I just thought I would remind everyone to do what I forgot to do this week.
In my everyday life I go through it some would think with my eyes closed and taking my day as it comes. I have always been a very trusting person who believes if you say something you are correct and if you do something I trust it was done right, or at least you meant for it to be that way.
The only time I am really picky is in the medicine/medical treatment arena. I have given birth to three premature children and I personally have many surgeries,medical emergencies, and health issues. I tend to ask and re-ask for instructions and read and re-read directions so I get it right and don't cause more problems.
I failed this week and it could have been a very horrible outcome. I don't know what I was thinking, but I failed. Thursday my husband went to the dentist to get a tooth pulled. He called me right before he left his office to see if I would go with his as he HATES going to the dentist. This is the only time my husband shows he is nervous so I said of course! We met along the way and I got in his truck and rode with him to the dental office. After it was over with he drove me back to my truck and I followed him to our neighborhood, thinking I would get the prescription from him and take it in. He decided to take it himself so I just turned and went home and he turned to the pharmacy. He got home in about 20 minutes and sat down, which I am sure all he wanted for the next many hours. I got him a glass of water and handed him his prescription bottle which I looked at and read the instructions (take 5-6 times a day) and looked at his name "Ray" and went on about my business.
To make a long story a bit shorter after about 6 hours he asked if he could have another pill, he wasn't sure it would help any as it didn't do much for the pain before but he had a really bad headache. I got him some more water and got the bottle and looked at the label. I read his name RAY, but the last name was wrong WHAT? STOP!!!!!!!!!!!! I then read ever single word and nothing on the bottle was correct. NOTHING.
We googled the medication name and called poison control and the pharmacy. He had taken a medication for Parkinson's disease.
After a while we confirmed there was going to be no danger to Ray after the medication flushed from his system, but then anger sat in thinking about what COULD had happened. There are so many bad things that could have happened.
So the moral of the story is, do not get complacent, read and check everything. Don't trust it is correct. Even compare the pill in the bottle to the description of the pill on the label and if there isn't a description on the label you can google it and find it on the Internet. I have heard of pharmacies making mistakes but I thought "it won't happen to me or mine" it only happens to someone else. Well this time it was my husband.
Take care,
Diane
2 comments:
Hi I am glad your husband is ok. I work in a Pharmacy as an Assistant. Mistakes are very rare but they do happen! I would suggest for anyone that before leaving the pharmacy you check all medications and names, even open the jar to make sure its the right color if you have had it before. I encourage all of my customers to do this. Sometime the Dr. writes the wrong item or strength so it will look different and can be caught before you leave, we catch a lot of Dr errors this way.
How frightening... I can remember years ago getting heart medication instead of thyroid medication from the pharmacy...luckily I knew what colour the tablets should have been and recognised that something wasn't right when I opened the bottle.
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