We have entered into the 4th month now of the coronavirus debacle. The medical pundits have all been wrong. The folks that we elect to protect us and give us leadership have failed. Overzealous and power hungry Governors have closed down our businesses and restricted our freedoms.
I have been told how to prescribe and what I can and cannot prescribe to my patients. This has been very frustrating for me, as I watch people who potentially could have survived had it not been for the political control over prescribing medications off-label. (which most of us do in a safe manner quite frequently).
But when it hits home and involves your own family you get emotional, take it personal and so here goes my personal story. I have taken a few days to calm down.
My Son works at a drugstore. He is the store manager of the largest and most profitable of his company in our town. He spends much of his time chasing homeless and those that use his parking lots for a toilet away on a daily basis. He has to have security inside the store all hours. Most of you get the picture I’m sure.
He calls me one morning. “Dad, I have a fever and I feel very weak, I’m going to go home”. My response is “No, first you need to get a COVID test before you possibly expose your family and coworkers”. Sadly, No tests available. He called at least 5 different resources.
First call was to our totally incompetent Health Department. They screen with a bank of questions to see if you “qualify”. Really? Qualify for sickness and death? What is going on here, I thought we had millions of tests available to anyone that wanted one. Social distance and prevent the spread and all. They told my Son he wasn’t high risk. Hmmmm…working downtown with the homeless, in a drugstore, fever, fatigue. If I had that description from any of my patients I would isolate them until I could get them tested.
Bottom line. I had to fill out an order, code it and pass it off to the boy so he could schedule an appointment, drive around potentially contaminating folks, go to a regular lab office, potentially expose everyone there and get tested.
Testing, testing, not as easy as you may believe. Not readily available to my nursing home residents, not available to my home bound or elderly patients and not available to my Son. Very disappointing to say the least. As I write this it has been 24 hours and no work on my Son’s test results.