Saturday, October 15, 2011

BITTER MEDICINE


YOU COULDN'T HAVE ASKED for a more beautiful dawn. I'm glad no one's here to see me staggering around in my nightgown on mornings like that, raising the sun blind and fumbling with my camera, hurrying before the color changes. Just minutes later the sky had changed to this:






Let me set the domestic medical scene. A couple of months ago the oncologist prescribed potassium for Mr. Bob, to be taken twice a day. Some of you may know......we didn't.......that particular pill is huge. I think it could be termed a "horse pill". And the taking of it included a lot of complaining from Him Who Rarely Complains about it scraping his throat. 

On one of my outings to the pharmacy, I spotted a pill cutter and purchased it as a little surprise for him. But He Who Doesn't Like Gifts used it once and put it aside as useless and the complaining continued. 

The doctor suggested putting the pill in applesauce and gulping it down by that method. There was no grousing for a while which was a relief to both of us, but then it began again. We had to play a game of twenty questions before it came to light that he had run out of applesauce. He Who Doesn't Believe in Back Up Supplies had neglected to tell Her Who Is in Charge of Groceries that more applesauce should be on the next shopping list.


Last Thursday I asked the gerontologist who visits the Manor weekly if potassium could be taken in liquid form. The answer was affirmative, so yesterday we went to the Tea Room, where juice is on tap every day. We were armed with the bottle of Potassium Chloride, a tablespoon (Pray tell, what do oldsters without computers do to find out what 20 MCG (15 ML) is as a dosage?)


I recorded the proceeding which ended with a shudder.







It should be the function of medicine
to help people die young
as late in life as possible
                  Ernst Wynder 


11 comments:

  1. Good quote at the end there. Carry your banner high, you aren't thru yet!

    With love from the neighbor-

    #409

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  2. Perhaps if you put a picture of a cute bunny on the label that VERY INTIMIDATING brown bottle would look more friendly!!!!

    Good gulping!!!!

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  3. Bonjour -
    I'm happy not to be Bob but it's a kick to see what someone else looks like after being run over by a bus.

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  4. What does it taste like? It sounds terrible.
    I think I'd get that pill cutter and more apple sauce!

    Good luck Mr. Bob

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  5. I had to take Potassium after my first operation.
    It came in a tablet the size of an AlkaSeltzer and was consumed in the same way; diluted in a glass of water.
    It tasted like a cross between sea-water and something unmentionable.
    I was very glad to finish the course of tablets.
    Ugh!
    Good luck Mr Bob

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  6. Having had both, I'll take the horse pill any day over the liquid -- just awful taste. Only this worse is iron supplement in liquId form..yechhhh.

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  7. Poor guy--he's had to deal with enough unpleasantness, hasn't he! I hate taking pills, too, and can relate. Beautiful photos all around.

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  8. I used a pill cutter, and every possible thick liquid I could find, including liquid yogurt.
    ~MJ

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  9. Susan H writes: I feel for Dad, at the same time I think that may be the look I and my brother's had while taking our nightly dose of cod liver oil....I am amazed with the eye brows. I have my fathers legs, freckles hair texture and color,........eye brows. How resiliant they are to remain after multiple doses of chemo. love you both

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  10. I love your quote!!! You and Mr. Bob are my heroes and I want to be just like you when I grow up. T.O.Joanne

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  11. OMG.....you are my favorite senior in a facility!! Really....Windsor is so lucky to have you and your humor. Not to mention Bob...a gentle soul along for the ride with you and often the driver...even if he no longer drives!Love is everywhere!

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