neutropenia-related paraphenalia

I just got back from the hospital; this time, however, only to pick up my monthly supply of Neupogen. There is a law that prevents the hospital from giving me more than four weeks' medication at once, which means that every four weeks I have to call the pharmacy at the hospital and request more medicine, then go and pick it up from the friendly nurses at the Blood and Cancer Centre. It's frustrating (what, do they think I'm going to inject myself with it all at once? Sell it on the black market to cancer patients?!), but hey, my other option is to pay thousands of dollars to get it at the local chemist.

Last time I went to get the medicine, I had to pick it up from the pharmacy itself, which is somewhere deep inside the rabbit warren that is Wellington Hospital - I felt a bit like Alice. I had to push a buzzer and convince them of who I was before I was allowed inside to get the medicine. It was pushed through a hole in the wall, next to which was a bored-looking security guard. They gave me the nifty chilly bin pictured above, which has a refrigerated plastic block inside (like the type you take on picnics). Plus a large red sticker screaming REFRIGERATE. I take what pleasures I can...

Book update: one sent to press, the other at the editing stage. This time it's an academic journal (so non-fiction, as opposed to the last book), and I am enjoying it a lot more. I'm just about to finish editing the last essay, which is full of theories about globalisation and its effect on the landscape in Mexico. It makes me feel a little dumb, but I hope my enthusiasm for the topic makes up for my lack of background knowledge. And when you are editing, sometimes it is helpful to know nothing about the subject - easier to be objective about the clarity of the writing.