Philip, my husband is still in a lot of pain from the shingles. With
painkillers and all he still has episodes of acute pain and has hardly
slept at all for almost three weeks now. At the hospital two weeks ago
they prescribed antiviral drugs but they didn't seem to be doing much.
So earlier this week he again called the doctor. The doctor was
practically tearing his hair out when Philip showed him what he had
been prescribed. He said those might cure him but it would take weeks
if not months. He prescribed another drug - one that is also an
antiviral but more specific to shingles. AND - these drugs cost an arm
and a leg.
Naturally we bought them immediately but that is not the point of this
blog. The point is - supposing we could not afford these drugs would
that mean that Philip would be in pain for God knows how long? What do
people of lesser means do? Should health and quality of life depend on
how much money you have? We're not talking about what make of car you
get here... we're talking people's lives! I always get very worked up
about such things.
Meantime even these new drugs don't seem to be doing much for Philip.
We read on the internet that for them to be really effective they would
need to be taken within 48 hours from the onset of the attack. But
since the hospital prescribed something else who knows what will happen
now. The last advice we've had from the doctor was that if the pain
continues to be unbearable he will again admit him to hospital to have
painkillers injected into the nerve...... scary stuff!
