
We got 4 shots. FIrst one Feb 2020, second March 2020, then 3rd one was November 2021??? I have to look at our Vax cards. Then 6 months ? or so after the third was the 4th, I'm waiting for the new one. I will wait a few weeks to hear about reactions to it, etc, but definetly plan to get it, due to age, etc. I'll check those dates for the 3rd and 4th ones and get back here.
For the 3rd pne, I was desperate to get them, CVS had long wait time, Did online search, and wow! got an appointment the same day at a Walmart near me!! 4th one was at a Wag's. got an appointment pretty close in time.
I wish you and Everyone here all the best at staying well.
Yensshopper, I hope your symptoms subside and med's work well.
Keep us informed of how you are doing.

Damn, I thought there was a mask wearing emoji....

Have a good nite, all!

The 95's I got from CVS and RA when they were giving them away were so tight that I couldn't wear them. Maybe there was an adjustment I could've made but wearing a face mask is too complicated for me lol. I stuck with the ones I got from the 99Cent Store. 50 for $5.99 and they were on special for 50% off when I stocked up. So far I haven't had covid so they must work ok but the fit isn't always the greatest and I looked at the box and they're made in China. I'm not sure if the quality of Chinese covid products are up to US standards. The Chinese vaccines weren't supposed to be any good but I'm not sure what that has to do with masks. I don't really care where something is made (although I should) but if I'm going to walk around all day with a face mask at least I should have a good one. Because the face masks at the 99Cent Store are so cheap I use 3 to 5 every day. If I'm in a packed store, I'll toss out the mask when I get to the car. It can't be healthy to use the face mask over and over again especially if you think that you might've been exposed. And tossing your mask on the ground when you're done with it is one of the most inconsiderate things that a person can do. Somebody else is going to have to pick it up. Do you really think that the Vons clerk wants to deal with your germs? The same goes for leaving used tissues in the shopping cart. What kind of idiot does that? The bottom line is that most people just don't care as long as you don't do it to them. Then they freak out.

Yeah, using a face mask made in China creeped me out when I read that on the package of the blue, etc ones, ( I have all colors and designs but don't use anymore)... (insert swear words here about the CCP)
The KN95's I use now are like the duck billed ones. they fold in half like a triangle almost. The ones I got from CVS are also too damn tight for me! The cardboard type ones push into my face and I look so weird and uncomforable. The othe set i got from different CVS came in individually wrapped cellphane and they, too are too tight. I thought of cutting the elastic bands in the middle and trying to make a know in them to wear around my ears. Both sets are to be worn with elastic around the whole head. Ugh! I got alot, too! One was giving 3 per person (the cellophane wrapped ones, ) the other gave me bags of approx 25 in each. THey are both made by reliable USA USA USA!! companies, to that was good (Honeywell and I don't remember the other co.)
I got a box of the black GOOD KN95's from a gal in town, I was so lucky, they are expensive!
Gotta run...

Wait, so you weren't automatically admitted when you came in with a bad case of covid? It seems like hospitals want to send people home before they get there. I'm glad that you're feeling better. If they gave you your meds by IV, they work better than by pill so maybe that's why you feel better. The meds can hang around for a long time even if they tell you it's just for a couple of hours.

Sorry if I misread your posts and you were admitted. Reading comprehension has never been my strong point and it's really bad these days. It's the biggest problem I have with Wags. I know that I should get it but I just don't. I used to but not anymore.

I went to read back my last post but the margin on the right side has half of it blocked off. Very helpful lol.

I got a lot of those blue and white anti-bacterial wipes in the white and blue package that CVS had when they were 29 cents. Some stores had mountains of them. I got what I figured would be a lifetime supply but they're gone now. I wish that I had bought more. It was the best purchase I ever made at CVS. I also got 200 of the big Safeguard hand soap bottles that sold for $7.49. The SM said that I could have them for 29 cents if I took them all. That was a no brainer. The worst thing I got was the hand sanitizers. I had thousands of them. I'd walk into a store and they'd give me boxes of them. I made a promise to myself to never make a dime off of anything to do with covid so they were all to give away but nobody would take them. When I'd do a yard sale, I'd have stacks of them with a big sign that said FREE but that were all still there at the end of the sale. I couldn't even donate them. The happiest day of my life was when a friend offered to take them to the dump for me.

Nothing pissed me off more than when people came into CVS at the beginning of covid and bought up all of the masks to sell them at airports or wherever they did it at. It's so wrong to make money off of the pandemic. If you're getting them to help people that's one thing but to mark them up 10 to 50 times what they should cost is obscene. One "lady" (I'm trying to be nice) bought the store out. They were trying to sell her Carepass at check-out but she wouldn't do it. Her purchase was over $1000. They told her how much she would save. I just shook my head. She probably sold those masks for $50,000 or some crazy amount to people getting off of the plane who didn't know any better. People like her make me sick.

