[CapChapOhio] Share Your Experience!

[Maggie Stringer]

SUPPORT HB488!



“My husband and I are both totally blind. I add a little extra to that mix
by also living with partial deafness. It’s important to the two of us to
live independently as much and as often as possible. Occasionally though,
we encounter inaccessible situations and are forced to seek additional
assistance.

I can recall a fairly recent event that should have been a simple task, but
in accessible barriers proved to be more complicated than necessary.

I would consider myself to be a healthy and physically active
forty-year-old woman. If I’m paying a visit to a doctor’s office, it is
because it’s time to check-in with a physician to say I am still plugging
along or there is an emergency. My most recent encounter, was an emergency.

Bugs and I do not get along. We have a they love and I hate relationship.
And I am not referring to all of the worldly insects, just the ones that
like to feast on humans. Unfortunate for me, I seem to be their preferred
drink of choice!

My body tends to respond with a series of displeasing reactions. Starting
with small irritable and itchy bumps, then change into discolored welts,
begin to swell the infected areas two or three times its original size, and
for the grand finale, form a cluster of water-filled blisters. The blisters
appear to be living creatures of its own because they will continue to grow
until the magic of medication has been injected into my bloodstream.

I have had these allergic reactions a few different times now. It’s a head
scratcher for everyone that hears my story. Nonetheless, getting to the
doctor’s office and starting treatment should be a very simplistic task. It
was, until it came time to talk about the instructions for how and when I
take the medication.

The treatment plan usually involves a six-day steroid pack. However, it is
not as simple as taking one pill or two pills a day until run out. The
first day requires six pills with instructions of two pills at one time and
one pill at another time. Also, there are the directions of taking one dose
before and the next dose after food. That is a lot to have to memorize
especially when you are not able to read the directions for yourself or do
not take this kind of treatment regularly.

Remembering there were specific rules while on the steroid pack, I asked
the local physician for a refresher on the directions. She told me to go
ahead and take all six pills at once and to not worry about the specific
instructions. I found her response to be odd, but did not press the issue.
I figured I could get the directions from the local pharmacist. That plan
back fired on me too. The pharmacist was a soft speaker coupled with a
plastic counter divider and a COVID-19 face covering, I struggled to hear
what the person was saying.

So, I went home and decided to just do what the doctor has recommended. And
boy was that a mistake! In the past, spacing out the steroids as directed
has never bothered me. But I learned quickly that taking a one-shot of all
six pills was a very, very bad decision. It tours my insides apart for the
next two days. Initially, thirsty predators were attacking my flesh and
then, my insides were under a full invasion. If only I could had read those
directions for myself. If only there was a way to have accessible
prescription labels. If only.”



This is Maggie Stringer’s story. Share your experience!

#hb448accesssaveslives






Maggie Stringer
Phone: (443) 750-0070
Email: ravensfan784 at gmail.com
Community Service Facebook Page
<https://www.facebook.com/CommunityServiceDivision/>
NFB Website <http://www.nfb.org>
NFB Ohio Website <http://www.nfbohio.org>
“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra."
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