My medicine chest

If my doctor adds one more pill to my already bulging list, I may have to take a college course in the Logistics of Pill Taking, with a minor in pharmaceutical medicine chest.

This week my doctor added an additional pill to supplement two more than I'm already taking. Now that isn't to say that's all the pills I take, absolutely not. Those three pills are for the same ailment. There are many more pills for other afflictions.

Actually, my pills aren't in a medicine cabinet. I've had to empty a shelf of canned goods so that I can use that shelf to store my pills. And it doesn't hold all of them. The ones I take daily I have stored in a handy basket near the kitchen sink. I put little smiley faces on the caps of the medicines I must not fail to take each morning and night.

Those are prescribed for blood pressure, neuropathy, cholesterol, et cetera. There are prescription eye drops, nose drops, canisters of albuterol to help me breathe better, and sleeping pills. And pills to strengthen my bones.

Those are prescription drugs; others are not.

Those in the kitchen cabinet are over the counter medications.. There's the 81 gram aspirin, vitamins, calcium with D, Tylenol, ibuprofen, that pink stuff for stomach upsets, cough medicines, creams for itch, pain, or infections. My medicine cabinet in the bathroom doesn't hold much. That's where I store the wart remover, motion sickness pills, Campho Phenique, antibiotic cream, Anbesol for irritated gums, arthritis rub, and rash cream too.

Is it any wonder that one forgets to take a certain medication at a given time?

When the nurse at the doctor's office asks for the list of medications that I am taking I'm embarrassed. The sign on the wall says for patients to bring their medications with them at each visit. There's no way I'm going to haul a garbage bag of medications into the waiting room. Instead I have made a long written list on an index card which I hand to her. It doesn't matter how many times you go to the same doctor, you must give them that list, in case something has been added or subtracted since the last visit.

The nurse then updates my chart. All that takes a part of my allotted time, I suppose.

Some doctors twirl in on a dime while others seem in no hurry once they get into the exam room. Examination rooms are boring. They are all alike too.

After you've read the charts lining the walls and look at the rubber gloves and tongue depressors, and swabs on the counter, there isn't much else to see. Except the ominous examination table with the gloved stirrups. I actually laid back and took a nap during an extended wait in one doctor's examination room.

There's nothing like a long wait in an exam room to cause a rise in your blood pressure.

It was most refreshing during my last doctor's appointment to have my name called before I was even seated in the waiting room. I checked in at the front desk, went to the restroom, and when I returned I was being paged. It was the highlight of my day.

After giving my vitals and getting some lab work done, I was placed in an exam room, as per usual.

At least, this wasn't a prolonged wait, maybe 10 minutes before the nurse practitioner appeared. (My doctor was on vacation).

After a thorough checkup, I was given a new prescription for some cream for some reddish areas on my face. Had I not had insurance to help defray the cost of the cream, the prescription would have cost $188. Thankfully, my co-pay was only $9.

Recently, a family member was told she needs to take calcium shots twice a month for anemia. Over the counter calcium won't work for her. Those shots will cost over $500 each. However, with her health insurance, she will pay only a small co-pay.

I can certainly understand why a person who has no health insurance would not go to a doctor unless it was a dire emergency. I've also known uninsured who did not get a prescription filled because they couldn't afford to. Paying $100 for an arthritis medication just wasn't an option. I've also known patients who would fill half a prescription because that's all they could afford.

I don't know the answer to health care reform, I just know the present plan doesn't work for a lot of people.

Yes, as former governor Mike Huckabee said last week on television, there are some people who had rather buy a new car than pay for health insurance. He's probably right.

But there are more who just can't afford health insurance.

It isn't because they don't want it. It's because they don't have the money. Many who do have the insurance, see their premiums and health care costs going up and up.

Health care needs fixing. It needs more than a band aid. Ask the more than 46 million un-insured in the good old USA.