from pill-free to half a dozen of medications

I could sense that she was worried from her creased face. Her husband has just survived from an unexpected myocardial infarction, and that afternoon, in the pharmacy, she sat right in front of me to collect her husband's discharge medications.

The body of the prescription was penned with a long list of medications. When I started explaining to her each of the medications the husband is to take, the frail lady did try to digest, understand and remember everything. But I decided not to go on - I asked her if I could speak to the husband directly.

5 minutes later, the husband was escorted into the pharmacy. There were a few other in-patients waiting for their medications to be dispensed at the same time, but I didn't want to rush through the discharge counselling with this particular man.

I asked for his name, and led a casual conversation. I learnt that he's working in a farm, and he has previously no known health problems - he doesnt even know the taste of taking medications every day in his entire life.

Looking at the bag of medications on the table, it was pretty tough at first to explain to him that he has to be on those pills e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y from that day onwards. I had to make him understand the indication of each medication. I had to explain the dosage and administration. I had to make him aware of the possible side effects. And most importantly, I had to make him understand why he has to comply to all his medications.

For someone like me who even refused to take a pill when i have a headache, pain or a mild fever, I can easily understand how the man felt upon seeing those medications. To be bound to one medication is already a scare to some patients, what more to consume half a dozen of those coloured pills everyday after a course of hospitalisation.

It is really a daunting daily task, because for every pill that a patient is taking, it makes the person feels that he or she is aging 5 years older.