de Jong Dream House: Organized Med Shelf

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Organized Med Shelf

Welcome to my medicine display. Living with a brain injury means I will always need to take meds. And, living with brain injury--even for nearly ten years now--means that I will always forgot to take said meds unless I can see them every night when I'm getting ready for bed.

I've been trying to figure out a way to keep my meds out in the open in a relatively neat way. I take too many pills each day to use a cute little pill box.

I've had a bad string of luck lately, so this e-card sums up my summer fitness routine pretty well.

Photo: Hah!! How are you racking up the fitness minutes today? And no, diddly squats don't count ;).

source

A few weeks before our trip to Europe, I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. I was told to stop exercising and just do stretches so I'd be able to do all the walking we planned to do on vacation. When we came back from the Netherlands, I was looking forward to getting back into my routine at our fitness center. First, I had a horrible time getting over my jet lag. (It always takes me a little longer). Then I had an infection on my finger and couldn't stand anything to touch it, let along use it to bear weight. When I finally went to the doctor to get it checked out and get an antibiotic, I found out I was allergic to that particular med. That was my first trip to the ER. They switched my meds, and I still had an allergic reaction. Ten days later, the reaction started to clear, but my brain was a mess from dealing with the infection and fighting the allergic reaction. I had a killer headache for almost two weeks. After talking to my doctor and neurologist, we decided that running is not going to be my thing, and it might be better to trade my treadmill for a recumbent bike. I still love my fitness center, but on days when I might not be able to drive, I can still use the bike safely. In theory.

Would you believe I tore my meniscus on my very.first.workout on my new bike? Sheesh. So, I'm back to resting my leg and looking forward to a lot of pool time in the next few weeks as I rehab. It's a good thing I have a pretty med display to help me keep my drugs straight!

A few weeks ago, I did a bunch of spray painting. Including two sets of square shelves I found at Goodwill. I bought them for $5 cheap and they are the exact same ones that are sold at Target for $15. On the left, you can see what was to become my spool and bobbin holder.

This is what the wall looked like before the shelves went up...and after I removed my pile of pills.

After the shelves were painted silver, Niels got to work placing them on the wall. (You can see the tile we are considering putting up under the mirrors).

I love how Niels lined up the shelves, especially as they are reflected in the mirror.

Don't look too closely, or you'll see that I have yet to master the art of spray painting. What you can see is that I added all my meds and have room for more...yay? I put my daily prescriptions on the left. I take these at night. In the middle, I have the supplements I take each morning. On the right, I have my heavy hitters for when my headache is especially bad. I haven't yet labeled the shelves, but I'm sure I will at some point.