Monday, March 10, 2008

Water, Water Everywhere

Yesterday I flushed down the toilet several bottles of unfinished drugs from last year’s treatments for breast cancer – steroids, pain killers, and an unused supply of an anti-dizziness drug I found in an old pocket book.

This morning I read the article on Yahoo! News reporting from the AP about the pervasiveness of pharmaceuticals in our drinking water – and not only there, but in the source water as well, the aquifers, lakes, streams and God only knows where else.

The traces of drugs in the water supply come, it is reported, from the unmetabolized portion of drugs we take. But the whole time I’m thinking, “What about all those pills I just flushed down the toilet? They’re not metabolized at all!” And, of course, the article finally got to that bit. Yes, maybe, it says, a lot of people are doing just what I did.

Now, I’m thinking, when I was being given chemo therapy, I was told to drink lots of water to flush the excess drugs out of my system. Where did those flushed out caustic chemicals go? Down the toilet of course!

I was also told to drink lost of water while having radiation therapy. Did I flush excess radioactivity down the toilet as well?

It’s all I can do to remember to turn off the tap while I’m brushing my teeth, instead of leaving it running. Same with washing my face. Now there’s my responsibility in adding to the pollution of our water, because of course I’m still on meds – to control high blood pressure, to control cholesterol, to support my underactive thyroid gland, and, yes, a continuing anti-cancer, estrogen suppressing drug for five years.

Maybe the estrogen suppressing drug traces I flush will counteract the hormone levels found in water and help those poor male fish who are beginning to produce egg proteins. Maybe that much good can come out of all this!

Anything, so I don’t obsess about my part in contaminating our precious water.

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