Just one, but it takes many trips to the pharmacy, visits to the doctor, and phone calls to fill a prescription.

So one of my super powers is having an eye for details. With every super power comes its kryptonite, but this post is about the successful implementation of my super power.

Every good super hero must have a disguise. Here’s mine:

Unlike most super heroes, my disguise changes color and/or form from time to time, so even though you’ve now seen one of my disguises, you will never know for sure what all of the other ones look like. But I digress.

If you’ve read my last post, then you’ll have an inkling where this one is going. We left off with 6/8 kids at home sick. That number has risen to 8/8. However, the first child to get sick is feeling better and resuming life, so we’re halfway to complete wellness (if you ask Eli, he claims not to be sick anymore, but he admits to having coughed 12 times yesterday).

As part of our influenza fighting efforts, once we knew what we were dealing with, we started getting antiviral prescriptions for any new cases, since the meds work best when started early and within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. Eli was the first that met this criteria, so I called his doctor, mentioned the confirmed case that his brother had, got a prescription called in, and I picked it up. Easy peasy. I wish.

Eli’s flu positive status was confirmed the next day, as was Andrew’s, at which point our pediatrician’s office was willing to prescribe antivirals for Elizabeth and Valerie and, later, when Noah got sick, for Noah.

Visits to the pharmacy up to Noah’s prescription:

1- For Eli

2- For Elizabeth

3- For Valerie (because the pharmacy where Lizzie’s meds were picked up was out of stock)

4- Noah

That should have been it. But, no. When I went to pick up Noah’s prescription (who weighs only 5 lbs less than Eli), I discovered his dose was double that of what Eli was prescribed. This us where my super power came in handy. I had previously noticed that Eli’s dosage was 30mg (I used to just pay attention to # and frequency of pills, but dealing with cancer has made me more aware of what dose of medication each pill contains). This observation led me to a conversation with the pharmacist about weights and dose (he printed out a document that gave the ranges of weights in kilograms, which is how Eli is weighed every time we go to the clinic, so I knew that info, too, without having to convert measurements).

Anyway, the pharmacist and I both made calls to the clinic in an effort to figure things out. I took home Noah’s prescription and got a call from the oncology clinic confirming that Eli’s prescription had been incorrectly prescribed. The pharmacy called saying that they adjusted the prescription in their system, but the insurance denied it, so I would have to wait until the next day when they could run it as a refill.

Meanwhile, I went to give Noah his meds and realized that the pharmacy had neglected to add the liquid to the powder in the bottle, so I had to take it back for it to be mixed.

Noah- 5

The next morning I went back again and got the rest of Eli’s meds.

Eli- 6

It felt like a lot more, but now the pharmacist knows me by sight. New friends, yay! 😏