Drug Trash

Yesterday was a whirlwind of hurry up and wait… Long periods of boredum punctuated with screaming panic.

I had a doctor’s appt to check my blood pressure. At this point I should tell you about the health thing my husband has signed us up for – you pay each month to belong to it, then you put a certain amount of money into an escrow account. It’s not health insurance, but what it does do is permit you to visit certain doctors, then you are charged what the insurance company would pay for the visit. So, when I visit my pullmonary specialist for Asthma instead of paying $250 per visit (as I had to do last year) now we pay a mere $90. Peanuts.

So yesterday I was visiting my ‘regular’ doctor for a blood pressure checkup. I’ve always had great BP, but in the past year it’s gotten a little out of control (gee, wonder why…?) and I’m on medication for it now. At the end of my visit – which involved over 2 hours of waiting in the waiting room and then in the exam room, glad I had my knitting – my doctor very kindly gave me some drug samples of my asthma medication and my blood pressure meds. This is nice of him – and a way that I think many uninsured folks get their meds.

I left his office at 2:00 and thought I’d have time to swing by the Short Hills Mall to pick up some make-up at Sephora before my 3:30 student arrived.

I rarely use makeup, but I have to wear it when I’m on TV next week, so I figured I should start practicing… And it’s a tax deduction since I’m only using it for my TV appearance (I hate makeup!) My cousin had raved about a certain brand that was only available at QVC and at Sephora and doesn’t feel like makeup, so I thought I’d run past and pick some up.

Reeling from the price I returned to my car and realized it was pretty trashy inside. (NOTE: The makup was $22, I just realized $4 more than it costs on the website… I’ll be returning it today along with other things that I didn’t need but felt oddly compelled to buy – aren’t makeup departments funny that way…)

I figured I’d clean up my car a bit before I drove away – luckily my drugs from the doc had come in two bags, so I consolidated them into one bag and put all of the car trash in the other. Then I proceeded to toss a few cups, some napkins and the little bag of trash in a nearby garbage can. Or so I thought.

As I arrived home and carried my bag of drugs into the house I thought, “How odd that there would be a used candy wrapper with this medicine…” Of course, in my stupor over spending $22 for a foundation I’d thrown out the WRONG BAG. But I had a student coming in 5 minutes!

Luckily my student is also a friend – and someone who understands this kind of madness. She was game enough to jump into the car and rush with me back to the garbage can – where I found the drugs right on top – no one had thrown anything else out since me. I guess folks at the Short Hills Mall don’t make much trash.

I artistically arranged the drugs on the garbage can for a camera photo op – and as soon as I snapped the picture the garbage man came by and emptied the can. 5 more minutes and my drugs would have been part of a landfill in Essex county.