WEGO Challenge: My Mary Poppins Carpet Bag
Once again, I am blogging for WEGO November Health Blog Post Month. Today’s prompt is a really cool question:
Mary Poppins Carpet Bag
Write about what’s in your bag/purse/backpack every day – and why!
MY ANSWER
So here are a few things in my purse:
- My medicine capsule: I take ten medications a day and it helps to have it all in one place. My only gripe though is that half of them look alike, which can lead to some dangerous mistakes some times. How many pills can the pharmaceutical industry make that are white and round? My suggestion: They should make medications look like different faces of Hello Kitty characters. For instance, Prednisone could look like cute, puppy Pochacco. P is for Prednisone and Pochacco, cool no? And Spottie Dottie can be Safyral, Bad Batz-Maru can be Butal Bital/APAP Caffeine, and so on.
- My Albuterol Sulfate inhaler: I have asthma as a byproduct of Myasthenia Gravis, which I was diagnosed with five years ago (although it’s gotten much better since I started Reliv last December; I’ll blog about that later). Aggressive strenuous activity like using the stairs (in buildings without elevators-after all, George H.W. Bush only signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law in 1990) and eating food that has seafood or is spicy are bad for me. The latter can cause anaphylactic shock. Occasionally, waiters who promise to make the spicy dishes mild, forget. Whoops! Reach for the inhaler stat!
- Lipstick: Especially when I was working a 9 to 5 job to pay for all my medical bills, I would reach a point almost every day where I thought, God help me get through this day! Of course I didn’t show it in front of my employer but I would be thinking it in the bathroom. Then I’d look up in the mirror and be surprised that I still looked good even though I felt like I was going to keel over. And somehow looking great gave me the confidence to think I was going to make it through the day. During my years working in nonprofit, I won the highest awards in the mental health industry. I believe that looking good is important—not because of what others think of me because at this point in my life, I just don’t care. It’s important because looking good can help us feel good. Surviving Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Myasthenia Gravis, and Bipolar II, I know this. Living with an aunt, whose been a great role model and beaten both colon and breast cancers, I’ve seen what taking care of one’s appearance can do for a sick person’s psyche.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s WEGO prompt! Your Turn: What’s in your Marry Poppin’s Carpet Bag? 
–Your Cancer & Autoimmune Stylist,
Jessica Gimeno
