Thursday, May 17, 2012

Hmmmm. Maybe I Should Save This

There comes a time in one's life when purging is necessary. The accumulation of stuff just adds up and up and up and you're eventually looking for "I know it's here somewhere" instead of reaching right for it. You know I've been slowly, at a glacial pace, going through the accumulation of years of life in this house. I have a brown paper bag in the hallway into which I toss still usable but unnecessary to my life items. When the bag gets full, the first veteran's group that calls for donations gets it. I'm trying to be utterly ruthless in my purging but sentimentality often gets in the way. That and, well, this does have a use. Maybe I should save it.

Into this latter category is where this item falls.


Any clue? It's a pill splitter. When Penney was alive, I had to split the pills she took for her thyroid condition. Before I bought this, I would take a sharp knife and try to split them. That was awful. I think I went through a half a bottle before deciding there had to be a better way. The pharmacist looked at me as I explained my dilemma and said, "You need a pill splitter." What a marvelous invention! When Penney went over the Rainbow Bridge, I tossed this into a drawer and forgot about it.

Remember the drawer in the bathroom where the mice were visiting? Over the winter, I finally cleaned that out, sterilized the drawer and put it back in service. The pill splitter was in the bottom of that drawer. I looked at it not sure if I should keep it. I didn't have a need for splitting pills. I walked it over to the give away bag but something said, "No. Don't toss it, yet." Back into the drawer it went.

Yesterday's doctor's check up for my RA was the best one yet. I still have the occasional twinge in my wrists and right knee, but the pain I had when I hobbled into Dr. Francis' office back in March is gone. I am officially entering the maintenance phase.

What that means is it has come time to wean me off the Prednisone. This is done slowly and in half pill increments. Half a pill? I can do that and not use a knife with the crushing and the breaking and the uneven splitting.

There's the old joke that when you're looking at something and wondering if you'll need it, you will need it AFTER you toss it out. I guess I figured, in this case, that someone I knew would probably have a use for this and I couldn't really toss it. It didn't take up much room at all in the back of the drawer.

So, I am down to a half a pill at night for 2 weeks and then no pill at night for two weeks. Then, we see how I'm doing and reduce the dosage further. I'm ready. I like the faint crunch sound when you split a pill in half.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

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