Valiant_200 (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} valiant_200) wrote,@ 2007-01-22 15:54:00 |
|
The Year Of Illness
Well, we are into the new year now and so far the most notable thing about it has been how incredibly sick bothpetalbreeze and I have been. It started about three days after Christmas, when we were still on vacation in the Northeast. Petal's nephew Jake had a cold and, what with him being a cute little two year old, it was easily spread. Jamie got the symptoms first and I was soon to follow. But the first cold was minor. I was sick over New Year's, but never enough to miss work or anything like that, and it seemed like this would be a mere annoyance. The Petal was just starting to get better when the shit hammer fell, and she was stuck in bed for several days with a fever. This was the first weekend of 2007. I was helpful to her while she was down, but I spent my nights on the couch, in hopes of avoiding the worst of it. After a few days it seemed safe for us to sleep together, but evidently it was not. This led to me catching the flu as well, and my own multi-day bout of illness. I slept for most of the first two days, but when my fever began to spike at over 102 degrees, we began to get concerned.
My bout of the flu was even worse that The Petal's, and she proved herself a saint once again by tending to my every need non-stop for about 70 hours. She brought me everything I could ever need and even sponged me down with cold cloths to keep my fever from getting worse. She was an excellent nurse. Meanwhile, I could do little more than lie on the couch and languish, catching sleep when I could. I was even too sick to sit up at the computer. One of my clearest memories was watching a 6 hour marathon of Mythbusters, with the antics of the Mythbusters team taking my mind off my illness for a while. I also read The Great Shark Hunt, by Hunter S. Thompson, cover to cover. The worst of the effects spanned Friday through Tuesday, so I ended up missing three days of work as a result of my malady.
Finally, when it looked like I was about to get better, I suffered another setback. One of the worst things about getting the flu is the possible complications that can develop in the wake of the actual sickness. In The Petal's case it was tonsillitis, so we were expecting more trouble with me. On Wednesday, I began to cough up blood. Now I have seen enough movies to know that when you start coughing up blood, the next thing you do is drop dead, so I knew better than to wait. I went over to the walk-in clinic on Wednesday and was immediately mis-diagnosed with bronchitis, and my tonsils were acting up as well, but no where near as bad as The Petal's had.
I was prescribed an antibiotic. A powerful new drug called Biaxin XL. This lead to a whole new round of problems. I had a bad reaction to the drug. I took it and went to bed a few hours later, but I was unable to sleep. I was asleep for about three hours and when I awoke, my lungs were so congested I thought I was going to drown. I got up and dealt with this problem, but then I began to notice other symptoms. I was anxious, nervous and paranoid. I was wired like I had just downed about 20 cups of coffee. Sleep was now impossible. I waited until about 10 o'clock, then called The Petal at work. She talked with me for about an hour and calmed me down quite a bit, but I was still unable to sleep. I had an appointment in the afternoon for something totally unrelated, and somehow I managed to keep it, but the poor girl who saw me must have thought I was totally keyed up on meth or something. I went to work early, and explained to my boss all that was happening to me and he correctly predicted that I would probably crash in a little while.
About 9 PM, the crash began. I was in the middle of getting ready for the 10 o'clock show and had about 5 pages of font I was working on, when I began to nod off at my position. I somehow held it together and got through the show OK, but it was not easy. Despite all of this, I was still not aware that I was having a bad reaction to the drug. I thought I had simply been given too much, since I had a similar experience with Floxin one time, so I reduced the dosage by half. This didn't work out either and, following another restless night, The Petal's summary of my condition convinced me that I would have to go back to the doctor. I had by this point gone 2 1/2 days with no sleep. It was like taking speed.
Friday, I was unable to see the doctor himself, but the nurse looked at me and got another doctor to write a prescription for another antibiotic, Levaquin. The insurance company did not want to cover this new medication, but the lady at Winn Dixie convinced them that I was legitimate and, after about half an hour, I had my pills. This new medication was not on the "preferred" drug list, so it ended up costing me 50 dollars for 5 pills, but it has been worth it. This drug has worked much better for me, and I am now almost completely mended from all of my health issues. Speaking as someone who is proud of his track record with avoiding sickness, this has been a tough month for me.
Today, for the first time in a while, I actually got a full nights sleep and I am beginning to feel normal again. These antibiotics make me feel funny too, and also make me restless, but they are no where near as bad as the other ones. Also, I am taking them when I get up, so the effects are muted. I will be glad when all of this is over and, finally, it looks like it may well be.
