Thursday, July 25, 2013

Time Zones and Timing Meds.....

It is important for every transplant recipient to be on a regimented schedule for medications.  Babygirl takes all of her pills at 7 AM and 7 PM, Eastern Standard Time.  We get a text message reminder on my phone at those times from www.MyMedSchedule.com

For this international trip we opted to save a bit of money and not take our cell phones.  Why would we need them?  We left emergency contact information with my Mom's caregiver and left town, gleefully aware that no one could bother us while we were gone!

Except for the fact that we didn't get twice-daily reminders.  Oh, yes - and there was the six-hour time zone difference thing.  If she's supposed to take her pills at 7 here but it's 1 there, when does she take them?  We had 6 extra hours going and lost 6 coming back.

Somewhere in our jet-lagged chaos, Babygirl missed two doses of medication.  I think it was two.  I'm sure at least one.....

See, that was the problem.  That, and the fact that we had to carry all meds in labeled bottles and not pill sorters. I did fill a sorter when I got there, but we took one days' worth with us wherever we went to decrease the risk of missing doses.  The net effect of that was that we could always easily tell if she HAD taken the pills or not. 

Ugh.

It was truly the only difficulty involved in the entire trip.  Not counting the old lady in the plane's restroom.

DeeDee

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