Ringo Starr – "It Don't Come Easy" (1971)

Forget about the past

And all your sorrow

Despite the fact that I’ve been vaccinated no fewer than seven times, I came down with my third case of COVID-19 last week. 

I’m guessing that happened because there’s a new highly-mutated variant – nicknamed “Cicada” – that’s beginning to make its presence felt in the U.S.

Once I tested positive, I called my doctor and got a prescription for Paxlovid, which did wonders for me when I had COVID before.  

Initially, Paxlovid was free.  But unbeknownst to me, Uncle Sam stopped picking up the tab for the antiviral a couple of years ago.

The current list price for a 5-day supply of Paxlovid is . . . are you sitting down? . . . $1797.  I have insurance, so it didn’t cost me that much.  But the out-of-pocket cost was still hundreds of dollars – so much that I thought about white-knuckling it.

But I’m having trouble spending all the money that this wildly successful little blog generates, so I figured what the hell – after all, you can’t take it with you . . . right?

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The Paxlovid regimen involves taking three tablets – two pink ones (nirmatrelvir) and a white one (ritonavir) – twice a day.

I’ve been taking a couple of ibuprofens along with the three Paxlovid pills before hitting the hay this week:

If you were me, I’m guessing that you would first knock back the two ibuprofens, then gulp down the three Paxlovid pills – or perhaps vice versa. 

Not me!  I don’t do things willy-nilly.  (Nor do I do them helter-skelter.)

As far as I’m concerned, there are two and only two acceptable ways to take my medicine.

One option is to lay the pills out this way and swallow them left to right:

Here’s the other acceptable option:

I prefer the latter choice – I find ingesting the pills in that particular order to be somehow more satisfying

Despite that, my therapist continues to insist that I’m not really obsessive-compulsive.  I like my therapist, but maybe I should get a second opinion.

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I’m surprised that 2 or 3 lines has never previously featured “It Don’t Come Easy” – which is my favorite Ringo Starr song.  (Is that comment an example of damning with faint praise?  Maybe.)

One thing that obviously doesn’t come easily to Ringo was correct grammar.  (Admit it – you knew it should have been “doesn’t” instead of “don’t,” but did you also know that it should have been “easily” instead of “easy”?) 

Click here to listen to “It Don’t Come Easy.”

Click here to buy “It Don’t Come Easy” from Amazon.