Monday, March 25, 2013

going to Alabama (w/o banjo...)

I have an  appointment in Montgomery this afternoon. I don't mind the drive, and really enjoy the thought that I can actually arrive there at the same time I leave here:  Red-neck Version of Time Travel, due to having to cross the Chattahoochee and go into the central time zone. So if my appointment is for 1:00, I can leave home at 1:00, drive for an hour and still get there at 1:00. Pretty cool.

Kinda like the joke about the blue collar working guys having lunch and deciding on the most amazing inventions of the past one hundred years; one saying that he was convinced the best ever is his Thermos because it can keep 'hot things hot' and 'cold things cold'. His buddies are thinking: 'so what?' and he responded with 'how do it know?' And basically that's my thought about lots of things that keep our society going in the pell-mell world we live in: any thing that is not a hand-operated tool like a hammer or screw-driver - refrigerators, automobiles, washing machines, cell phones, computers, technology? how do it know?

Anyway: the doctor is the one who is tinkering with my thyroid medications. And changes it every single time I go for an office visit. Strangely unwilling to allow me to have the lab work done in advance, so she would have the results there, on hand, to talk to me about how well the Rx is/isn't leveling stuff out. Even though I have asked to have it done here, as I know the best results from blood work come when the samples are taken early in the morning after overnight fasting. So apparently the numbers are all over the map, and she either adjusts the dosage up or down every few months when I return for another evaluation.

I have been taking this particular Rx for approximately thirty years, with maybe small variations in the generic formula. So was really surprised to find a little sticker on the last bottle I picked up at the pharmacy that indicates I should not take iron or calcium supplements at the same time I take the little yellow pill. I am amazed  and astounded to think I have been taking this particular drug for so many years, and the druggist is just now telling me that taking it along with other supplements is not good. And have to wonder how long they've known about the risk/interactions without making any effort to let the consumer in on the secret?  We are just the customer/consumer: always the last to know about tainted meat, contaminated consumables, poisoned waterholes while crawling through the desert on our hands and knees, dying of thirst...

I need to get organized (meaning out of my pj's and into attire suitable for public appearance) and ready to travel. Usually have talking books to keep myself amused while I am driving, so I get a bit educated for no extra charge (unless I let the books get overdue at the library!), and entertained on the road. Think how smart I would be if I were actually reading something that educational, instead of trivial fiction!


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