Life's a Journey

Controlled Substances: Drugs whose general availability is restricted; any one of a number of drugs or other substances which are strictly regulated or outlawed because of their potential for abuse or addiction. www.answers.com

I have a dark secret. As a little girl, I frequently saw my mother take little white crystals and cook them into a solution. When cooled she would then force me to sniff the clear liquid into my nostrils. I remember how it stung, how it sometimes made me cry.

You can’t buy large quantities of this substance in the United States without a prescription. In spite of this regulation, huge quantities of the burning liquid hit the Gulf shores daily, causing discomfort and sometimes death to residents and tourists alike. People like my mother make it in their own kitchens. I am talking, of course, about saline. Salt water.

When I burned my hand last fall, I was surprised to learn that a prescription is needed to buy quantities of normal saline. You can buy small cans or bottles of saline wound wash, or small bottles of saline nasal spray, but to get larger amounts of normal saline for flushing a catheter or washing a wound, you need a prescription. I learned that the same is true in the U.K. In fact, the U.K. is even more careful with their controlled substances. They are painfully aware of the tragic results of … bed pad abuse.

Being so far from home for three weeks, it was important to have everything that we might need for Sara Jean available on our trip to Scotland. To avoid having to carry all the supplies through the airport, Dale shipped many of the bulkier items to Edinburgh by UPS. He sent the box well in advance, allowing plenty of time for the box to get to Edinburgh before our arrival. However, when we arrived at Pollock Halls, the UPS box was not there.

Pollock Halls of Residence, University of Edinburgh

The wonderful people at Pollock Halls worked with us to track down the package, which was stuck in Customs in England. Unsure we would ever get the supplies, I spent the morning of our first full day in Edinburgh visiting pharmacies. I was looking for items that I could pick up fairly readily in a medical supply store in the States – Chucks (plastic-lined cotton pads for the bed), Skin-Prep (a barrier spray), disposable pants, irrigation syringes and saline for flushing the catheter, a plastic basin, no-rinse shampoo and body wash. When I explained our problem to the staff of the different pharmacies, they tried to be very helpful, but we ran into some snags. I could find disposable pants with no problem. I could not find Skin-Prep, the miracle elixir which I was told should be used liberally whenever I was in doubt. I did find a barrier ointment that I substituted. It was heavy and greasy, but I must admit, it did its job. I could not find a liquid no-rinse shampoo or body wash, but I did find the spray powder dry shampoo. But when it came to Chucks, plastic lined bed pads, I hit a brick wall. It seems that many of those supplies, including the bed pads, require a prescription.

A prescription? For bed pads? Bed pads are controlled substances? For an instant, my mind wandered to the possible abuses of bed pads, but then I was off to a local physician. I explained the problem, and he wrote a prescription for the missing items. Jubilation! I trotted off to the next pharmacy, thinking my problem was solved.

It was not.

No one buys these types of supplies in Britain. In order to get such things, you go through the District Nurse. I was told I might be able to get them from the largest Boots Pharmacy in town, which also supplies nursing homes.

Unfortunately, this Boots is on Princes Street, and Princes Street was very difficult to reach due to traffic from The Gathering. The streets of Edinburgh are narrow and the parking isn’t plentiful, but with the crowd of tourists that weekend, getting near Princes Street was well-nigh impossible.

The Gathering, Holyrood Park

A call to Boots solved our dilemma. Even with a prescription, they needed two to three weeks to get the supplies in… just in time for us to go home. Our only alternative was a trip to the hospital – something Sara Jean was not ready to do. Darlene and Linda, the wonderful nurses back home, gave me ideas of things I could use in a pinch. We lined the bed with plastic bags covered with towels in place of the Chucks, just in case. We planned to visit a pet shop to see if we could find puppy pads for later.

We never had to visit the pet shop. The UPS box arrived on Monday – a story in itself – and it was like Christmas Day. It was a beautiful sight – bottles of no-rinse shampoo and body wash, Skin Prep, Depends, a large, washable bed pad and stacks of lovely blue-lined Chucks. I almost wept for joy.

With nationalized health care, it is tough to find a medical supply store, even in a major city like Edinburgh. If you need something for your health, you visit the local health center or physician. Maybe this isn’t so bad. When I visited the physician’s surgery in search of a prescription, there was no line of patients like I am accustomed to seeing in our waiting rooms, and the physician came out and talked with me readily.

Still, there is a certain freedom that comes from being able to go into a store and choose the products you want. I like being able to buy supplies without needing an appointment or permission from a nurse or doctor.

After all, I don’t have a problem with saline or bed pads. I might use them occasionally, but I can quit any time I want. Really.