Page 93 of No More Hiding
“Hey,” she said to Claire. “I’m going to see a patient and go over their meds with them. What’s up?”
Part of her job was to go to the patients and counsel and ask about any questions they might have. To meet with them to see if there were other medications they were on and explain possible side effects or drug interactions. She could be in the ER or in patients' rooms. But she didn’t always have to do it unless it was requested.
She found that, though the changing hours sucked, she did enjoy this more than standing behind a counter and only filling scripts and then handing them off. She liked people and didn’t mind talking with them.
“Marcus the Man is here,” Claire said.
She laughed. Everyone called Dr. Marcus Reid, Marcus the Man. She couldn’t bring herself to do it. It was childish.
Even if he was hotter than hell and made her palms sweat and her pulse race.
“He’s not normally here this early,” Addison said.
She’d worked the night shift and was getting off in less than two hours. It was barely six thirty at this point.
“Burn victim that came in a few hours ago. He’s looking everything over and meeting with them to schedule skin grafting and get the patient admitted.”
Marcus was a plastic surgeon. “That sounds horrible,” she said.
“The guy’s a cook and caught his shirt on fire at work last night. It’s all isolated to his arm but not pretty,” Claire said.
She nodded her head. “I’ll have to keep my eyes open for Marcus then to get my treat in for the day.”
“That’s what The Man is good for. Making us all smile after a long shift,” Claire said, winking.
She grinned and kept walking, pulled the curtain back and found her patient sitting on the edge of the bed all dressed and waiting for the discharge papers.
“Hi. I’m Addison Fielding, one of the pharmacists at the hospital. I’ve got your prescriptions here and want to go over a few things with you.” She moved closer and sat down in one of the chairs and handed over the first bottle. “This is a ten-day antibiotic. All the directions and side effects are on the papers, but I find it easier to talk to the patients first when requesting a consult. You should take one pill twice a day with food.”
“How much food? Like a cracker or a meal?”
“I’m sure you don’t feel much like eating right now,” she said. “Less than a meal, more than a cracker. I tell people half of a banana if you like them is a great option. A piece of toast. If you don’t eat enough, you’ll most likely end up with stomach pains and diarrhea.”
The woman covered her face with her shirt and started to cough into it. “I don’t need anything else to make me feel horrible. My chest is killing me and I can’t stop coughing as it is. Running to the bathroom doesn’t sound like fun.”
“You’ve got bronchitis, which I’ve had before, so I feel your pain,” she said. “Do you have any other questions about the antibiotic before I move on?”
“I don’t think so. Oh. I’ve heard that that can mess with birth control. Is that right?”
“It can,” she said. “Not always, but I’d recommend that you use a backup form of protection until you are done ovulating if you want to be super safe.”
“It’s not like I feel the need to do anything into bed other than sleep, so we are probably good, but I’ll keep that in mind once I feel better. Can’t do anything about my time before now and I haven’t seen my boyfriend in a week. He won’t come near me since I’m sick.”
“Not a bad idea,” Addison said. She handed over the next bottle. “This is cough syrup with codeine in it. It will help with the cough and the pain, but make you drowsy. Don’t operate any machinery or drive a car with it.”
“So I shouldn’t pull my credit card out and shop after I take it either?”
She laughed. “Depends on if your taste is better or worse under the influence.”
The patient started to laugh and then went into another coughing fit. “It might be better; hard to say.”
“You can take this as needed but no more than every six hours, four dosages in a twenty-four-hour period. This other cough medicine won’t make you drowsy and you can take it as needed also.” She handed over the third bottle.
“Can I take them both at the same time if I need to?”
“You can,” she said. “If you’re really struggling with the cough.”
“I’m not one for taking things that make me drowsy, but I need sleep.”
