Waking up on the wrong side of the bed!

[Guest guest]

Have you ever had one of those weeks where just about everything that could

go wrong, did? That's the way I feel that this past week has gone.

Our plans to see the movie Mr. and Mrs. were foiled on the weekend I

took the boys to camp, because of completely inaccurate directions on my

yahoo driving directions map. On the map, where the big star was for the

movie theatre, was actually a furniture store! We drove a bit further in one

direction looking for the signs, and finding nothing, turned around and went

back to the intersection and turned another way. I ended up driving around

for about 20 minutes, until the " low gas " light came on in the Jeep and one

of the boys freaked out, positive that the car was going to stop right then

and right there in the middle of the road. Even when I reassured him that I

could easily drive another 20 miles after the low fuel indicator came on, he

wasn't convinced, and began insisting that I stop at the first place I saw.

At one point I actually thought he was going to start crying, this boy was

so nervous and upset. It makes you wonder what kind of a no fuel situation

had he been in, to become so paranoid?

So we stopped at the first gas station I saw, filled the tank, and began the

drive back to our hotel. Two miles from where the star was, on the opposite

side of the road, we found the movie theatre, but at that point it was 30

minutes after the movie showtime. So when Austin got home this weekend, I

promised that we'd go down to see the show on Hilton Head Island.

We drove down Saturday evening for the 7:00 pm show, and were very

disappointed to find that it was all sold out. We went to see " Bewitched "

instead, which was a fun alternative, but really not what we had been

waiting for. Unfortunately, I fell asleep about a third of the way through,

so I couldn't even answer any of Austin's questions on the drive home.

Tuesday's forecast was supposed to be rainy and clouds all day, so we made

plans to do the matinee, arriving early to get good seats. On the way into

the island, Tuesday, traffic was so congested that it was bumper to bumper

all the way to the island, and then at a standstill several times.

Fortunately, because I needed to pick up new scripts on the way in from my

Pain Management doctor, I had alloted 45 minutes additional time. I dashed

into the doctor's office and grabbed up the scripts, so we got to the

theatre 15 minutes before the previews were supposed to start. After waiting

5 minutes in line at the ticket counter, what did we hear? The movie was

sold out, AGAIN!!! This was our third attempt to see this movie and third

time not doing it, so we were really disappointed by this time. Once we got

out on the main, (and only), highway that goes off the island, the traffic

was again a bumper to bumper crawl....at 3:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, of all

things! The 7 mile trip to our house took one hour! I dropped Austin off at

the house and ran up to the pharmacy to get the new scripts filled. I'm good

friends with the pharmacist, and after the daily traffic update, disgust and

discussion, and my complaint about the traffic that day, he suggested that

we go to Savannah to the theatre's behind the mall, instead. It's a 45

minute drive, and the theatre's are huge, so apparently, are never sold out.

Jim filled my scripts and bagged them, and I dashed home to tell Austin

about the new plan to get to see the movie in Savannah today.

So I get out of the shower this morning and go to put on my new Duragesic

patch.....and it's not a Duragesic, but a generic fentanyl patch, exactly

the kind that my PM doctor warned me against using. In my hurry yesterday to

get to the movie, I forgot to look clearly at the script while in the

doctor's office. All I checked was to make sure it was for 50 mgs. and 2

boxes, and that the Oxycodone script had 100 pills. I never looked down in

the corner where the box had a check in it where it said " generic

substitutions permitted " . I was livid, and called down to the PM doctor's

office ready to make some head's roll. It turns out that my pain management

doctor was on vacation this week, and his partner wrote the script,

obviously not looking at the carbon copies already in my chart. So I call my

pharmacy owned by my friend Jim, the Pharmacist. Jim would have easily

agreed that even though the box was checked, it was a mistake, because he's

been filling those scripts for me with Duragesic brand patches for 2-1/2

years, and he and I just had a discussion about the generic fentanyl warning

reports a few weeks ago. Jim had commented that it was good that my PM doc

was so vigilent and looking out for me by only prescribing Duragesic's with

no substitutions. Jim would have changed the boxes out for the correct ones,

he's done things like that for me dozens of times. BUT.......Jim's not

there, he's left town for a long weekend trip, and his substitute pharmacist

won't take anything back.....says it's against the law. And I'm left

sputtering on the phone, stuck with 2 boxes of the things!

So I slapped one on and off to the movies go Austin and I. It takes us 40

minutes, and when we walk into the room showing Mr. and Mrs. , there

are only three other people sitting in this huge room! Enough empty seats to

accommodate everybody in Bluffton, almost......lol! Austin and I select the

seats we like, three seats from the aisle, and start to settle ourselves in.

During the previews, maybe about fifteen other people come in and sit down,

scattered all throughout the large room. The theatre is still 98% vacant. I

slip down into this nice padded, comfortable seat, and I'm thrilled because

I can elevate my feet up onto the backs of the armrests of the chairs in

front of us. This feels good because my edema has come back, in both feet,

ankles and lower legs, and I'm supposed to keep them elevated as much as I

can when the edema is active. They're positioned such so that they aren't

high enough to be in anyone else's vision.....even if there was someone

sitting behind us, which there wasn't. I heave a big sigh, snuggle down in

my chair, pick up my diet soda, and settle in for a good show.

Five minutes later, this elderly couple come walking up the aisle. They

stand there for a couple minutes, looking out over all the vacant seats all

around the theatre, and what do they do.......the old lady climbs up to the

aisle just in front of us, enters, and hobbles over five seats, so that she

and her husband are sitting DIRECTLY in front of Austin and me. Can you

believe it??

Of course, all we had to do is stand up and move over another three seats

and get outselves all repositioned and comfortable again. Not a big deal at

all, really, since the place was so cavernous and vacant, but I just thought

to myself, " of course, she WOULD sit directly in front of me.....that's just

the way this crazy week's been going all along " . I just can't wait for it to

be over so I can wake up on the right side of the bed again!!

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

www.pancassociation.org/anthology#Heidi.html<http://www.pancassociation.org/anth\

ology#Heidi.html>

Bluffton, SC

SC State & SE Regional Representative

Pancreatitis Association, International

www.health.groups.yahoo.com/group/pancreatitis/<http://www.health.groups.yahoo.c\

om/group/pancreatitis/>

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and should not be

substituted for professional medical consultation.