Swap Meet
Monday, April 9, 2012 at 8:39AM The pharmacy I use is great. They are one of those old school little corner store style drug stores where you walk in and they know your name and what you are picking up.
It’s great.
That personal touch means so much to me. It may not be totally true but it really feels like they care and for me, that makes it the place I want to spend my money.
One down side is that they don’t always have everything you need immediately available. Typically it is only one day to get stuff but it can be frustrating especially at times when I have forgotten to refill something until the last minute, which is most of the time.
A while back I ordered my refill of Humalog. 3 bottles for the month. I called it in that morning and stopped by after work to pick them up. Turns out they only had one bottle in stock.
“We should have the other two vials tomorrow so you can pick it up then.” The clerk let me know what I figured would happen. Not a big deal as long as I have something.
The problem with this kind of thing is that it can screw my up in my head. When I filled my reservoir on Saturday and the vial I had was empty I thought for sure I still had another one. WRONG!
I cannot explain why it messed me up but it did. And I was all out of insulin. And the pharmacy was closed on Easter Sunday. And when I called to refill it turns out I am not allowed to refill just yet because I went through these bottles faster than I am supposed to.
So now what?
I sent a text to my very good D friend Jaimie asking if she had any insulin I could buy off of her. Turns out she did but did not want to take money from me. I asked if she needed any test strips and she did! It was a total D-swap. Strips for Insulin. It worked for both of us.
Having D-family living close by is such a blessing. I am not sure what I would have done without Jaimie’s help!
Have you ever had a nearby friend with Diabetes help you out with medicine or supplies?
Reader Comments (8)
Oh I'm so jealous! I have no nearby D friends and I would dearly love to have someone. How cool that you had someone to call on in your time of need. Yay!
I use one of those small town pharmacies that always has to order stuff too. I once went to visit my mother for the weekend and forgot to take my insulin with me. Luckily I was able to borrow stuff off my aunt so I had insulin for the weekend.
maybe parking around the corner and wearing that black trenchcoat was not ideal for making the 'deal' look inconspicuous though ... ;-) xo
That's awesome! I use mail-order for all of my meds, so when things don't go accordingly I've been left in the dark once or twice. Let me tell you, paying for test strips without a prescription is AWFUL!
No I don't, but I could use a friend right now! I think I'm going to run out of test strips before my Rx is up for renewal, but I've got plenty of reservoirs and Silhouettes to barter!
Another plus, by the way, of the small-town pharmacies is that they (sometimes) will dispense items like insulin or syringes even though your prescription has run out of refills... knowing that the renewal will come as soon as your doctor checks his messages...
This is great, George! I've been in that situation before, where a fellow PWD pulled her site and didn't have any syringes or Humalog and it was 1 a.m. So after seeing a late-night tweet from her about this, I drove up to the northside of Indy to get her those. Nothing needed on my end, but I'm sure if the favor ever needs to be returned I can count on her and other D-peeps in the area. Great having that backup, just in case. A lifeline, it can be! Thanks for sharing this, my friend.
Ged Practice Test
Ged Practice Test
I have - I was leaving for a cruise and was afraid I didn't have enough infusion sets if a site pulled out or something. Luckily, a wonderful D-Pal used to live 20 minutes away and she loaned me some extras to take on my trip. Luckily, I didn't need them, but it sure put my mind at ease knowing they were there if I needed them. After the cruise I happily returned them to her, along with a hand-knitted likeness of her cat. ;)