Friday, July 15, 2011

Take a peek inside my medicine cabinet!

Back in March I was presented with a very cool opportunity, and I’m excited to be able to share it with you today!!  Walgreens has put together a “Medicine Cabinet Makeover” series and I was asked to participate as someone who lives with and writes about diabetes.  If I was game, a pharmacist would be sent to my house to evaluate and re-do my medicine cabinet - much like Stacy and Clinton do for people’s wardrobes on What Not To Wear.  Needless to say, I jumped at the chance - not only to give my medicine cabinet a little overhaul, but also to help raise some awareness about just how many d-supplies we need to keep on hand just to stay healthy and live our lives!  (I believe the Makeover Video will be shared on the Walgreens Facebook Page.)

A few days later a camera crew arrived, complete with lighting and microphones.  (Yikes!!)  Stacia, the pharmacist, was young and cool, which helped make me less nervous about the whole Medicine Cabinet Critique process.  We ended up focusing more on the dresser drawer that holds my diabetes supplies than on my medicine cabinet, but Stacia perused them both.  She quickly confirmed the claims I always make to you that I am very OCD extremely organized - but luckily she still had some great tips to give me!!  She also left me with a bunch of diabetes supplies (and be sure to read all the way to the end of the post, because there may be some d-supplies for you too).



I’m so glad that Stacia warned me about closing the caps on my contact lens solutions, because it had never occurred to me that icky bathroom bacteria could travel into the bottles and then into my eyes!!  Trust me, those lids are now snapped shut every night!

That little blood glucose meter Stacia pointed out is really cool and it’s the perfect size to tote along with me when I’m out for a run.  (Okay, I haven’t been running much lately, but the meter is in my runner’s pack and ready to go when I am!!)  The only thing that puzzled me a bit was the latex gloves - I’m not sure I know anyone who uses those while doing site changes or injections.  (If you do, please let me know in the comments.)  However, I can tell you those gloves are great for protecting your hands when you are dying yarn, so the knitter-side of me is making good use of them!!

I also want to mention a little piece that got edited out of the video.  Stacia commented on the fact that I don’t have a lot of general medicines, like cold and flu meds, in my medicine cabinet.  I explained that as a diabetic, I’m always very nervous about what over-the-counter meds I should or shouldn’t take.  I generally wait until I get “real people sick” and then call my endo for his recommendations.  Stacia pointed out that if I couldn’t get a hold of my endo when I needed to, I could simply pop into my local Walgreens and the pharmacist could help me.  (Hence my little statement about that at the end of the video.)

Overall this was a terrific experience!! Stacia rocked and the camera crew was so patient when my nerves caused a few re-takes. The whole thing was a lot of fun.  And to continue the fun, Walgreens has given me the opportunity to give away a gift-basket of supplies similar to the ones I received! If you’d like to win, just leave a comment on this post between now and 9am EST on Wednesday, July 20th.  I’ll draw a winner at random and the basket will be sent to you!  Good luck!

** Disclosure: For my participation in this project, I will be receiving a $250 gift card from Walgreens.  I was also given all of the products that Stacia displayed on my coffee table, as well as the gift basket I'll be giving away.  I was asked to blog about my Medicine Cabinet Makeover experience, but all opinions I’ve expressed in this post are my own.

30 comments:

  1. That is so awesome Karen! I don't think I've ever used latex gloves, except when I was a camp counselor when helping the campers. But never for myself! I use the Walgreens pharmacy in my town and even though I've never needed to call them, they are always calm and welcoming when I pick up my prescriptions.

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  2. Hey Karen! I am so glad you were able to participate in this fun little makeover. I too never use latex gloves with any of my site changes. I use my local walgreens for my insulin and other misc. meds when I need them. I do think their sugar free throat/ cough lozenges are my favorites!! I always feel better when my cabinets are stocked and ready to use as well.. oh well for a little OCD never hurt anyone. For me, it keeps me prepared for when i'm out or realize something isn't working, i know exactly where to tell someone to get it too!!!

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  3. I'm no latex glove user...and I'm not nearly so organized as you! What a great opportunity to learn new strategies!

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  4. Karen this was so cool. What a neat segment to be a part of! I am not a latex glove user either. Thanks for doing such a nice giveaway and sharing your experience with us.

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  5. i love WNTW! :) great video, karen, glad you got that opportunity. no, we don't use the latex gloves either. but we do have one of those tiny testers, and my kid loves it! also, our walgreens is right down the road and they have always been a great part of our support team.

