I’m an old man
April 8, 2004It’s official–I’m an old man. Went to the doctor today and walked away with three prescriptions. Three. Anybody who has to get three prescriptions filled simultaneously is an old old man. Or very ill. Or both.
Luckily I’m not really that ill. One of the meds isn’t for daily use–it’s an albuterol inhaler in case of an asthma attack. So it’s hopefully something I’ll rarely if ever use.
But last weekend I went jogging outdoors for the first time since moving to Louisville and I had a mild asthma attack. Which I hadn’t suffered since high school. Doctor says this area has lots of allergens in the air, especially this time of year. So I’m stuck working out indoors for now. And carrying the albuterol inhaler just in case.
I did get a preventative asthma medicine as well, Advair. You puff it twice a day and it’s supposed to help prevent asthma attachs. The thing has one of the most complicated delivery systems I’ve ever seen. No simple inhaler, you have to roll back this protective cover, pull a trigger to release the medicine, and then inhale. The one nice thing about this complicated inhaler is that it tells you exactly how many doses are left–there’s a little countdown window just like you’d have on an old-style film camera.
The third medicine is for my blood pressure. Doctor says it’s a little high so he wants to try and cut it down a little with triamterene. It’s a so-called “water pill” that is supposed to help you get rid of salts in your body, which is what the doctor thinks might be elevating my blood pressure a little. The complication here is that he wants me to take half a pill each morning. What the heck do I do with the other half? I suppose I can toss it back into the medicine bottle and then the next day, maybe I’m lucky and I can find it again. Even if I don’t, eventually there will be nothing but half-pills left in the bottle and then the problem is solved.
God I hate getting old. I suppose it’s better than the alternative.
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