A Wonderful Day
We can’t have a wonderful day without a story.
In 2018, Dennis was prescribed Methadone for Neuropathy. It is nerve damage in the feet and hands from extreme cold conditions. When Dennis was in Korea, which has the same weather as Minnesota, many times his and many around them had frost bite on the feet and hands.
It was assured that the halogenic compounds were removed. It brought relief. Dennis saw a doctor frequently and nothing was ever made of the 10mg twice a day nor was it questioned.
We had a shift in doctors at our St. James Mayo Clinic. New primaries needed to be assigned. It came to the attention that Dennis needed to visit a doctor at the Mankato Pain Clinic for a review of the Methadone. Methadone is a powerful opioid. It was made off that on the new refill that Dennis’ primary in St. James would send to Lewis Drug on the 23rd, would have a decrease in dose and slowly wean Dennis off of Methadone .
Dennis went to Lewis before five on the 23rd and nothing had come through. Dennis went to Lewis Drug on Saturday at three and there was nothing. On came the weekend. Dennis’ last dose had been on the morning of the 23rd with the next would have been that evening for supper.
I called Mankato on Monday morning and they sent an urgent response to St. James clinic. All Monday . . . nothing. I began looking at Dennis without him noticing for withdrawal. His pain was getting enough that I gave him 1000mg of Tylenol extra strength. I had enough experience with surgical pain, that I knew it could help. I called the St. James clinic and they were looking into it. All day Tuesday . . . nothing. The clinic would give me a call. I gave more Tylenol and it helped Dennis’ pain. This morning, Wednesday, I got a call from the St. James clinic that a prescription had been faxed to Lewis Drug. Oh my God. Not one bit of an explanation.
I called the pain clinic in Mankato. I needed to know how to work with this prescription of Methadone as Dennis had not had any Methadone since Friday. A pain doctor was put on. They read the charts and knew what had been going on. They went through the detox/withdrawal symptoms with me. Dennis cleared all the warning signs. Amazingly, Dennis had weaned himself from Methadone. They said it wasn’t their prescribed method by any means. Going cold-turkey can be dangerous. The pain clinic took care of cancelling the Methadone prescription.
The next thing I needed from them was what to do with the Neuropathy pain Dennis was having. For now, Tylenol Extra Strength, up to 3,000 mg per 24 hours. Dennis had commented that within 20 minutes, the pain was better and that was at 1,000 mg.
Wonders of wonders. Yes, a wonderful day. Dennis was relieved, I was relieved. Dennis said he would take it slow and not do the 3,000 mg if not needed. Staying ahead of pain is important and Dennis will now be in charge of that. This Doc Piddy, the quack, is off the clock.
I will admit, being in charge of drugs for my patient can wear me down.
With that I take my leave.