The Things You Learn.

My little thumb injury shenanigans have taught me two things... firstly: Keeping wounds moist for the first stage of healing is the current state-of-the-art method, and I can tell from my experience that it was very agreeable and worked very well. The thumb is almost back to normal as of this morning. There's a little bit more healing to do, but there's no pain, no redness and no swelling anymore.

Secondly: There's a very good reason for film coating around pills... at least around some of them. The antibiotics I got prescribed, alas, they lack such a coating. Don't ask me why, maybe it's because the makers believe in the old German adage about "bitter medicine" and so on. Anyway, I popped the first one in my mouth and then reached for the water, and that was definitely not the best idea of the day. Lacking a coating, the pill generously spread its outer surface to the outer surface of my mouth, and that stuff is bitter with a capital B. It also had a tendency to stay where it had gotten to, which means the bitter taste was quite persistent and took a while, and a handful of cherry tomatoes, to get rid of. There may also have been some funny noises.

So the next pills got coated. Not in liver paté (though I'm still tempted to do that with the last one I'll take this evening, because, you know, cat), but, with varying success, in jam, honey, and chocolate spread. (I was actually a little tempted to coat them in real chocolate, but for just the few pills for 3 or 4 days, it did not seem worth the effort of melting choc and coating them.)

Choc spread is basically the equivalent, for me, to the cliché of liver paté for cats, so it seemed the logical (and most amusing) choice. However, it's way too tempting to eat it off the pill (defeating the purpose, but also very much cat-like as in they'll quite often suck the coating off and then spit out the pill) and in addition it's rather sticky in the mouth. Jam and honey work better; I think I like (liquid) honey best. Safest method to avoid any of the bitterness to escape was rolling it in a bit of honey on a teaspoon, then taking a mouthful of water, tipping the head back, dropping the pill in and then quickly swallowing everything. (Pro tip: If you touch the naked pill for the rolling-in-honey action, do not lick your fingers afterwards...)

Now... does that count as a life skill? If not, at least it makes for an amusing story.