PSC Medication Tetris

Ok, I’m stubborn.  I play PSC Medication Tetris every week.  You remember Tetris, the computer game where you fit various shapes and try to fill all the empty spaces …

Several years ago when my post-transplant medicines were sufficiently reduced I purchased a compact – and cheap – 7 day pill caddy.  Using this compact container – after months of measuring out my pills into a  small suitcase – represented an exhilarating new freedom.  This sense of freedom grew ever stronger each time a medication was reduced or eliminated altogether.  At one point all I was taking were two small capsules twice daily.

In the intervening time I admittedly have suffered a few setbacks.  My PSC has returned and because of this and other complications my current pill load is many times greater.  Stubbornly, I still use the same compact pill case but to do so requires a very careful arrangement of each different pill shape to maximize the available space.

The anti-viral pills go first, one on edge and the others lying flat.  Then a layer of 6 tacrolimus  capsules, carefully stacked.  By orienting these first entrants to one side a small valley is created and into this go the prednisone tablets and blood thinner.  Next I add a single multi-vitamin paired with a magnesium supplement, and finally in front of these – but still on top of the underlying layers – I top off the space with vitamin D, a protonix tablet, and a baby aspirin. Altogether I get 17 pills into this tiny compartment, then repeat the process assembly line fashion to complete a full 7 days of medication.