pillow. bury face. shriek.
Oct. 30th, 2013 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jhameiaI AM READY FOR THIS WEEK TO BE FUCKING OVER HOLY FUCK.
So I thought this whole vaccine thing was going to be a fucking cakewalk, waltzed into the health center and then the nurse is like, "no, we don't normally carry rabies vaccine, that's something you have to call in to tell us about. Front desk people don't know anything."
Sigh. I knew that I ought to have asked at least the pharmacy whether the center carried the vaccine, but LUCKILY! someone needed a pre-exposure shot, so they'd ordered a thing in. And this was fine until:
"what vaccine brand did they give you?"
What do you mean what fucking vaccine brand did they give me? I don't fucking know. The hospital didn't tell me. Does it even matter?
And of course to the nurse it does, and I understand her concern: if the vaccine brands aren't interchangeable, then I could get seriously screwed over.
So she starts calling. Novartis, manufacturer of the RabAvert vaccine, and then we tried the CDC. She ordered me to go get the leaflet of the thing they injected me with, so I dutifully went home to get it. I tried calling the pharmacist at the hospital about it but I stopped her from telling me what it was (and shouldn't have...) and said I'd call back. The nurse is pissed and frustrated. She asks the pharmacist and the pharmacist is like "we gave her the RIG" and wouldn't say anything ELSE. I KNOW they gave me RIG, rabies vaccine, and tetanus vaccine. I kinda wish I'd offered to talk to the pharmacist about it at that point.
I tried calling the emergency room but no one wanted to tell me anything. They forwarded me to Medical Records. Medical Records can't tell me anything because I'm not there to sign an authorization. They can't tell me anything over the phone.
What kind of jacked up country is this that simple things like finding out what medication I got over the phone can't be done because apparently people will take advantage of this crap to do... IDK awful things?
The nurse is.... either not high-ranking enough to warrant getting someone to fax things for her, OR she's at the end of her tether, so she tells me to get those records. So I duly take myself downtown to get the records from the hospital. Easy enough, but a long bus ride (30~ minutes) (no one was available to take me... I asked my classmate to tell the prof I'll probably be late to class. Very late). Friendly front-desk security guard. Twenty-cents per page. Sigh.
It's not the same vaccine =( It's Imovax, which is the other major vaccine brand. And no one can tell us if it's interchangeable. I ask Registration if there's a physician around who can just jab me with it and have done with it. No, there isn't, they only have the ER and it's insane right now; it's not a hospital with clinicians for that sort of thing.
Well, just fuck me with a stick of peanut butter, why don't you.
I call the nurse to let her know what the vaccine is. The other nurse answers, she was told to expect me. She was seeing some patients (the afternoon was busy, of course) but she found the Animal Service Department section that dealt with animal bites. She texted it to me so I could call. I did. The person was very nice, and she said she'd call me back after she consulted with the clinic. Five minutes, she said.
I only get a call from her when I'm finally back in my office some twenty minutes later. The nurse and the doctor nearby said, it'd be preferrable to have the brand I started with on hand, but in its absence, especially since I was on Day 3 and absolutely due for my next dose, the other brand was an acceptable alternative.
THAT'S ALL I HAD NEEDED TO HEAR ALL DAY. THAT'S IT. WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO GET THE REQUIRED INFORMATION?
I text the nurse, "they said it's OK, can I come back now?"
And go to class. And get a call in the middle from the nurse saying she was there until 5. Awesome. The prof gives me permission to leave early.
She calls again at 4.25 because... she forgot the health center locks its doors at 4.30!! I skedaddle. I FINALLY get my fucking shot. I get back to class with two minutes left in the class and the prof was like "you didn't have to come back!"
BUT OF COURSE I DID.
I have to present on two short stories tomorrow, but I also have a class in the morning and the lecture's mid-term afterward, and I'm just really fucking tired and I don't want to do anything anymore right now. I think I'll lie down for an hour and then get cracking after an hour's nap or after I'm done crying or plucking out the white hairs I've gotten from today or something.
So I thought this whole vaccine thing was going to be a fucking cakewalk, waltzed into the health center and then the nurse is like, "no, we don't normally carry rabies vaccine, that's something you have to call in to tell us about. Front desk people don't know anything."
