"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."

"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."

~Mohandas K Gandhi

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Role Reversal

My husband is sick.  It could just be a bad cold, maybe a mild flu, neither one of us is sure.  But he stayed home from work today because he felt so lousy, and he simply does not do that.  I can't remember the last time he called in sick, actually.  If I didn't love him so much, his healthiness would be seriously annoying. ;) 

Anyway, when he's sick, he just wants to be left alone.  Don't try to talk to him or feed him, just leave him alone.  So, when he came home from work early last night and came upstairs right away and curled up in bed, my son and I did just that.  By 8pm, I was the only one awake in the house, unless you count the cats.  It was kind of a surreal feeling.  I'm not used to being the healthy one taking care of everything!

The other interesting point from today was when he and I chatted briefly when I got home.  He's still not feeling great this evening.  He commented something about how he's "not good at pushing through illness" and I seem to, no matter how lousy I feel, be able to at least do a few things.  I kind of shrugged and said the first thing that popped into my head: "Well...I kind of have to be."  I guess, when one is sick a lot, one gets used to it to a certain degree, and learns how to push through certain aspects of it.  He looked kind of awed that I can keep upright when I feel really bad.  But, really, if I couldn't do that, to a certain degree, I'd be an invalid for six months out of each year. 

Sunday, March 13, 2011

On the mend

The cough is breaking up, finally.  I can sleep without having to resort to Tylenol PM.  (Well, I should clarify that: I can sleep as much as I usually sleep- I have bad insomnia, and have for years.)  Daylight Savings Time began here this weekend, so even though it's after 11pm, my body thinks it's only after ten pm, and I am therefore not tired.  Ugh.  I'm pretty sure the prednisone is not helping this situation, either- it usually does cause sleep problems for me. 

My son's cough is starting to break up, too.  We don't need to give him albuterol every three to four hours anymore.  He is still coughing in his sleep, but it doesn't seem to be waking him.  It's hard to tell sometimes, though- he talks in his sleep on a regular basis.  I heard him talking before, and I thought I even heard him call my name, but when I stood at his bedroom door and listened, I heard him babbling some kind of gibberish.  Gibberish is a good indication he's still asleep.  I can't wait for when he's a teenager, to hear what kinds of things he talks about. 

It's been warm enough this weekend to have windows open.  It feels good to have the breeze blowing through, like spring is really on the way.  All the snow is gone from our property, too.  And I noticed today- my hyacinths are starting to come up!  It seems I have survived another long winter.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Dr D is awesome.

So, last week I had my appointment with Dr D.  I brought my datebook with me.  I keep a log of sick days, IVIG dates, and antibiotic usage in there.  When he came in and asked me how I was doing, I greeted him with, "This winter has SUCKED!!!"  He chuckled and asked what I meant, so I opened the date book to September and began giving the summary: "Okay, IVIG here, three weeks later, sick enough to go on an antibiotic- Avelox-  Three weeks later, IVIG, day after treatment, needed to start on an antibiotic..." 

The pattern that emerged was that a week to ten days after finishing an antibiotic, I was sick enough to need a new one.  Dr D agrees with my thought- namely, I've been colonized by Some Kinda Bug, and was never on the right antibiotic or on long enough to kill it.  So he put me on Suprax, one I'd never heard of before, for 28 days.  It's an older drug, he said, that, "...went away for a while and is now starting to come back."  I have to call him in mid-April to report in.   Oh, and I'm to "...eat a lot of yogurt this month."  That part is no big deal- I usually eat a good amount of yogurt, anyway. 

So, now it's a week later.  Most of the crud has gone from me, except for a Godawful cough, worse than usual.  It's nonproductive and very wheezey.  I've been using my rescue inhaler every four hours around the clock, including at night.  Today I had to bring my son to the doctor (I think he and I ended up with the same bug), so I called Dr D's office to find out if he'd be willing to call in a scrip for prednisone to my local pharmacy, since I was just there last week.  The receptionist took down all the info, and called me back two hours later- no problem, it's already been called in.  Yay!  I love Dr D.  He's a great guy- he understands that I totally know what's going on in my body, and is willing to take my word about what I need right now.  Most doctors are not like that- most doctors would have insisted on me schleping in for another office visit.

Right now, my son and I are basically in the same boat- wiped out, even upon getting up in the morning, from this cough keeping us up much of the night.  (My poor husband looks a little frazzled, but is trying desparately to keep up a positive front.)  According to the pediatrician, the kid just has that respiratory crud that's going around like wildfire, and his lungs don't actually sound that bad to her, and the cough is improving slightly with each day, so continue to give him albuterol every four hours, or three if need be for the next couple of days, and give him a dose of Benadryl so he'll actually sleep tonight.  The last seems to actually be working- I put him to bed 40 minutes ago, and haven't heard a peep from him for at least 20 minutes.  Tonight, for the first time in days, when I gave him albuterol, the cough actually seemed to be loosening up a bit, too. 

I sure hope we both get the rest we need this weekend and are back in fighting shape by Monday.  I've used ten and a half sick days this school year, and it's only early March!!