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Heart to Heart

L'hitraot QVC

By Gert Thaler
San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage, January 10, 2003, page 19


Remember all those wonderful items I have written about in the past when I made purchase after purchase while watching the QVC shopping channel? Forget those happy days.

When lying back on my pillows and watching tv instead of tuning into classic movies, I would turn my undivided attention to the hundreds of items offered
during 24 hours of uninterrupted video shopping. Those were the days.

My last purchase with QVC included a wonderful combination soup pot with a built-in perforated lid that allowed me to pour clear liquid through the lid
while the vegetables (soup) or pasta were separated from it.

But it will be a long, cold winter before I indulge myself again.

What has occurred in my life during the past 17 days has taken its toll on my usual stamina. As a protective device against falling prey to the variety
of merchandise that meets my eyes, I have declared the shopping channel itself to be out of bounds.

Of course, "out of sight, out of mind" does not ring true in my case, and every now and then I sneak a peek. Sunday mornings are my biggest trap, when
"Chef Bob" brings on item after item for three hours of jolly showmanship and introduces wares I never see in the kitchen departments of stores or
even at that other den of iniquity, the San Diego County Fair.

The cause for this reformation of character really has nothing to do with my shopping choices, but more with the state of my economy. For in the past 17
days I have managed to spend more money at my local pharmacy than I ever have been tempted to do with QVC.

Forget the fact that I lost all of October 2002 doing the same thing I have been doing since Dec. 22. Although the end result was apparent at the
conclusion of each of these "sessions," the December incident has taken a far greater financial toll.

Robert Browning, the English poet, gazed into Elizabeth Barrett Browning's eyes and said, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." Gert Thaler
looked deeply into the eyes of her local pharmacist and altered the phrase to read, "How can I possibly love thee? Let us itemize together how we have
spent these recent 17 days."

First there was Zithromax at $43.26, followed by its duplication of another $43.26. Breathing became more difficult, so Serevent inhalers were ordered
at $82.46. Earlier came Flonase at $65.01. A few days later, Amox was prescribed at $75.23, along with Promethazine (codeine syrup) at $18.34.
Still in need of more positive results, Levaquin was ordered, and a bottle containing 10 of these pills replaced all other medication at a cost of
$l03.76, or about $10.37 per pill.

With my daughter out of town, her best friend, Susan Lotz, drove me to the doctor's office and then picked up that latest prescription. When she handed
it to me she asked me not to open the package until I was comfortably back in bed with my head resting on fluffy pillows. Her precaution was well
placed, although since consuming that latest prescription I took a turn for the better and continued on the road to what appears to be recovery from
this latest pneumonia-bronchial attack.

I am sure I have seen 136 movies in these past two weeks. If I heard Bing Crosby sing "White Christmas" one more time, I was going to scream. I read
12 pages of a book during the whole time because I kept falling to sleep, the result of consuming the strawberry-colored cough syrup that helped me
through violent coughing bouts. After a while, I felt well enough to play solitaire on my computer, but wore out that welcome mat.

I decided to do a mitzvah, so every day I would open my freezer door and toss away an unmarked leftover, so some good came from this confinement.
What I did not do was ask if I was using the inhaler correctly. I took it with me to the doctor, who promptly informed me I had been using it
incorrectly and with little benefit, which set us off in conversation about patients who don¹t ask enough questions. Once the correct usage was shown to
me, the curing effect set in. I had failed to inhale properly and lost the opportunity of bringing healing to my lungs.

With Medicare as my insurance coverage, I am not covered for prescriptions.

Yes, I know costs could have been lower had I been able to go to Costco, but with a pharmacy only five blocks from my home, it was more expedient to go the route I had taken.

What do people do who find it financially difficult to cope with such high prescription costs? Rest assured, I could have spent more, but some of my
supplies were generic brands. Something must be done to allow everyone the blessings of proper medications, regardless of cost. All too often we read
about our senior citizens on limited incomes who have sacrificed medical needs for lack of funds.

While Medicare offers many advantages, what good will the doctors' care do a patient if the cost of prescriptions continue to go sky high?

For me, I am happy to say that looking out my window each morning has been replaced by being on the outside once again, a luxury I too often take for
granted. If my recovery continues, I will be able to attend the opening of the Palm Springs International Film Festival next week and cast aside all
the medication that has made my attendance possible.

My New Year's resolution, of course, is to button up and stay out of the cold — and, of course, to get back to the shopping channel, but for a while
be only a viewer and resist any temptations. May all of our readers find 2003's beginning to be a fulfillment of their wishes, with the added reminder to avoid winter illness and the pitfalls of medical prescriptions to regain their strength.