A Paean to (Some) Pharmaceuticals

Expressing gratitude has become a cornerstone of my attempt to lead a more positive, mindful life. While I am blessed with an abundance of people and things for which I’m grateful, this week I’m highlighting two miracles of modern science…

ANTIBIOTICS

Two weeks after contracting the flu, I was barely functional. It took me a while to become concerned as a sore throat and sleeping hours at a time as if I’d been drugged had insidiously become my new normal. Finally, in a rare moment of coherence I called my concierge doc, who reckoned that a secondary infection was a safe bet (and who I now love even more for not making me drag myself to his office). And, although I am not a fan of medications in general and believe that antibiotics are widely overprescribed, I was more than willing to give a Z-pak a try.

It’s difficult to overstate the magnificence of the realization that you weren’t imagining it, that you were slowly being drained of your life force, and that the antibiotics are working. The cautious optimism you dare to entertain explodes into euphoric relief when you continue to improve on day two. By day three I felt like Wonder Woman and I’d accomplished more than I had in the previous month.

NUVIGIL/ARMODAFINIL

Last summer, my teen daughter was diagnosed with narcolepsy, which explained why, despite an improvement in an unrelated cardiac condition that causes chronic fatigue, she still slept for up to 20 hours a day and dragged around like Eeyore when she was conscious. Fortunately (or unfortunately from the viewpoint of detection and diagnosis), she does not suffer from the version, immortalized in movies, where one suddenly becomes comatose in the middle of a sentence. The bad news is that narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder (we’re losing count, here). The good news is that there is now medication to help regulate topsy-turvy sleep-wake cycles.

While not a panacea, this medication has been the miracle we’ve been waiting for. The Celtic Warrior Princess is now attending hair design school, working part-time, and even traveling on the weekends. She’s reading and drawing again. And most days she’s channeling Tigger instead of Eeyore. Yes, she still claws her way through some days, especially towards evening, but she has a full life, something that previously seemed impossible.

This morning my gratitude list is almost embarrassingly long, but these two wonders are at the top. Have a happy week.