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  6. Latex gloves??? Um... not here. How cool that you got to do this. I would be so embarrassed for them to see my mess of a cabinet. I think I have medications in there that expired 5 years ago!

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  7. What a great idea! Glad they picked you and not me:)
    You were a wonderful star!

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  8. You are such a ROCKSTAR!! Love your video. This is a pretty cool idea.

    Gloves? Seriously? Wait, that's like the whole "change your lancet with every finger stick" advice, right? ;)

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  9. Looks like fun. I need to get my supplies all in one place. Great video!

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  10. Longtime lurker here, but finally decided to comment. Some great advice. I need to revamp my medicine drawer as well. Love the video. It was great!

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  11. What a fun experience!
    I have all of Bean's D stuff in one place, but the shelf has other stuff, too...need to do some reorganizing!

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  12. this sounds cool :) I love my pharmacist. I tell everyone to make friends with their regular pharmacist(s), because they can be such a good resource. I'm glad you were able to participate and the experience was so good :)

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  13. great post!seems like you have been having some might cool experiences lately

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  14. Cool! Thanks for sharing. I love Walgreens.

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  15. How fun! You did an AWESOME job and your hair looks so pretty!

    Caleb got one of those meters at FFL. I remember Bennet talking about it so long ago and I've always wanted to try it. Caleb loves it!

    Great job, Karen - I'm so impressed!

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  16. How cool! And how brave of you! I would be scared for a pharmacist to look in my medicine cabinet. Well, maybe not the medicine cabinet since it has mostly band-aids, Aspercreme and nail polish, but I would hate for them to look in my kitchen cabinet that I use as my medicine cabinet. And the teeny-tiny meter sounds so cool! I hope I win the drawing, but if not I may need to head to a local Walgreen's and check that meter out!

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  17. That's so cool; I don't think Walgreens would want to go near my stuff which isn't centralized anywhere, but in different places around the house. Still, it sounds like a fun experience!

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  18. Very cool! You did great and what a great opportunity! Brant can't believe you let a film crew into your house, har har! He's also on me now to close my saline caps. Congrats and well done :)

    Heidi

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  19. Very cool video Karen!

    Gosh, I don't even know what outdated stuff might still be in my medicine cabinet, seems like the medicine drawers took over here. :)

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  20. Although my stuff is organized, it is in a couple places and I don’t have any “medicine” type things in the medicine cabinet. I had latex gloves when I had my foot wound because of germs. I had a ton left over and discovered they are great for when I am repotting plants or something else that is nice and dirty, but I don’t use them for anything diabetes related.

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  21. That is so cool! Who knew that a medicine cabinet makeover even existed! I would LOVE the Walgreens basket!

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  22. I never close the lid to my contact solution either... oops! I need to start doing that.

    I think I need them to come here... thought Justin's D closet is all in order... the med cabinet is scary. I think I would have to clean it before they came :/

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  23. Fantastic! Good job on the video. It takes a lot of "stuff" to deal with diabetes. Thanks for the chance to win the treats!

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  24. I use latex gloves when I clean my bike...
    I am wondering about the BG meter on the strip vial. Might be even handier than the One Touch Mini I put in the bento bag on my bike.
    (yes, it's all about biking around here until I get through my century on 9/4!)
    And Karen, you could go into business organizing me! :)

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  25. oooOOOoooo how fun this was!! i want a medicine cabinet makeover! ;)

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  26. I would so love a medicine cabinet make-over. We have kid medicine, diabetic supplies and probably some medicine left over from the ice age. How fun for you!

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  27. Awesomesauce!! You ROCKED the video! As far as the latex gloves, I've used them for gardening - Does that count?
    The meter sounds very cool - I'd like to get a better look at it.
    And I'm glad to hear about the lid on the contact lens solution! Stacia's words are going to settle a disagreement between a friend & I.
    I've always been militant re: closing the lid on my contact solution, and my friend (who's actually incredibly Type A with some OCD thrown in for good measure) thinks I'm nuts! Can't wait to send her your video link!
    Thanks for the great video and all the helpful tips!
    Kelly K

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  28. What a great idea. thanks for sharing your experience.

    I tend to do the same as you - when I get a cold or something I ask for advice at that time. Every time I try to stock up, things expire before they get opened.

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  29. This was awesome, Karen. You, as always, are a freaking rock star!!! xoxo

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