The Doctor Lowered My Crestor medication

My doctor lowered my Crestor medication. I went out to celebrate with a Macho Taco from the Taco Shop. I'm now taking it every other day only.

Dinner at Lime

My Colonoscopy - Day 2

6:45 a.m. -- arrived at the hospital and signed in.

7:00 a.m. -- I was called by the nurse and escorted into the room. My W kept the book I was reading as well as my other belonging...phone, picture id.

7:15 a.m. -- Got dressed in the standard hospital gown. I was able to wear my glasses. The nurse started the IV, two drops of my blood hit the floor. Another nurse took my temperature, pulse and blood pressure.

8:30 a.m. -- I am still waiting and another patient arrived before me. I should have gone to the hospital at 6:30 a.m. so I could be first. I also should have kept my book so I could read it.

8:45 a.m. -- The nurse who would administer the anesthesia arrived. She wheeled me into the pre-operating room.

9:00 a.m. -- The doctor finally arrived. He made some small talk while the nurse gave me the demerol and another med.

10:45 a.m. -- I awoke to the face of my W. She was patiently waiting for me to wake up. I received a glass of cranberry juice and was discharged.

11:00 a.m. -- I arrived home, I feel great. I'm not tired. My D made me breakfast.

My Colonoscopy - Day 1

One Week Before: No Aspirin, Advis, Motrin, Ibruprofen, Aleve, Iron, Vioxx, Celebrex or Aspirin products. I am not using any coumadin, warfarin, plavix or any other blood thinnners. Tylenol is okay.

7:00 a.m. -- One day before the procedure: clear liquids for the entire day. Clear liquids include: white cranberry and apple juice, 7 up, ginger-ale, tea, clear chicken broth without noodles and plain jello.

I started the day with a cup of tea instead of my home brewed latte. I took my blood pressure med and cholesteral drugs with a bottle of water.

10:00 a.m. -- I had another cup of hot tea.

3:00 p.m. -- I took the two 5mg Dulcolax tablets (over the counter). My W bought a box of 50 but I only needed two. After taking these tablets, I felt fine so I went downtairs to the gym.

4:50 p.m. -- Per the doctor's instructions we purchased a bottle of MiraLAX. They didn't have a 255 gram bottle, so we purchased a 17.9 oz or 5120 gram bottle. Today, I mixed 17 cap fulls into a 64 ounce bottle of lime Gatorade. I used a glass pitcher to shake and mix it and then re-poured most of the contents into the original bottle.

5:00 p.m. -- I drank the first 8oz glass of Gatorade/MiraLax. It tasted fine. Here the instructions from here:

"Drink an 8oz glass every 10-15 minutes until the solution is gone"

5:30 p.m. -- I feel like I'm back in my younger days trying to finish a 6 pack of talls.

5:55 p.m. -- It now feels like I am on vacation in Mexico.

6:30 p.m. -- It still feels like I am on vacation. I'm just finishing up the 8oz glasses.

10 p.m. -- It still feels like I am on vacation in Mexico but I have the chills, even after taking a hot shower. I understand food warms the body, so there is probably nothing I can do.

11:59 p.m. -- I should no longer eat or drink any fluids but that's not an issue because I am asleep.

1:00 a.m. -- Got up to go to the bathroom.

Crestor - I guess my doctor made the right choice!

With all the recent news about the benefit of cholesterol lowering statin drugs, I stumbled across this article today. My doctor has had me taking Crestor since Lipitor caused some side effects. Despite this news, I am still taking both Crestor and Zetia and am waiting to hear from my doctor about the Zetia. When I talked to him a few months ago, he told me to continue taking it.

-- snip --
Astra Drug Tipped as $8-9 Billion Cholesterol WinnerReuters Health - Apr. 01, 2008
By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - AstraZeneca Plc's Crestor is emerging as a potential big winner in the fiercely competitive anti-cholesterol market, with two brokerages on Tuesday hiking sales forecasts for the drug to $8-9 billion.
Shares in the Anglo-Swedish group, which have been hit recently by fears of generic competition to its top medicines, jumped for a second day, adding 5.5 percent by 1200 GMT, the biggest daily gain in more than four months.
Japan's Shionogi & Co Ltd, which originally developed Crestor, soared more than 9 percent.
JPMorgan said positive results from a clinical ...

Caregiver Info

As our parents get older, many of us must increase our knowledge of being a caregiver to them. Someone suggested a book, "Share the Care", but if anyone has any good resources for me, I would appreciate it. In the next several months, this will be an area that I will be researching.

The local city run Senior Center provided me with an email with some resources already. This is a good start.

Medication Side Effects?

Before a trip to the west coast last week, I misplaced my gold wedding ring. Since the plane was leaving and my W was reminding me we needed to leave for the airport, I did not have time to look for it. It was bothering me during my entire trip.

Last night I looked everywhere for it. My supportive W even helped me look under the bed in case it fell off the night stand. Finally, I gave up after my W convinced me to stop looking for it. I then went to the bathroom, picked up the tube of toothpaste and brushed my teeth. After that, I looked down on the counter and saw my gold wedding ring. It was under the tube of toothpaste. I must have checked the bathroom counter 100+ times.

I don't think this incident qualifies as a side effect from the meds I am taking but it is a reminder that I need to be more careful with things that really matter to me, especially when taking meds.