No, I wasn't admitted. After getting the positive result on the covid test, the doctor stuck his head in the door to say you tested positive for covid and that he ordered prescriptions for me. I asked if I was getting them from the hospital pharmacy but was told no and when I asked him from where he had to go and check. Again barely opened the door and said Target/CVS north side store. My husband asked him 'what now' and he said you're good to go and the nurse would bring us some paperwork. The nurse opened the door a crack, handed in the paper work, and closed the door. Like I said, after testing positive I felt like I was treated like a pariah. Totally different than before the positive result came back. I had so many folks in my room - the nurse, the doctor, the phlebotomist, the x-ray tech who took me to another room for said x-rays through multiple hallways, the person who came in to administer the nebulizer treatment, and maybe others that I'm not remembering. Then it all changed. But I can't really blame them. They're probably getting ready to deal with this over and over again now that the weather is getting colder here in MN.

And while I didn't actually have any IV meds (a few folks even commented they were surprised an IV wasn't started but I wasn't going to complain, lol) I did have the nebulizer treatment which goes right into your lungs and system and probably a strong dose of steroids in pill form.

And it may be my fault if I wasn't clear in some of my earlier posts. I'm not exactly in top shape and there seemed so much to write I'd be surprised if anyone read it all, ha! ha! And then there's the getting older part too - not a whole lot of fun. Nothing works like it used to; at least it seems that way.

What I remember most in the early days of covid was how it seemed impossible to purchase anti-bacterial wipes and hand sanitizer once the original stock sold out. And folks that had it were getting top dollar for it on online auction sites. Not very charitable/nice.

Eventually, stores ended up getting so much of it and not being able to get rid of it so about a year ago places all around out town had displays with free hand sanitizer that most folks just walked past,

I believe most folks are just tired of dealing with the whole covid thing which is not going to help keep/bring the numbers down but guess that's just human nature.

Why don't you get your choice of pharmacy? That's the first thing they go over with me. I tell them that I want Vons but I can change it anytime that I want to. The doctor wanted me to go to CVS one time because there was a shortage and he had already called CVS to confirm they had it. Then the pharmacy person comes in and goes over all of the meds that I'm taking. This usually happens more than once while I'm in the ER because the nurse and doctor also ask. There's usually a 2 to 3 hour down time to where I'm left alone and can watch tv if I'm up to it. That's when they do the lab tests and they're waiting for the next set to come back so that they can see what the trend is. If they're worse, you'll probably be admitted.

I get great care in the ER. My advice is don't go in there hungry. You might not have anything to eat for 12+ hours and if you have to have surgery you might go NPO so I would eat something before you go if you can. Try to make it something that you like. You should also pee. There's a bathroom but you have to walk to it or use a urinal. When you're in the waiting period for your lab results it might be a long time before anybody comes in. And get the hot blanket. It can get cold in the ER.

My insurance, which is through my husbands current employer (the old fool - I always tell him there's no fool like an old one) has come out of retirement twice now due to boredom, lol) uses Caremark CVS as their prescription coverage manager (apparently a newer and very popular option) and that is the only pharmacy to get the best prices at and in some cases any type of coverage. Also, they have a whole lot of meds they don't want to cover and offer alternatives. In fact, their website in my account stated I was not allowed to get Paxlovid but that was wrong according to my local location and they actually gave me that one for free. I was pleasantly surprised.

No one went over my meds with me. The only thing the doctor said while standing out in the hall was that he ordered three prescriptions for me and then when asked he went to look and told me they were ordered at Target-CVS.

No TV to watch in my room. And like you said no toilet so good thing I didn't have to go. I did have a fever of 101.6 and did have chills so I said a 'definite yes' when the nurse asked me if he could get me a blanket. Again pleasantly surprised when it came warmed. Felt so good.

Funny, after I got home and read the discharge papers, I found out that all the lab test results had not even come back yet. As soon as the positive covid test came back they couldn't get me out of there fast enough! And boy, did they take the blood. Besides a few of the normal vial type tubes I'm used to they had three or four bottle style receptacles which I've never seen before. I get automated test results in my providers online portal and they were coming into my account throughout the night - 12 different orders some that included many different tests. One of these days I'll have to count how many were done. I guess if something would have been really bad someone would have notified me. Or maybe I'll still get that call next week?

Oh, and another interesting thing that happened with the blood draw. The lady comes in and gets it on the first jab (yippee!) and when she is all done removes the needle and along with throwing the used needle into the sharps container she also throws one of the vials of blood still connected to the needle away. Tells me in all her many years of doing blood draws she has never, ever done such a thing. So now I get a second jab. Not sure why all this stuff keeps happening to me? I guess I'm just special.

As far as something to eat you are also correct. Before giving me the oral prednisone the nurse asks if I had recently eaten as it could cause stomach upset if taken without food. Since I had not eaten he went to try and find something. He came back with three packs of two broken, crumbled graham crackers in each. Don't know where he found them or how long they were around but when I ate one I found out they were stale. Oh well, at least I didn't get an upset stomach so maybe it helped.

It's amazing how life can get interesting when one gets a new illness, LOL. But I'll stick with boring any day.

ETA: So my reply made me curious so I went to my medical portal to count the number of actual tests run on my blood. And the grand total according to my count is 46. Most were in the standard range, a few that were not were within one or two points of standard range and some that were a bit more out of standard range had to do with having an infection. The interesting thing is that the positive covid test came back with 'positive' in bright red caps surrounded by circled exclamation points. I guess the system was programmed so no one would miss that result.