A 96 year old friend of mine who has Post Herpetic Neuralgia (advanced shingles), which is very painful, misplaced her pain medication and was at the “end of her rope†as a result of excruciating pain in her shoulder. I searched every inch of her home for the medication with no luck. I asked her several questions in an effort to figure out where her medication could be. She finally told me after about 2 hours of searching that she threw some of her old medications in the waste basket, but she insisted that she was careful not to throw her pain medication out. I know my friend very well and knew that as soon as she said she threw some of her medications out, that she had probably thrown out the pain medication. That would not have been a problem if I hadn’t emptied her waste basket into her dumpster in the backyard earlier in the day. Also, the gardeners had come by and taken the dumpsters out to the curb for pickup tomorrow. My son and I bolted for the dumpster, dragged it back in the yard and went “dumpster diving†for my friend’s pain medication. The small bottle of pills had fallen to the bottom of the dumpster. Her pain medication is back on my friend’s kitchen counter with a note that says, “DO NOT DISCARDâ€!