Why Didn't I Pay Attention Sooner? A More Convenient Method

Living in the US, I have no choice but to call pharmacies for my family and myself, who are on prescription medication. I came to the US without knowing any English, but since I had to take my medicine, I wrestled with pharmacies over the phone, and without realizing it, my ears, which had been blocked, were opened.

Until now, I had been painstakingly telling the pharmacist each difficult medication name one by one, but yesterday I realized that I can request refills by texting in the RX number and check the prescription status. In fact, I thought there was no RX number left because I tear off the large labels when I receive the medication, but for generics, you can find the RX number on the label the pharmacy puts on the container.

I used to always tear off the labels on brand-name medications, but now I'm thinking of keeping them until the medicine runs out. On the other hand, my mother does all the trash disposal, so I might just leave them alone and stick to my old method of getting refills by stating the medicine name. She certainly wouldn't be pleased if I kept all those little labels. "Why are you keeping all those tiny labels?" she would say.

So, the conclusion is: from now on, I'll use the RX number to check generics via text message. For brand-name medications, I'll stick to the old method of using phone calls.

As an aside, saying those difficult medication names repeatedly has given me confidence, and pharmacists are getting better at understanding me. If my pronunciation isn't clear, I can just spell it out, so there's no need to be scared at the beginning.