I Want My Yellow Pills
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It may seem incredible that a person would stop taking medication because the doctor
prescribed a different-colored pill. It happens! An article in the October 13, 2014, issue of
The Atlantic states, "A pill's hue can affect how it's judged by patients, how it's marketed,
and even how well it works." The article also states that sometimes people do what Mom in
my poem does. The poem is not about my mother.
My mama loved her yellow pills;
she'd taken them for thirty years.
Her outlook wouldn't be the same
without them. They assuaged her fears
and made her smile, although hard times
throughout the years had come her way.
"I wouldn't be the same without
my yellow pills," she'd always say.
Last year we went for her exam.
Her doctor said, "I'm giving you
a different pill, a stronger one--
a better one! This one is blue."
You'd think the doc had threatened her
with fifty lashes. She replied,
"I want my yellow pills!" I said,
"By doctor's orders, we'll abide."
As weeks passed by, I noticed Mom
was not herself. She seemed so sad.
Her explanation: "Well, I'm old.
Sometimes old ladies just feel bad!"
I soon would know the reason she
was sad. One day I found her stash
of bright blue pills. I saw them where
she'd tossed them in the bathroom trash.
I told her doctor, "Mom must have
some yellow pills. She's fading fast.
She will NOT take blue pills. She trashed
them all." The doctor was aghast.
Now Mom takes yellow pills again,
and her depression's history.
The folks who think pill color's not
important should ask Mom and me.
written for the Lewis Raynes That Colorful Drug contest
May 31, 2016
Copyright © Janice Canerdy | Year Posted 2016
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