Swallowing a pill should not have been this hard.
I stared hard at the cylindrical medication held between my fingers. A lot of thoughts rushed through my mind. From 'why did I get sick today?' to 'why wasn't I prescribed syrup instead?' to 'I hope it won't get stuck in my throat again'. But, mainly I was thinking: 'why can't I swallow pills anymore?'
It used to be quite a breeze when I was 8 years old. I would effortlessly swallow my antibiotics and confidently stuck my tongue out at my parents. A smile found its way to my face. I used to be so proud of such little accomplishments. Then the smile faltered when a recent memory of me spitting out a pill when I tried to wash it down my throat with a lot of water. It was embarrassing. Humiliating. Shocking.
'What happened?' I kept asking myself. There were times where I did swallow them but I would feel a lump in my throat, like it was not brought all the way down. It was torturous having that awful sensation for hours, even after trying to erase that feeling by gurgling down lots of water. I grimaced at those memories. There was no way I am going to relive them.
I entered the kitchen to boil some water before pouring the warm water into a cup and putting that offensive pill into it. After waiting for a few minutes, I quickly drank the bitter concoction, grimacing as I did so.
As I was washing the cup, making sure I had gotten rid of the residuals of the pill, I smiled to myself. So what if I can't swallow pills as I used to anymore? There are other alternatives, like the one I've used a few minutes ago.
Just one thing for sure, I won't stall anymore when the next 8 hours passed by.
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