This Happened

[Iantha]

[poorpete]

This is my first post to this thread, I hope I'm doing it right.

Downloaded Spotify on my phone. What I didn't know is that then my desktop Spotify will play directly to my phone if that's what was used last. Good time for me to find out, is at work, playing "Rope Burn" by Janet Jackson, that starts off with orgasmic breaths and boingy noises. I figured out the music wasn't coming from my headphones, and quickly yelled "bad phone, bad phone!" as I turned it down and off.

My coworkers are noticeably quiet now, no doubt emailing my wife and/or boss to claim I was watching porn at work.

[Mike]

[poorpete]

[Phoebe]

[Phoebe]

[Mike]

[Phoebe]

Not only do I think you're close, but you have nailed something truly vital: any talking about race is racist talk, in the minds of many white people. That is something I don't grasp, but I assume it has something to do with associated feelings of discomfort.

[Iantha]

[mimekiller]

speaking of racists, trying to explain the concept of a credit union to the lovely citizens of India almost made me become one.

[Phoebe]

It's unfortunate you didn't move to India after all.

[Phoebe]

For about a month some s*** has been perched near The Fan, and I wondered when it was going to hit. I suddenly saw three fairly open days on my calendar, including the surprising and rare presence of babysitting, and that of course is when the s*** has chosen to descend to the blades.

[Zen]

First things first: Mike pretty much nailed it on the blissful ignorance of white folks about institutional racism!

Now onto why you haven't seen me over the past couple of days... Not that I couldn't have logged in... I was online... my brain just... wasn't entirely attached!

So, Sunday morning I was filling my weekly meds, something I try to do since, due to Fibromyalgia, I do have bouts of what is referred to by Fibro sufferers as "Fibro Fog" or, as I like to call it, "Swiss Cheese Brain", and I sometimes forget to take my meds. Having them in a handy daily pill holder will at least let me know the next time I go to take them and I can think to myself, "HEY! I forgot my meds last night... THAT'S why I hurt like a son-of-a-bitch and my allergies are kicking my ass! How about I take that antihistamine now and call it even?"

Of course, that usually isn't a problem with my morning meds, because there is one med I take in the morning called NUVIGIL that is VITAL to my ability to function as a living, breathing, WORKING individual who can think and perform things like... oh, any tasks involved with my job... between the hours of around 1:00 pm and 6:00 pm.

If I forget to take my morning meds, at around 11:00 am, in addition to being in lots and lots of pain that I shouldn't be in, I'll start to feel... "fuzzy"... like there's something wrong with my head. If I have my weekly meds filled, I can go home for lunch and check to see if I took my morning meds (or call my wife if she is not working at the hospital that day). If I didn't take them, BAM! Take them a few hours late, and I'm OK for the rest of the day... not great, mind you, because it takes a little while for the meds to take effect, but better than if I didn't take them at all.

[The really weird thing about NUVIGIL is that, from everything I've read about it... and I don't know if there has been any new research recently that I am unaware of, and most of what I read was about it's predecessor PROVIGIL, so I could be out of date... but as far as I know, nobody really knows WHY IT WORKS! It is prescribed for people with chronic sleep deprivation or narcolepsy. The type of conditions it is approved for are (this may not be all inclusive) "Shift Work Sleep Disorder" (when you work a job that requires you to change shifts and you have trouble sleeping because of it), Narcolepsy (I think we all know what that is), Chronic fatigue from sleep disorders (which is kind of where I fit in) and either Cataplexy or Catalepsy. **

**(my wife told me but I'm not sure which it was... maybe both... My daughter has had one of these, as what we thought was a drug reaction... I had it once in college as well, as a reaction to, I think, mixing an old school antihistamine with booze. I basically was lying, face down, on a beanbag chair for some undetermined amount of time, completely unable to move, but completely aware of my surroundings... I was also completely unconcerned about the situation. I had an amazing sense of calm about it. People were literally saying things like, "Somebody check and see if he's breathing!" and I was lying there thinking, "What's the big deal, guys? I'm fine? I just can't move! No big! What's your problem? Sheesh!" Then, I came out of it and thought, "WTF Was I thinking? I couldn't freaking MOVE! Holy #$%^%#$#%^$! I'm never taking that antihistamine and drinking again!!!!" My daughter told me that the first time she had it happen to her, she had the same basic sensation as people freaked out around her. She was totally calm and wondered why everyone was so worried, then she freaked when she came out of it. The second time, she worried a bit more. The third time, she thought, "Oh... so this is the new normal... WTF, deal with it..." We eventually got her off the med that we, and the nurses at her school, thought was responsible and she hasn't had an episode since.)

