Stomach-Pumping Averted
The day before yesterday, I was having breakfast and (before the phone line went dead) checking e-mail—or reading the news online or catching up on a few blogs—at the same time.
Normally, this would not be cause for concern. I am a prodigious multi-tasker (you can ask Zach—it drives him insane), and doing just two things at once would typically require a state of consciousness approximately a half-step above coma.
I am also a systematic kind of a gal, so, along with my breakfast, I was planning to take my morning allotment of meds: a multi-vitamin, Arimidex (the drug for which I had my ovaries yanked out), anti-inflammatories (to soothe the joint pain from the estrogen withdrawal caused by having my ovaries yanked out), and Prilosec (to soothe the heartburn caused by the anti-inflammatories).
Because the two anti-inflammatories have to be taken with food, I usually take the other three pills first, then finish my breakfast, and then down them like some kind of perverse dessert course. Then, because I have to take another two with dinner, and I haven't been eating all that many meals at home of late, I generally pop the bottle of pills into my bag so that I'll have them with me if I have dinner out.
This has been my routine for weeks now, but the day before yesterday, something interrupted my rhythm. Suddenly I had to think about what I had been doing reflexively. And that something happened sometime after I took the first three pills, but possibly before I had taken the last two. I say possibly because the bottle of anti-inflammatories was still sitting on the table. That should have been a clear sign that I hadn't taken the pills yet. But for some reason, I just couldn't be sure.
I tried to rewind my actions (if only TiVo worked in real life!), but I couldn't convince myself either way. I didn't want to risk overdosing myself by swallowing two of the pills right then, but I also wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of spending the day in pain, hobbling from place to place.
In the end, of course, it was a D-14 situation. I still don't know whether I had taken the anti-inflammatories that morning or not. But I do know one thing: from now on, I'll be following a new and improved system and taking all of my morning pills at once, after I've finished breakfast.
'cause I'm not giving up the multi-tasking.
Normally, this would not be cause for concern. I am a prodigious multi-tasker (you can ask Zach—it drives him insane), and doing just two things at once would typically require a state of consciousness approximately a half-step above coma.
I am also a systematic kind of a gal, so, along with my breakfast, I was planning to take my morning allotment of meds: a multi-vitamin, Arimidex (the drug for which I had my ovaries yanked out), anti-inflammatories (to soothe the joint pain from the estrogen withdrawal caused by having my ovaries yanked out), and Prilosec (to soothe the heartburn caused by the anti-inflammatories).
Because the two anti-inflammatories have to be taken with food, I usually take the other three pills first, then finish my breakfast, and then down them like some kind of perverse dessert course. Then, because I have to take another two with dinner, and I haven't been eating all that many meals at home of late, I generally pop the bottle of pills into my bag so that I'll have them with me if I have dinner out.
This has been my routine for weeks now, but the day before yesterday, something interrupted my rhythm. Suddenly I had to think about what I had been doing reflexively. And that something happened sometime after I took the first three pills, but possibly before I had taken the last two. I say possibly because the bottle of anti-inflammatories was still sitting on the table. That should have been a clear sign that I hadn't taken the pills yet. But for some reason, I just couldn't be sure.
I tried to rewind my actions (if only TiVo worked in real life!), but I couldn't convince myself either way. I didn't want to risk overdosing myself by swallowing two of the pills right then, but I also wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of spending the day in pain, hobbling from place to place.
In the end, of course, it was a D-14 situation. I still don't know whether I had taken the anti-inflammatories that morning or not. But I do know one thing: from now on, I'll be following a new and improved system and taking all of my morning pills at once, after I've finished breakfast.
'cause I'm not giving up the multi-tasking.
posted by Jody Rosen Knower at 7:47 PM
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