I always forget to take something important when I’m packing for a flight, and this time — yesterday — I forgot to take my basic daily meds. They are (a) Naproxen for achey leg muscles, (b) Atorvastatin for fighting cholestoral, and (c) Lisinopril for lowering blood pressure.
I discovered their absence after arriving yesterday afternoon in West Orange, New Jersey, and I really didn’t want to drive all the way back to Wilton to get them.
So late yesterday I asked a night nurse who works for my Wilton-based health provider, Nuvance, to approve sending prescriptions to a West Orange CVS. She did but due to complications the Naproxen was sent to a CVS in the northern part of town and the Atorvastatin and Lisinopril scripts were sent to another CVS about two miles south of it.
Today’s plan was to take a 2 pm train to Manhattan’s Penn Station, and then hop on the usual A train express to Howard Beach and JFK. But we were on a tight schedule due to Jett, Cait and Sutton deciding to hit a nearby swim club, and then we all ordered a quick bite in Montclair and then stopped by the northernmost CVS to pick up the Naproxen. So far, so good.
Then we swung by the house so I could grab my gear (one modest-sized suitcase plus my leather computer bag), and then Jett took me to the second CVS. We got there around 1:45 pm — 15 minutes before the train.
I hustled over to the pharmacy and noticed that the gate was halfway down. There was a pharmacist inside though. I said I have a script sitting in a paper bag but a 2 pm train was breathing down my neck, not to mention a subsequent flight to Europe, and could she possibly let me have the meds as it wouldn’t be much fuss? Her response: “I’m eating my lunch.” (In fact she was slurping her lunch, some kind of Pho with steamed vegetables.)
I whimpered and pretty-pleased two or three times in a gentle tone of voice, but she was adamant. I said not being able to grab the meds meant I’d have to cold-turkey it in Europe for over two weeks. Tough shit, she essentially replied. Then she picked up her styrofoam soup bowl and walked behind a counter so I couldn’t see her and vice versa, and continued slurping away.
I gave up and left. I’ll probably survive the absence of the meds but jeez, what a frosty pharmacist.
Update: It’s 6:25 pm, and my JFK flight to Copenhagen departs at 6:55 pm. Or so it says on the ticket.