To Annie at CVS

Last night my baby girl woke up sick. She screamed incessantly through the night and well into the day.  She was exhausted but couldn't fall asleep. She refused to be put down, and her fever just wouldn't go below 100. A part of me felt like she was teething, given that she is 11 months old with no teeth it seemed like a no brainer. That along with her being my second child, I wasn't quick to rush her to the doctor, we've done the sick thing before, I figured if it was a bug we would ride it out rather than go to the emergency room on a saturday. (Why do they only get sick on the weekends or after doctor office hours???) However, by 530pm we hit our 20 hours of screaming mark and I knew she needed to be seen. We went to the emergency room down the road, and within 29 minutes we were told she had a double ear infection and needed antibiotics. There was a CVS in the same parking lot that closed at 6 so we sprinted over there to catch them before they left. 6:02 I walked through the door, just as your pharmacists were clocking out. I had my baby resting her warm little body on my chest, crying from pain, her achy body radiating with fever. I told them I knew I was 2 minutes late but Malia was very sick and begged that they could just please fill her prescription. To which they replied that the pharmacy was already closed but i could try the 24 hour pharmacy down the street.  

Let's just pause, I get that there is probably protocal and things that I am not aware of since I don't work in a pharmacy, but they also kinda looked like people, with hearts, who looked at my little girl, and just turned her away when the medicine she needed was right there behind the counter, within 20 feet of us.

So I loaded my baby into the car, she screamed the whole time. All she wanted was to go home and rest and instead we had to go to yet another pharmacy because of two minutes.

When we got to the next CVS it was 6:12, as I walked in I could see the wall drawn to block off the pharmacy, my heart sank as I asked the checkout clerk if their pharmacy was closed. He said that they were, and the pharmacy I had been referred to was 20 minutes away.

I asked if the pharmacist was still in and you were. You unlocked the pharmacy and looked at my tired sick little baby, who now only had silent tears rolling down her cheeks, you took my prescription and filled it. Even though you had already closed. Even though doing so added 28 minutes to your night. (Probably more because I assume you had to do some type of extra inventory after we left) You don't know me, and I don't know anything about you, but you put aside your plans for the night. You ignored the fact that you could have simply clocked out and told us to find another pharmacy like the previous women had done. But you didn't, you stayed and filled my babies prescription. I kept thanking you and you just said “of course, she is a baby.”

I don't know much about you. I don't know what that extra 28 minutes to fill my daughter's prescription did to your night. But I do know that it made a world of difference for ours. You saved us from yet another time in and out of the car, another 20 minutes of misery without treatment as we waited for her prescription. You saved me from the helpless feeling I had at the first pharmacy as I walked away with my sweet sick little baby in my arms, feeling as though I had failed at helping her. Instead of adding another hour to our night, you took 28 minutes of yours and sent us home where she took her bubble bath and went to sleep.

Annie, there is no way to express to you the gratitude that I feel toward you. You chose compassion when you could have walked away. You didn't have to help us, you didn't have to even open the pharmacy wall. You could have clocked out and gone about your night without ever laying eyes on us. But you chose to take that 28 minutes to treat others like they are humans rather than just another prescription, and I can never thank you enough. You are truly a blessing in a hard time. Thank you thank you thank you.