Sigh. I knew that I ought to have asked at least the pharmacy whether the center carried the vaccine, but LUCKILY! someone needed a pre-exposure shot, so they'd ordered a thing in. And this was fine until:
"what vaccine brand did they give you?"
What do you mean what fucking vaccine brand did they give me? I don't fucking know. The hospital didn't tell me. Does it even matter?
And of course to the nurse it does, and I understand her concern: if the vaccine brands aren't interchangeable, then I could get seriously screwed over.
So she starts calling. Novartis, manufacturer of the RabAvert vaccine, and then we tried the CDC. She ordered me to go get the leaflet of the thing they injected me with, so I dutifully went home to get it. I tried calling the pharmacist at the hospital about it but I stopped her from telling me what it was (and shouldn't have...) and said I'd call back. The nurse is pissed and frustrated. She asks the pharmacist and the pharmacist is like "we gave her the RIG" and wouldn't say anything ELSE. I KNOW they gave me RIG, rabies vaccine, and tetanus vaccine. I kinda wish I'd offered to talk to the pharmacist about it at that point.
I tried calling the emergency room but no one wanted to tell me anything. They forwarded me to Medical Records. Medical Records can't tell me anything because I'm not there to sign an authorization. They can't tell me anything over the phone.
What kind of jacked up country is this that simple things like finding out what medication I got over the phone can't be done because apparently people will take advantage of this crap to do... IDK awful things?
The nurse is.... either not high-ranking enough to warrant getting someone to fax things for her, OR she's at the end of her tether, so she tells me to get those records. So I duly take myself downtown to get the records from the hospital. Easy enough, but a long bus ride (30~ minutes) (no one was available to take me... I asked my classmate to tell the prof I'll probably be late to class. Very late). Friendly front-desk security guard. Twenty-cents per page. Sigh.
It's not the same vaccine =( It's Imovax, which is the other major vaccine brand. And no one can tell us if it's interchangeable. I ask Registration if there's a physician around who can just jab me with it and have done with it. No, there isn't, they only have the ER and it's insane right now; it's not a hospital with clinicians for that sort of thing.
Well, just fuck me with a stick of peanut butter, why don't you.
I call the nurse to let her know what the vaccine is. The other nurse answers, she was told to expect me. She was seeing some patients (the afternoon was busy, of course) but she found the Animal Service Department section that dealt with animal bites. She texted it to me so I could call. I did. The person was very nice, and she said she'd call me back after she consulted with the clinic. Five minutes, she said.
I only get a call from her when I'm finally back in my office some twenty minutes later. The nurse and the doctor nearby said, it'd be preferrable to have the brand I started with on hand, but in its absence, especially since I was on Day 3 and absolutely due for my next dose, the other brand was an acceptable alternative.
THAT'S ALL I HAD NEEDED TO HEAR ALL DAY. THAT'S IT. WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO GET THE REQUIRED INFORMATION?
I text the nurse, "they said it's OK, can I come back now?"
And go to class. And get a call in the middle from the nurse saying she was there until 5. Awesome. The prof gives me permission to leave early.
She calls again at 4.25 because... she forgot the health center locks its doors at 4.30!! I skedaddle. I FINALLY get my fucking shot. I get back to class with two minutes left in the class and the prof was like "you didn't have to come back!"
BUT OF COURSE I DID.
I have to present on two short stories tomorrow, but I also have a class in the morning and the lecture's mid-term afterward, and I'm just really fucking tired and I don't want to do anything anymore right now. I think I'll lie down for an hour and then get cracking after an hour's nap or after I'm done crying or plucking out the white hairs I've gotten from today or something.
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-31 10:37 am (UTC)I am glad you are rabies-free. You are awesome, and I would love to be there to watch you present on the short stories.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-31 12:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-31 07:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-01 05:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-01 06:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-31 04:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-31 08:55 pm (UTC)Two family members were recently in the hospital, and I was reminded how complicated & time-consuming the experience is, even when you've got someone else there to help. By the time the discharge dates arrived, my Dad was walking around with a briefcase containing file folders of lengthy medical documentation, and I'd begun my own paper & digital files to track care info.
Here's hoping that you'll get and stay well.