"Treat the disease, you win some, you lose some. Treat the patient, you always win."
~Patch Adams~



Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Pharmacy closing........

Hi everyone, I haven't posted in over a week because there is a dearth of articles worth sharing on bioidentical hormones, menopause and the other issues we discuss here on the blog.  I haven't forgotten you, I promise!

I started calling Greenfield Pharmacy in Vista, CA yesterday to refill a couple prescriptions, and have gotten a rapid busy signal, indicating that the phone is not operational.  The pharmacy does not have a website.  I had to do a lot of digging and searching to find out any information at all, first I came up with a Yelp review by a customer who lives in that area:

I am not sure what is going on over there, I have been using the pharmacy for going on 3 years for my bio identical hormones, the only problem I had was that the store always opened late. The owner comes from orange county. But my meds were always ready. As of April 25th, they are closed and do not return calls, I drove over there and there is a sign on the door that says they are closed and to call and get your prescription and go to another pharmacy. They have never returned my calls. The sign said until May 4th. I don't know what to think, perhaps a family emergency? A Illness? Accident? But at least some one should return calls.

I kept searching, and finally came up with this article from the site Law of Compounding Medications.  Greenfield Pharmacy has been (temporarily) shut down by the CA Board of Pharmacies.  Viewing the decision handed down by the CA Board, the pharmacist there was practicing with a lapsed license.  

Ugh. I feel like I am cursed with compounding pharmacies.  I've had multiple issues with the two compounding pharmacies in the Coachella Valley, and this blog post from late 2011 will explain why I really, really don't want to deal with Fireside Pharmacy again (additionally, two people that I know personally have both had issues with Fireside Pharmacy, so the poor customer service I received is not an isolated incident).  I will contact Dr. Carr's office tomorrow and get new prescriptions ----- still not sure what pharmacy to use yet.  Not a hassle I need right now (or any time).  


On a more positive note, I had an appointment with the arm surgeon yesterday, and he is absolutely impressed with the amount of healing/bone growth that has taken place in the last 5 weeks:




In fact, the bone has had so much growth that it is causing what is called "crepitus" in the arm----it clicks and makes some very odd noises. It feels like the bump of bone growth is bumping against the ulna bone in my arm when I try to turn my palm up.   It is painful, and I am still restricted in what I can do, although he told me I can start using 1-2 pound light weights to work out (ugh, I was using way more weight than that before all this hoo haa started last summer.)  I still can't knit for more than about 15 minutes at a time, which is very frustrating.  It's finally gotten hot here in NC, and so I am hopeful that this week I can get back in the swimming pool to work out, my back has really been feeling the lack of workouts lately.  One step at a time, I know.  


I hope everyone had a safe, enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.  Traffic around here on Memorial Day weekend is nuts because there is a huge NASCAR race being held about 25 miles from where I live. Lots of people who don't know where they are going,  and they drive like they're participating in a race, so I generally stick relatively close to home.  I have lots to do around here..........I have some changes coming up in my life in the next weeks and months, so I am keeping very busy. I will talk some more about those changes in my life very soon!  Meantime, enjoy this first week of "summer" (even though the calendar says June 21 is the first day of summer, I always consider Memorial Day and Labour Day the bookends of summer!)  Stay safe, stay cool!