Pillbag Pro Tip: Zipper Management
I’m back from our week at the beach! I meant to put up an
“Out to Lunch” post the Friday before we left, but I guess I was just too anxious to start my vacation. We
had a wonderful time with the Gorman family – and thoroughly enjoyed the sun
and surf. It was a hot one, but the beach was cool and breezy. My in-laws have
always embraced my photosensitivity, and each year, they seem to come up with a
bigger and better solution for providing shade at the beach. We’ve now
graduated to a big, blue tent – providing relief from the sun for the whole family. You can
fit nearly 10 chairs underneath that tent if you had to – but you'll almost always find mine right in the center!
As I’ve mentioned before – I’m not as photosensitive as I
used to be (thank goodness!), so I spent plenty of time in the ocean with the
girls. This is the first summer at the beach that I’ve had Raynaud’s, and I can
assure you, it was in full force. After about 10 minutes in deep water, my
fingers were as white and numb as can be.
Of course, with such high air temperatures, they thawed quickly once I
was out of the water for a few minutes, but it’s still a crazy phenomenon. Needless to say, Bernie seems to prefer the sand, so I manned the shore
most of the time while Johnny took the plunge with Deirdre.
And naps were long and plentiful while we were there – so I’m no
worse for wear upon my return. A successful vacation for sure!
Of course, I took my handy-dandy pillfold along for the trip
(the Bordeaux ,
if you were wondering!), and I decided to take a picture of it mid week to
demonstrate what I’ll call a Pillbag Pro
Tip – tips on how to maximize Pillbag usage and minimize stress and exertion on your
joints. Here’s what my bag looked like
by Wednesday mid-day:
If you notice – the zipper for Wednesday is left halfway
open. When I’d open the pouch to get out my morning pills, I just left the
zipper in the middle with the pouch open. That way, when I went to take my
evening pills, I just had to unzip the pouch the rest of the way to expose my
evening pills. What’s more, once I took my evening pills, I left the zipper to
the far right (with empty pouches open), so that it’s ready for me to fill the
following week. As you can see, the zippers from the Sunday, Monday, and
Tuesday pouches are also pulled to the right. See how the pouches are left
open? Instant time saver and joint reliever!
Comments
Amelia- I'm so sorry you're going through this- you can email me at mysunshineevie@gmail.com if you want to talk more.
1) A plan to address all symptoms, prioritized by severity. (You might have to choose what s/he treats you for in the beginning!)
2) A plan to minimize the remaining symptoms/side-effects you're experiencing that aren't specifically being addressed by treatment, even if it's just in the short term (i.e. pain relievers, prednisone, etc.)
3) An outline of the expectations of treatment, such as, if you start prescription A, when should you see results and what will those results look like?, or, if you don't experience said results, should you call the doctor's office/what are you to do/how can you get through until the next appointment?
4) Lastly, I always ask for a long-term plan - so that I know that my doctor understands that the current state of pain, sleeplessness, fever, etc. etc. that I'm currently experiencing isn't acceptable and that I'm looking to him to address the issues aggressively and without delay. I hope that all makes sense - and I wish you well. Keep me posted!!