It’s been a year now since I developed the rash from hell that started my health descent that I hope is never repeated. In a six month period I got to the point where I couldn’t make it up the steps from the basement more than once a day, and sometimes it took me a minute or more the one time that I would try it. I couldn’t move laundry from the washer to the dryer due to the extra weight when the clothes were wet. I could only take a plate at a time out of the cupboard, unless it was a day when I couldn’t even lift my arms to get any plate at all. And the news that I heard this morning? The makers of Lipitor (Pfizer) hope to get approval to start selling it over the counter.

How can I possibly indicate what a horrible and stupid action I believe that doing this would be? People would be able to take this without the supervision of a doctor? I’m afraid that we would see an alarming rise in the number of people experiencing severe muscle pain and probably not associating that with the taking of Lipitor. Also, there would be no monitoring of the dosage being taken, and the chance of really bad side effects goes up with increased dosages.

The good news is that previous requests to market statin drugs OTC have been denied by the FDA, so this request would at least face a difficult time in obtaining such approval. But due to the fact that Pfizer will be facing a big loss due to the expiration of their patent, I can’t help but think that they will be applying some very heavy pressure to get this request approved. I know that I will be looking forward to providing any input I can to the FDA to make sure that this drug does not achieve OTC status.

The AC has been turned off at work in order to repair/replace the duct work, so the word has gone out to work at home, if possible.

Isn’t that a terrible thing to have to do? :)

Why is it that I am the only one in the house who takes out the garbage?

I forgot it last week, so today I had to deal with a double dose of garbage and the smell darn near made me sick. My stomach still hasn’t recovered.

Good morning, all! I hope today finds everyone well. It’s 73° here right now, but might get cooler tonight, finally. We received 5! inches of rain here yesterday as a result of the storms that came through here. It was much needed rain, it just would have been a little better if it had been spread over a couple of days. We might get some more showers today.

Today is family reunion day. We are going to spend more time driving to and from the reunion than we are going to spend at the reunion. However, since it is for my father’s side of the family, AND my mother has expressed her desire that my brother and I both be there, my whole family is going, including the Older W, who drove in last night just to spend his day at the reunion. And for once, Mr W. isn’t even dropping his usual hints about what a wonderful person he is to be putting up with seeing my family.

So, I’ve got the cucumbers marinading, the hamburger patties are made and ready to put in the cooler, and all I have left to do this morning is cut the fruit for the Waldorf salad and stir it up. Then, we’ll go get ice for the cooler and be on our way. It looks like we will be out of the Extreme Heat Warning that still is around for extreme Southeast Iowa, but we will be right at the edge of it.

Finally, I’m going to pimp a DailyKos diary that will be going up later today (5:00 pm Eastern) on Kosability. It’s appropriate for today and will discuss the perils of travelling with a diabetic. It details the close call that I had while at Disney World in June.

(One more finally) – I woke up in a very good mood. I realized that a year ago at this time, I had broken out in the rash from hell that signaled eight months of declining health. I am so glad that I found out what it was, and have been able to go into remission now.

Big hugs to anyone reading this on this good morning.

Now that I’m back from vacation in Florida, and my son told me about this, I guess I’ll start my own blog.

If anybody is reading this, thanks. 

Online blogs that I follow are BPI Campus, Daily Kos, and Balloon Juice.