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PRIORITIES - WHAT ARE THEY?
Priorities. What they are depends on immediate circumstances. Some priorities may seem rather incongruous in certain circumstances, such as the other night when I started having chest pains that became progressively worse. Because I had had a small heart attack 29 months ago (but who's counting?), I suppose I'm somewhat more attuned to such things than if the heart attack had not occurred. My nitroglycerin tablets are never far away, whether I'm at home or elsewhere. My priorities are unambiguous when it comes to the whereabouts of those tablets. At the time the pains began, my purse was not in its usual place; rather, it was right beside me on the sofa. One section of the purse is dedicated to nitroglycerin tablets and aspirin -- two items it seems a good idea to have easily within reach. When it became apparent that these chest pains were not going to go quietly into that night, and neither was there an overwhelming desire on my part to do so, I decided to reach into that section of my purse for my nitroglycerin tablets. They were not there, search as I may. "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men // Gang aft a-gley." However, there is a bottle of the little pills on a table next to the bed: one has no desire to get up in the middle of the night searching for nitroglycerin tablets while in the midst of having chest pains. I asked my husband, then, if he would get them from the bedside table. Up to that point he had been happily unaware of this little drama. I took one of the tablets and looked at the clock, waiting for the desired results. Nothing doing. Five minutes later, another tablet was popped under my tongue, and it was a fervent wish that the thing would work this time. Meanwhile, the possibility of needing to call 9-1-1 became quite real. This was not something I had any desire to do, but in this situation it does cross one's mind. In this connection, another priority popped into my clock-watching, worrying mind: uncharacteristically, my list of medications was not up to date. Shame on that list -- usually it is so reliable. I had visions of needing to give the 9-1-1 medical emergency team an up-to-date list and not having one. I had the irrational thought of simply handing them my daily dispensing boxes and letting them decipher from looks alone just what was in them. While this was running through my mind, I was clutching my shirt, rubbing the center of my chest, wondering when the nitro was going to work. There was an almost-imperceptible easing of the pain after the second tablet, but not enough to dispense with taking the third. Because of this, priorities began making themselves clearer to me. The list of medications could wait. If needed, hospital or emergency personnel could call my doctors to learn what medications I was taking. The most important thing was getting rid of these pains and getting back to what I had been doing: watching the evening news – which unfortunately had already ended while I'd been concerned with chest pains and medication lists. While the news had been on, there I was, clutching my shirt as though that would help, staring alternately at the TV set and the clock. Between the two, only the clock had my true attention. Fifteen minutes had passed, and my pains were at last eased. The next important thing then was getting ready for bed -- but only after having returned the bottle of nitroglycerin tablets to the bedside table. Also, I made another search in my purse for those surprisingly missing nitroglycerin tablets, and there they were, exactly where they were supposed to be. In my temporary fit of terror I simply had been unable to find them. Before I went to bed, I sat down at the computer and – just in case – made an up-to-date list of all the medications I was taking. I printed two copies -- one for myself and one addressed "To Whom It May Concern." One needs to get priorities set properly in a row, don't you know. 13 comments from 5 users
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posted by
samheath
on Jun 22, 2008 at 01:54 PM
Now you're talking real priorities Alicen. Glad you made it and hopefully this will jog some others into making sure that list is readily available and up to date. posted by
CatherineBaker
on Jun 22, 2008 at 02:32 PM
Alice--my Dad has had chest pains and he actually DID give the paramedics his box of medications. He carries around a plastic tool box full of his medications (so full, in fact, that he can no longer close it) and he just handed the box over. I guess it never occurred to him to make out a list. Thank you for this post. I'm going to tell him to write a list out now. posted by
CatherineBaker
on Jun 22, 2008 at 02:33 PM
And so glad you're okay, by the way. : ) posted by
sagefever
on Jun 22, 2008 at 03:05 PM
Glad everything worked out Alicen! posted by
