Post by jfla on Nov 19, 2008 23:20:55 GMT -5
Med changes are tough enough to figure out when your child is at home and you can see them, but once they are living away at college it becomes more difficult. I am discovering how important it is to carefully think about how to coordinate doctor, patient and parent communication.
My son's previous doctor had a protected online service to facilitate communication and Rx requests. He had treated J's ADHD for nine years and his office was a quick ten minutes away. So when we moved, we left behind an established routine of treatment. Now J participated in finding a new doctor and could choose between a doc near the college or one near our new home. A new doctor also means more frequent appointments and so coordinating a college schedule with a doctor that is a couple hours away is more difficult...especially if the student relies on public transportation or the mom-mobile.
So add in to this picture...
-son is incommunicado due to lost cell phone
-has a land line in dorm room but doesn't know the number
-really doesn't see an advantage to finding out what the number is
-I get an email saying I'm dangerously low on meds can you mail me more?
-UPS delivers meds overnight for a helfty fee of $25
-son finds the phone but now the battery doesn't work...hmm...actually its the phone, mom
-thank goodness for email and skype (I leave it on most of the time now)
-conscientious overworked college student recently taking long acting meds at night to finish homework... he says "early to bed, early to rise..." early to bed is 5:30am...sleep what's that?
- I find out about an alternative solution to mailing meds. We can set up a situation whereby the doctor can mail the script to a pharmacy in another state for the patient to pick up there. That would involve figuring out a reliable pharmacy within easy walking distance of the college.
-so after a few conversations with the psych's secretary about an Rx change, I wait a couple days for the doc to call. Waiting is fine since I still haven't heard from my son to get the whole picture anyway!
It's 8:30pm and someone must have been listening because we get son's call on skype...then right after he explains what his schedule of waking/studying/sleeping/meds has been like (just a couple allnighters in the last two weeks) the psych calls. "thank you doctor, I'm so glad you called. My son is on skype now and I'll be able to put you on a speaker phone!"
So holding the phone up to the computer's mike, we had what you might say is a conference call. Thank goodness for technology.
My son's previous doctor had a protected online service to facilitate communication and Rx requests. He had treated J's ADHD for nine years and his office was a quick ten minutes away. So when we moved, we left behind an established routine of treatment. Now J participated in finding a new doctor and could choose between a doc near the college or one near our new home. A new doctor also means more frequent appointments and so coordinating a college schedule with a doctor that is a couple hours away is more difficult...especially if the student relies on public transportation or the mom-mobile.
So add in to this picture...
-son is incommunicado due to lost cell phone
-has a land line in dorm room but doesn't know the number
-really doesn't see an advantage to finding out what the number is
-I get an email saying I'm dangerously low on meds can you mail me more?
-UPS delivers meds overnight for a helfty fee of $25
-son finds the phone but now the battery doesn't work...hmm...actually its the phone, mom
-thank goodness for email and skype (I leave it on most of the time now)
-conscientious overworked college student recently taking long acting meds at night to finish homework... he says "early to bed, early to rise..." early to bed is 5:30am...sleep what's that?
- I find out about an alternative solution to mailing meds. We can set up a situation whereby the doctor can mail the script to a pharmacy in another state for the patient to pick up there. That would involve figuring out a reliable pharmacy within easy walking distance of the college.
-so after a few conversations with the psych's secretary about an Rx change, I wait a couple days for the doc to call. Waiting is fine since I still haven't heard from my son to get the whole picture anyway!
It's 8:30pm and someone must have been listening because we get son's call on skype...then right after he explains what his schedule of waking/studying/sleeping/meds has been like (just a couple allnighters in the last two weeks) the psych calls. "thank you doctor, I'm so glad you called. My son is on skype now and I'll be able to put you on a speaker phone!"
So holding the phone up to the computer's mike, we had what you might say is a conference call. Thank goodness for technology.
