Tuesday, April 6, 2010

How far I've come

I have a pill box set. It has all seven days of the week, with four boxes for each day: morning, noon, evening, and bedtime meds. The set itself is pretty large, and each box is pretty large. I sit down once a week and put all the meds I need in the necessary box, usually Tuesday because that's when I see the doctor and med changes are made. The pill box set makes life a lot more simple because I don't have to deal with all the containers from the pharmacy, and I don't have to think about if I've taken a particular medication for the day because everything is laid out neatly in its box.

When I first left the hospital, I was taking so many different pills that I could barely close the boxes, and these are big boxes. I felt like I spent my entire day taking pills. It seemed to take hours to sort out my meds every week and make sure I had put everything in the right box.

And now? I'm only taking 5 required prescription pills. I have another that I can take as needed, but I usually take it once or twice a day anyway (my nausea drug). I have a multivitamin and Vitamin D that I take on a daily basis too, and a lotion for the remaining gvhd rash, but that's it. My weekly med organization takes a fraction of the time it used to, and my pill boxes close easily. And on the 9th it will be four short months since my transplant.

Wow.

10 comments:

Eileen said...

Yay! That must feel good.

Monique Geisler said...

haha, less sketchy town. You know we dropped down on Forbes list of most miserable cities to No. 2?! Big day in Stockton.

Point noted, however, and I am on the hunt for a new job onward and upward!! :)

And yaaaaay for taking less pills!! I understand what it's like, because there was a point this summer when I was taking like 5 different ones along with vitamins. It's so liberating not to worry about forgetting one, or going too long without one. Maybe soon you'll cut that number down even more????

au soleil levant said...

Eileen - thanks!

Monique - I can't believe that Stockton was ever listed as more miserable than Detroit on anyone's list! Good luck with the job search. The point is indeed to stop all the pills except for the vitamins eventually. Soon, I hope!

EconomicDisconnect said...

Congratulations on the steps forward. There is an old Japanese saying, and I cannot remember it 100% off the top of my head so bear with me (I may be a bit off):
"Though every step was difficult I endeavored to press on;
After some time I forgot to press and looked back at how far I had come;
I never even noticed the river!"

Sounds about right. All my best.

au soleil levant said...

GYC - perfect quote. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I'm very glad for you! You must start to feel a bit better, a bit optimistic, a bit relieved... Yay!

Of course, we gardons the fingers croisés.

EconomicDisconnect said...

Glad you saw it. Glad I remembered it! Glad it's Friday tomorrow, any requests for music, books, film clips, anything goes?

au soleil levant said...

Zhu - thanks! I love your use of franglais :)

GYC - Hmmmm.... well, I did just hear a classic rock version of Heard It Through the Grapevine on the radio that was kind of awesome, but no idea who covered it. They did the Marvin Gaye version, not the Gladys Night and the Pips version.

Anonymous said...

As a translatrice, this is the least I can faire :-)

Loislane said...

Wooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!