Shwaine
on Jun 22, 2008 at 04:45 PM
I find it interesting how pain can make what should be the logical priorities fly out the window. For example, worrying about the list of medicines in the midst of your crisis. Obviously not a huge problem in retrospect, but it probably seemed massively important at the moment. When I broke my leg a few years back, I had a similar moment. I was cleaning a fish filter at the top of my fish tank rack and slipped off the step ladder. I twisted while I fell and fractured my leg below my knee due to the twisting. Logically, my first priority should have been to get to a doctor. But all I could think was "I can't leave my poor fish without their filter for that long" so I hopped on one leg over to the rack, somehow managed to reach all the way up without using the ladder to reassemble the filter and turned it back on. THEN I grabbed the phone and called my doctor. posted by
ALICEN
on Jun 22, 2008 at 05:33 PM
Sam - Some priorities take over while other "priorities" have to wait. But it is a good idea to make a list of those meds, even if there are only one or two items on the list. One never knows when it will be needed. Ordinarily I am conscientious (other people might call it something else) about that list, but recently it changed, and the idea of revising it simply bored me. posted by
ALICEN
on Jun 22, 2008 at 05:42 PM
Catherine -- I see people at the doctor's office with bags and containers of all sorts, and I know what they are: they're full of medications so the nurse can make a list for the doctor's records. There are some patients who are allowed simply to take in a list rather than the whole kit and kaboodle. Once they asked me to do that, and I very carefully packed mine into an insulated picnic container; the nurse asked me if I had a list, I answered in the affirmative, and she took the list without unpacking my picnic container. (She did actually look in it and I suppose was too tired to try to repack them as neatly as I'd done.) About your dad and his list -- tell him to write down the dosage and frequency of use, as those are important for re-prescribing if necessary. I'm sorry, I did laugh when you said he gave the paramedics a tool box containing his meds. That's something I haven't seen yet. All kinds of containers, but never a tool box! Thanks for sharing. posted by
ALICEN
on Jun 22, 2008 at 05:44 PM
Catherine -- I'm glad I'm okay, too! Except for the episode itself, I've been fine. That wasn't very much fun, though. posted by
ALICEN
on Jun 22, 2008 at 05:47 PM
Sage, thank you. I'm glad for this outcome rather than some other. posted by
ALICEN
on Jun 22, 2008 at 05:53 PM
Schwaine: I cannot believe what you did for your fish. Actually, I can. I have a daughter who, bless her, has two cats and four (count 'em, four) dogs. Two Yorkies and two Golden Retrievers. The cats are just cats, as far as I know. When we visit, we never see them. Guess they're shy or something. Anyhow, she would do the same thing you did -- I just know she would, as long as she was able. I'm just glad you were able to do what you did with (I'm assuming, anyway) no additional damage to your leg. posted by
ALICEN
on Jun 22, 2008 at 05:58 PM
Pup - I do have an appointment scheduled with the cardiologist sometime next month. Yes, it's possible that something did happen of which I'm unaware. If the pains had been elsewhere, if they'd been where they had been 29 months ago, I don't believe I'd be so blithe about it. Also, they stayed localized, whereas they didn't 29 months ago. So I'm blithely hopeful that everything is going to be all right. And I do thank you for the suggestion. (I'll let you know if I get chewed out by the doctor next month!) posted by
ALICEN
on Jun 22, 2008 at 06:03 PM
Schwaine and Pup -- Never had a broken limb or foot or hand or even finger. Knock on wood. Worst I ever had was a bad ankle sprain. Had to keep my foot up for more than three weeks. Kept one of those inflatable gadgets on my ankle when going out. Walked with a walker. NONE of it was fun. I feel so sorry for people when I see them with leg braces and casts, etc. posted by
Shwaine
on Jun 22, 2008 at 11:02 PM
Luckily it was what is called a "walking fracture" of the fibula (the smaller, non-load bearing of the lower leg bones) that does not require a cast. Not that it didn't hurt like a dickens, but no harm came of waiting to see the doctor. In fact, all the doctor did for it was give me crutches and told me to keep weight off it as much as possible. What amazes me still is that I reached that filter without the ladder. I'm still not sure how I managed that stretch since the top of the rack is 5 feet off the ground, the tank adds another foot in height and the filter at that time was set back another foot from the front of the rack. Quite a bit of stretch for little old me.
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