Well, we are into the new year now and so far the most notable thing about it has been how incredibly sick both
petalbreeze and I have been. It started about three days after Christmas, when we were still on vacation in the Northeast. Petal's nephew Jake had a cold and, what with him being a cute little two year old, it was easily spread. Jamie got the symptoms first and I was soon to follow. But the first cold was minor. I was sick over New Year's, but never enough to miss work or anything like that, and it seemed like this would be a mere annoyance. The Petal was just starting to get better when the shit hammer fell, and she was stuck in bed for several days with a fever. This was the first weekend of 2007. I was helpful to her while she was down, but I spent my nights on the couch, in hopes of avoiding the worst of it. After a few days it seemed safe for us to sleep together, but evidently it was not. This led to me catching the flu as well, and my own multi-day bout of illness. I slept for most of the first two days, but when my fever began to spike at over 102 degrees, we began to get concerned.My bout of the flu was even worse that The Petal's, and she proved herself a saint once again by tending to my every need non-stop for about 70 hours. She brought me everything I could ever need and even sponged me down with cold cloths to keep my fever from getting worse. She was an excellent nurse. Meanwhile, I could do little more than lie on the couch and languish, catching sleep when I could. I was even too sick to sit up at the computer. One of my clearest memories was watching a 6 hour marathon of Mythbusters, with the antics of the Mythbusters team taking my mind off my illness for a while. I also read The Great Shark Hunt, by Hunter S. Thompson, cover to cover. The worst of the effects spanned Friday through Tuesday, so I ended up missing three days of work as a result of my malady.
Finally, when it looked like I was about to get better, I suffered another setback. One of the worst things about getting the flu is the possible complications that can develop in the wake of the actual sickness. In The Petal's case it was tonsillitis, so we were expecting more trouble with me. On Wednesday, I began to cough up blood. Now I have seen enough movies to know that when you start coughing up blood, the next thing you do is drop dead, so I knew better than to wait. I went over to the walk-in clinic on Wednesday and was immediately mis-diagnosed with bronchitis, and my tonsils were acting up as well, but no where near as bad as The Petal's had.
I was prescribed an antibiotic. A powerful new drug called Biaxin XL. This lead to a whole new round of problems. I had a bad reaction to the drug. I took it and went to bed a few hours later, but I was unable to sleep. I was asleep for about three hours and when I awoke, my lungs were so congested I thought I was going to drown. I got up and dealt with this problem, but then I began to notice other symptoms. I was anxious, nervous and paranoid. I was wired like I had just downed about 20 cups of coffee. Sleep was now impossible. I waited until about 10 o'clock, then called The Petal at work. She talked with me for about an hour and calmed me down quite a bit, but I was still unable to sleep. I had an appointment in the afternoon for something totally unrelated, and somehow I managed to keep it, but the poor girl who saw me must have thought I was totally keyed up on meth or something. I went to work early, and explained to my boss all that was happening to me and he correctly predicted that I would probably crash in a little while.
About 9 PM, the crash began. I was in the middle of getting ready for the 10 o'clock show and had about 5 pages of font I was working on, when I began to nod off at my position. I somehow held it together and got through the show OK, but it was not easy. Despite all of this, I was still not aware that I was having a bad reaction to the drug. I thought I had simply been given too much, since I had a similar experience with Floxin one time, so I reduced the dosage by half. This didn't work out either and, following another restless night, The Petal's summary of my condition convinced me that I would have to go back to the doctor. I had by this point gone 2 1/2 days with no sleep. It was like taking speed.
Friday, I was unable to see the doctor himself, but the nurse looked at me and got another doctor to write a prescription for another antibiotic, Levaquin. The insurance company did not want to cover this new medication, but the lady at Winn Dixie convinced them that I was legitimate and, after about half an hour, I had my pills. This new medication was not on the "preferred" drug list, so it ended up costing me 50 dollars for 5 pills, but it has been worth it. This drug has worked much better for me, and I am now almost completely mended from all of my health issues. Speaking as someone who is proud of his track record with avoiding sickness, this has been a tough month for me.
Today, for the first time in a while, I actually got a full nights sleep and I am beginning to feel normal again. These antibiotics make me feel funny too, and also make me restless, but they are no where near as bad as the other ones. Also, I am taking them when I get up, so the effects are muted. I will be glad when all of this is over and, finally, it looks like it may well be.
