You Can't Always Get What You Want

I think I might have used this title before, but what the heck, it fits my problem. I was thinking about this today while remembering some ex pat bloggers both in Greece and Germany who occasionally speak about being unable to get items that they used to have at home. Even being away from Canada for seven weeks last year had me saying, "what, you don't have .... in this country?" So Here is something I can't get in Canada.

Now this is not a hint for my European friends to send me some, it would never get through customs, it's a drug. Instead the next two friends of ours who are going to Greece have orders to bring back two tubes each which should see me through until September when I will be back there myself.



Last year I broke my foot and left it untreated due to some bad circumstances. When the shit hit the fan, so to speak, my foot hadn't healed properly and I could barely walk. At that time I got a shot of cortisone in the foot which relieved the pain for a few months.

With all the walking I did in both Germany and Greece last fall it did ache from time to time and my German friend turned me on to this product. It works wonders, it's like a miracle gel, but not available in Canada. This product costs about 6 Euros (around 10 bucks) a tube and the main ingredient is Diclofenac. This can be prescribed in pill for here in Canada, but pills bother my stomach. There is a similar product with the same ingredient available in Canada called Pennsaid but this requires a prescription and costs $59.00 plus dispensing fee. I hate the big pharmaceutical companies that overcharge and I dislike government for not allowing lower cost products into the country.

I'm being really careful with my last tube of this stuff and I am probably going to need another cortisone shot real soon. But I think the long term solution is to see an orthopaedic guy about a longer term solution. I hate not being able to walk...