Just what the doctor didn't order...

Friday, November 2nd

9:00 AM - 9 Miles, 61 min
Along the river and around the lakes

Was slow getting out the door this morning and feeling a little sluggish. I wasn't sure how far I was gonna go so I stayed close by and just ran along the river path. After a few miles, the legs started feeling lighter and I was moving along rather comfortably so I put in a solid 9 miles.

After the run, I went to my physician's office to get that prescription I needed for the Dex Solution. I actually met with my physician's colleague Dr. Shah, an Indian woman who had a very heavy accent and was a little difficult to understand. First she wanted to know a little bit about me, what I do for a living, etc. I told her some general information but focused on the fact that I was a competitive runner since that was my main reason for needing the prescription. So she says, "Ohh, you do malatons!"
"I do what?"
...."malatons"
"oh, marathons! ....no, not every runner is a marathoner."
She then asked me why I was there and what I needed. I proceeded to give her a thorough lesson on plantar fasciitis, how I've been treating it, and how iontophoresis could help. She wasn't very familiar with this procedure and seemed confused as to what I needed, so she proceeded to try to talk me into getting a cortisone shot. I told her that I did not care to use that method and gave her another lesson on how cortisone shots can actually cause damaging effects to the tissue fiber or worsen the problem down the road if not used in the right circumstances.

She then agreed with me and said she could prescribe the Dex Solution. As she was looking it up in the system, she says, "This is a cream right?", I said "No... I need a 1% injectable solution used for local Iontophoresis" ...5 min later, "ok I think I found it. I'll fax this over to CVS and you can pick it up there". I go to CVS to pick it up and they tell me that they can't give it to me because my physician did not specify any directions for use. They called the office to get them but just got the answering service (not that they would know the directions for use anyway). I told the pharmacist that I would not be the one using it but rather my physical therapist would be applying it using iontopheresis and was fully aware of the application methods. Then, they tell me that the solution prescribed was actually an oral solution, and not the injectable solution that I asked for. So I just gave the pharmacist Holly's number and told them to call her to get any information they needed.

Finally, I received the right solution and the right directions as described by Holly. Then, about 3 hours later, my physician's office calls to tell me that they need the directions for use in order to get my medication. Sparing them the details of their incompetence, I just told them I took care of it and was able to get the prescription I needed just fine. So after all that, I got what I needed but had to spend $15 and an hour of my time just to give my physician a lesson on running injuries.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure this Dr. Shah is very knowledgeable in the field of medicine, but when it comes to running related issues, I think I'll just stick to the specialists.