I had an appointment with my dermatologist at Scott and White the other day. I really like this doctor because over the past few years she’s done her best at keeping this face acceptable looking, especially since there’s just so much you can do with what you’re given. I must add that she is an extremely kind person and does an outstanding job of keeping me healthy. I refer to her in my column this month because in part our visit had to do with medications she has prescribed for me. We were talking about the fact that she had expected this one particular drug to be more effective. I hesitantly admitted that I had skipped a few doses and then to add more embarrassment to the situation, I realized that I was supposed to have been taking two per day and not just one. Thus the reason why the results had been so slow, as she and her assistant quickly realized. After I tried to make light of the situation, we all laughed about the importance of reading every bit of information on the label. Then she laughingly said, “Bob, you could write your column about this.” There I sat with an instant idea for this column, which at that time had not been determined. The older you get, the more pill bottles you collect. In my case, the collection is to treat thyroid, complexion, anxiety, gout and a variety of antibiotics that I’ve taken for acute illnesses. I even have a prescription shampoo. The H-E-B Pharmacy loves me. It’s a good thing that my next checkup with my dermatologist is not for six months. That should give me ample time to redeem myself and take two pills a day to clear up what I call “adult acne.” Sometimes we get it in our head that we know more about us than our doctors. That’s why we skip taking medicine or we don’t follow the directions on the antibiotic bottle that reads that we are to take all the pills. We say, “I’m feeling so much better so there’s no need to finish all these. I might need a couple later on. WRONG! My doctors and pharmacists have told me how important it is to “follow the label directions,” and that means until they ain’t no more! That’s what gets you well and keeps you feeling better for a longer period of time. I’m preaching to myself when I say that medications work only if we take them as told by the experts. I have suffered physically and emotionally at times because I either got lazy, and apathetic, or as I’ve heard these words come out of my mouth, “Duh, I don’t why I didn’t take those.” Some of us never grow up, and that includes me. This column was not meant to stir up controversy about prescription drugs because there’s enough of that going around. It’s just to say that the best we can do for ourselves is to find a good doctor and pharmacist and be honest with them about our ailments. They can do their job more effectively if we help them and take our pills, as directed. I’m going to take my last few lines to publicly thank my primary care physician, Dr. Terry Rascoe, who’s taken care of my family and me for more than 20 years. We could call him at night or during the day and from far and near. This gentle servant retired in December after 30 years of service to others. We will miss Terry; however, we’ve continued the tradition and signed up for another great doctor whom we already deeply admire. Source
