Polypharmacy. It’s one of the things we learn about in nursing school. The concept of having many medications and how difficult it can be to manage, especially for the typical person dealing with it who is elderly. Imagine you are in your 80s or 90s and your memory isn’t as sharp as it used to be, multitasking is harder now, and you have THIS many pills in your medicine cabinet. Some are daily, some three times a day some every 8 hours PRN (as needed).
One day into coming home with all of these meds, even I was forgetting when I last took which one, especially the many PRN meds which currently are very much needed. Was that acetaminophen I took at 2pm or ibuprofen? That sort of thing. So…I created this simple but necessary sheet tracking all of my PRN meds right next to the insane lineup of bottles. You can see my tracking it all, and it should make it easy to report how much I’m taking in my follow-up appointments tomorrow.
But I gotta tell you, almost all of these are temporary for me. In 6 months I’ll be strong like bull and working with patients again, and I’ll just have my usual vitamins and dermatitis ointments. But I’ll be seeing my patients many of whom have regimens this big or longer, and I’ll give them their meds but it gives me a newfound appreciation for what they go through when they are home. Most have it memorized, or have caregivers who help, or do what my mother does and sort them in Sunday through Saturday pill boxes; but I can tell you even my mother still has days she can’t remember if she took this or that.
The point is, another day goes by as a patient, another way I can better myself as a healthcare provider.
As for me, I’m sleeping awfully with my catheter, which wakes me thanks to backflow no matter how creative I get with how I dangle it below me, and thus I’m sleeping less; and instead of not moving and letting my body heal I’m constantly adjusting, which is bad for me right now. Tomorrow is the day we test this damn thing out of me and it NEEDS to succeed!
Until then, I’m gonna drink my prune juice & watch TV while Adi endlessly plays Supermom.
