Strong Medicine

I felt weird when I got out of bed one morning not long ago. Nothing in particular but just an odd feeling.
By the time I got to work, the odd sensation had changed. It had become – diarrhea. You know that feeling, don’t you?
Thank goodness, it was more of an inconvenience than anything else during the first part of the work day, but the “symptoms” got a little worse as the day wore on. Unfortunately, we were so busy at work that it was all I could do to take the rather frequent bathroom breaks that were necessary; certainly I didn’t have enough time to leave and go to the drugstore to get any kind of medicine. I didn’t eat during the day because I didn’t want to exacerbate the problem.
Driving home was treacherous. I sat tight. Literally. When I got home, I went straight to the medicine cabinet – well, actually, that was my second stop; the first was the bathroom. When I opened the medicine cabinet, I was relieved (pun intended) to find just what I had needed all day – anti-diarrheal medication. It was a generic, over-the-counter medicine, but the box indicated it was the same formula as something that used to be by prescription only. “Original prescription formula” is what it said. That let me know it was probably strong and fast-acting, exactly what I needed. And, even better yet – and quite unusual for stuff in my cabinet – the expiration date had not yet passed.
I spent the next several hours doing some much-needed research, really glad the medicine worked so quickly.
It wasn’t until I was getting ready for bed that I found out exactly how strong that one tablet had been. It was still in my pocket. Now that’s pretty strong medicine that works just by being in a person’s pocket, don’t you think?
Copyright 2008 - Sherry Shealy Martschink