If you take Nu/Provigil and DON'T have some sort of chronic sleep problems, it doesn't really help. The neurologist who first prescribed it for me, who was a piece of work... one of my favorite doctors of all time... I should post about him separately sometime... Anyway, one day I came in for an appointment and we had this exchange (it was still provigil at the time):
Doc: "Zen! (he said my actual name) How do you tolerate that shit I prescribe for you?"
Me: "Huh?"
Doc: "That Provigil crap! I had to pull two all-nighters in a row at the hospital last week and I thought, "Hey, this stuff works for Zen, why not give it a try? It made me feel like SHIT! And it didn't help me stay awake at all! Just made me feel crappy as hell!"
Me: I shrugged. "Works for me..." (my thoughts: "Dude, you really shouldn't just go around sampling the meds... That's gonna get you in trouble some day! Not to mention you've got the worst high blood pressure I've ever heard of and taking pills to stay awake is probably a good way to kill yourself...")

A few months later he wasn't with the clinic any more... I always wondered... did he get fired for sampling too many meds? Hmmmmm... Anyway, I digress, as usual...)]

Well, this past Sunday, I was filling my meds and saw that I only had one Nuvigil left. I recalled that from the previous week... I went to call in the prescription... NO REFILLS!

F#CK!

It's Sunday!

Why don't I just having on "Ready-Fill" at the pharmacy if it is so important, so I don't have to worry about it?

Because it's a controlled substance and is not eligible for "Ready-fill".

So, why didn't I call it in the previous week when I noticed that I only had one left after filling the week?

The same reason, it's a controlled substance. I CAN'T get it filled until three days before the 30 day supply is used up, per my health insurance.

Why didn't I set a reminder for earlier in the week?

I didn't see that it was out of refills and, normally, I would be able to get it on Sunday from the pharmacy.

Could I skip today and hope I can get it tomorrow?

Nope, my wife and I were going to see our daughter at her school that day. I had to drive up there in the afternoon, around the suburbs to take her to dinner, and at least part of the way back.

(My wife doesn't like driving in the suburbs. She does it when she has to, but I don't make her do it when we're both there, not to mention that I'm a HORRIBLE passenger! I NEED distraction or I'm a nasty backseat driver! My wife can't stand it... She's NEVER let me be the "adult" sitting in the passenger seat with a student driver on their permit. She doesn't want me to ruin them! I agreed with her. I'm really not good at not being in control of the car. My son says he's the same way. A while ago he said, "If I'm going to be in a fatal car crash, I want to be responsible, damn it! I don't want somebody else to do it!" Not the way I'd word it, but I understand the feeling.)

So I sent in a request using the handy app on my phone, requesting the med be sent to the 24 hour pharmacy, then sent a personal message to the doctor explaining the situation, and left for the suburbs...

ONCE a few months ago, when I messed up similar to this with a different med, I sent a request on a Friday night and my doctor sent the prescription in on Saturday morning and I was able to get the med before I ran out...

By the time we got home... No notification that a med had been sent to the pharmacy...

So, since I was not going to have the med, I worked from home Monday, explaining to my bosses that I might not be able to work a full day... Around two, I told them I had to take the rest of the day off. I was totally unproductive the whole day anyway... My brain was worthless...

As many of you know, I'm a Detroit Lions fan... You may or may not know that I am a rather avid fan of the show "The Voice". My wife was working on Monday... (she works a 7-7:30 shift at the hospital, but usually doesn't get home until after 8:30, sometimes after 9.) At about ten minutes to 8, I decided that getting some sort of food. I was making myself two grilled cheese, roast beef, and bacon sandwiches on gluten-free bread when I came to the realization: I've missed about half of tonight's episode of "The Voice", assuming that the broadcast TV reception is actually working tonight... (it wasn't) "Where is my fucking brain? Oh... yeah... Swiss Cheese... Too bad I've got Gouda and Cheddar on these sandwiches.... Oh SHIT! The Lions are on Monday Night Football!"

So, that was where my head was for most of Monday and Tuesday... and... I didn't even realize that I hadn't logged in to check the Invisibles or put in my pick for the weekly top grossers...

I ended up calling the med in through the regular pharmacy on Monday morning, then calling the doctor's office during their "down time" later in the day to talk to my doctor's nurse and tell them to NOT have it sent to the 24 hour pharmacy, but to fill the one from the pharmacy that I requested this morning. They kept the request in the system, but changed it to my normal pharmacy and marked it as priority and informed the doctor that I was out.

Monday night... no drugs...

Tuesday morning, I called the pharmacy... Still waiting on the doc.

Called the nurse... It's marked as priority... but she still hasn't processed it... So she didn't send it to the wrong pharmacy at least... She printed it out and put it on her desk, with a note that I was out. It was called in within an hour and I picked it up at noon, before I totally lost function for the day...

But I still didn't work the whole day because I had an appointment at 3:15 that took the rest of the day... sigh...

So today's my first full day of work this week.

[Tahlvin]

[mimekiller]

Got a package of stuff with POPCORN used as some kind of biodegradable packing material...is this NEW or am I the last one to know about this

[Zen]

[Eliahad]

Nerrrrrrrrrd.

[Zen]

[mimekiller]

blew off a date tonight so I can drink by myself if anyone is wondering where I am at mentally

[Phoebe]

Sorry to hear it. Hopefully things will improve.