I finally had an appointment today to get the prescription for my meds. WHY the consultant couldn’t have scribbled on a prescription pad when we saw him 6 weeks ago, I do NOT know, because that was all the doctor did today. I could have saved myself 6 weeks of emailing…
But, getting the requisite bit of paper and depositing it in the hospital pharmacy was not as simple as it sounds. The doctor rang pharmacy to check they had the meds, as they’re a bit weird. They did, and put them on the side, ready to be dispensed. All good.
I toddled off to the pharmacy, where I was told I would have to wait 30mins. “OK,” I thought to myself, “that’s fine, I’ll go and get a coffee.” I wandered over to the coffee shop, had to have tea instead because they’d run out of decaf coffee (one of the meds causes palpitations… seeing as I already get them sometimes, it would appear to be prudent to give up caffeine for the time being…). I sat, drinking my luke-warm tea (apparently they haven’t heard of boiling water in the NHS) only to be rudely interrupted by a man PUTTING HIS NEWBORN BABY ON MY TABLE! I was minding my own business, when he obviously thought she was too heavy to hold at all of, what, 7 pounds? And just plonked her straight down on to the table in front of me. I was somewhat taken aback by this, but couldn’t find the words to say “What are you doing you weirdo? Can’t you see I’m sitting here?!” as she was surrounded, instantly, like flies on shit, by a group of women cooing over her and tickling her.
Is this normal behaviour??
I escaped, not long afterwards, leaving the rest of my tea to the newborn, and back to the pharmacy, sure that my prescription would be ready, and I would be able to make a quick exit and get home. I didn’t count on the fact that I would be sitting there a full 90 minutes later, still waiting. Yes, two hours to do a prescription. The weirdest part of it all was that it wasn’t the vascular dementia drug they had problems with giving to an under-30, but the Vitamin E… Apparently they’d never seen a dose that high before. Call me weird, but I didn’t honestly think that 1000iu of Vitamin E was that strange… They kept wondering if it was supposed to be Vitamin D (I know, because I was eavesdropping… Nothing else to do you see…). Even the woman with her very large bag of IVF injectables escaped at least an hour before I did!
So I drove home, took the dog for a walk and am now having a large cup of (hot) tea and half a packet of digestives caramels to make myself feel better. All ruined, of course, by the fact that I went and read the information leaflets for the meds and decided I don’t want to take them…
Out of the Ashes 
Bloody hospital pharmacies. Bloody overexcited manners-oblivious new parents. Bloody medication leaflets. Bloody having to bloody chose whether or not to take bloody medication while everyone else waltzes happily on having babies and dumping them on random stranger’s cafe tables. Bloody everything. Let’s share the rest of the biscuits and practice scowling.
Bloody medication gave me a bloody headache. I ate the rest of the biscuits as a result. Am getting quite good at scowling now!
God, yes, lets! My Paddington Bear Stare is maturing nicely!
Pharmacies are a law unto themselves; a bad law, generally. The one at Coventry issue you with a bleeper tied to a large block of plastic (which makes you look a PROPER tit walking to Costa coffee with) when you hand them something which furrows their brow. Their best trick was issuing me with a beeper at 4.45, and I wandered back (unbleeped but uneasy) at 5.30 to find the counter all shut up. I hammered on the door and eventually got a grumpy face shoved through the counter shutter that reluctantly issued my drugs after censuring me for no-listeny-to-bleeper, while I opined that she could shove her malfunctioning piece of crap back… yeah. ANyway. Pharmacies. Phooey.
I read that the suppressant – (buserelin, or some such?) can, rarely, cause palpitations, and I worried mightily because I did, indeed, start to have monstrous ones while taking it. It wasn’t until afterwards that I worked out it was the hormonal down-spike itself, as opposed to the actual drug. Drug excused. T’was body’s bad, after all.
The baby thing is normal, sadly. It shouldn’t be; it’s rude. Parents of newborns are frequently deluded about how much licence owning one gives them. I have BEEN deluded: I know. Not often quite as much, however, as a friend of mine who plonked her youngish daughter down on the table RIGHT NEXT to HARRY’S 3RD BIRTHDAY CAKE, FFS, and proceeded to change the stinkiest nappy ev-ar. I feel my thoughts leaked through onto my face at that point.
I think drug info leaflets are the scariest horror literature ever penned. I don’t blame you for feeling uneasy: if you had a moderate reaction to every drug IVF requires, you’d likely feel fairly bloody unwell. And there is no way of moderating the dosage, either, generally. Too little ain’t enough.
Hugs. And cake, if you are free…? I’m away 21st – 27th this month, but otherwise am lady of unemployed leisure again…
Bleeper on a plastic brick?? Did nobody consider the fact that that doesn’t fit into your handbag. Unless you have an enormous suitcase of a handbag.
I feel really sorry for Harry’s birthday cake. Just… Urgh!! Why would anyone do that near food? And cake especially!
Speaking of cake – yes please! That would be lovely!
It never fails to astound me how long it can take to print out a label and stick it on a pill packet. I mean they don’t need to mix the drugs themselves anymore.
Hey, in the trenches of treatment for stage iv ashermans and found your blog. Would you mind sharing your list of meds? I’ve been on estrace pills (2mg morning and night) along with suppository viagra and vitamin e. Just looking for some reassurance/encouragement in this abyss you know too well.