Preparation

I was instructed to pause taking my blood-thinning tablets in the lead-up to Tuesday's angioplasty procedure. Just giving them up for a few days isn't enough, though. I need to self-administer special injections twice a day as 'bridging' to compensate.

The problem is that the dosage needs to relate to the individual's weight, and the ready-charged needles don't come in the appropriate size for me. That means the extra has to be disposed of before I administer the injection. This is tricky. The measuring scale is upside down when the protective cap is removed to expose the needle and allow some liquid to be got rid of, and the numbers are difficult to read anyway because they're so small. Carl's ingenuity came to the rescue this morning for injection number four of six.

Step one: insert handle of magnifying glass into neck of suitably-sized wine carafe. Step two: place receptacle (aka saucepan) behind magnifying glass. Step three: twist syringe plunger until numbers become visible. Step three: squint until level of liquid becomes visible. Step four: VERY gently apply pressure on top of plunger as liquid flows through needle and liquid level reaches the correct point on the scale. Step five: administer injection subcutaneously.

To avoid having to repeat all this for the rest of the injections we made our way to a nearby pharmacy that opens on Sundays and asked them to prepare the remainder so they contained the correct dose. They were anxious that the protective cap might not be able to be replaced, but that turned out not to be a problem.