Drugs vs. cough: Round 2 is still a draw

A little over a week ago, I reported that the drugs I was taking were fighting my cough to a draw.  Now, with my last antibiotic pill due tonight, I'd still call the contest a neck-and-neck race.  I've slept as much as I could reasonably manage over the last two weeks, and I've taken the antibiotics and nasal spray as the doctor ordered, and I am definitely better--but I am nowhere near 100%.  I still have a cough, and I am still feeling under the weather.  I have to hope this situation will improve.

To be fair to the doctor, I stopped taking the anti-cough nighttime pill two days ago, because it contains hydrocodone, which was sticking with me for a long time each day.  If necessary, I can always go back to using that drug to be able to sleep without coughing, but doing so is likely to affect my work, something I do not want to happen.

So, I'm going to have to hope that the lingering cough will vanish and I will fully heal.

More on this front in a week or so. 

Drugs vs. cough: round 1 is a draw

I'm sad to report that the first round in the battle between my prescription drugs and my sinus infection and accompanying cough was very much a draw.  I feel a little better, though my body's fatigue from fighting the infection is evident.  More importantly, last night, when I had hoped to sleep all night without coughing, contained a great deal of coughing--but also, for the first time in over a week, multiple stretches of sleeping. 

I hope to be able to report tomorrow that I've turned a corner and not coughed all night, but given that I'm coughing as I type this, I don't expect that to be the case. 

Someday soon, though, the drugs and my body will team up to kick this infection and cough out of my system. 

I am very much looking forward to that. 

About that cold

A little over a week ago, I noted that I had a cold and it was making work difficult.  Well, the cold apparently took advantage of my exhausted condition and turned the evenings between that post and now into some of my more miserable nights.  I haven't slept ninety minutes straight in the intervening days. 

Today, I finally relented and went to an urgent care clinic.  I've apparently become the winner of a particularly bad sinus infection and a cough, due to drainage, that is keeping me up all night.  Thanks to the clinic's doctor, I'm already fighting the infection with antibiotics, and I am the proud owner of a cough suppressant that should help me sleep.  I am quite look forward to a long slumber, so to it I go.

Bear, cave, rock

Quite a few folks have sent me get-well wishes, which I genuinely appreciate. Several have also asked what kind of sick person I am, so I thought I'd answer that question for everyone:

I'm the bear who wants to go into its cave and pull a rock over the entrance until it's all better.

I do appreciate it when someone provides food, though right now my dietary excitement is largely chicken noodle soup and toast. That's about it, though.

I want to crawl into my cave, which is my home office when I'm working and my bed when I'm not, pretend the world doesn't exist, and reappear when I'm at full strength and ready once again to do battle with it.

I suppose this also makes me a rather grumpy, pain-in-the-ass sick person.

Aren't you glad you don't live here?

My day: the walk-in clinic

I awoke feeling lousy and weak after a very long, very bad night, so I kept to my word and in the early afternoon headed to a local urgent-care clinic.

It was closed, as in kaput, a harbinger of the joy the rest of the afternoon would bring.

My next stop was a slightly more distant urgent-care clinic, which was still in business and open until 8:00 p.m. Excellent.

Unfortunately, it had a two- to two-and-a-half-hour wait. I had a book, though, so I was set. I also had my non-stop nausea and weakness for company, which was nice in a it's-good-to-have-something-you-can-count-on way.

The first sign that I was worse than I'd hoped came when they took my vitals. After I'd waited only an hour, they called me inside, and my hopes rose. They took my pulse and blood pressure, then sent me back to the waiting room. Such teases. My pulse, which is normally 64 to 68, was 95. My blood pressure, which was most recently 92 over 68, was 107 over 78. The bp news wasn't great, but the pulse reading was definitely bad.

I now had their attention, and in fact in under an hour later I was talking with a doctor. He seemed smart and attentive and knowledgeable, and I quite liked him.

I didn't, however, like his statement that I was quite dehyrdated, but I couldn't argue with it, particularly given my pulse. So, after I provided a stool sample--always a fun part of any day--and took an anti-nausea pill he provided, they stuck in an IV and hooked me up to a liter of fluid.

An hour later--way longer than they had expected but not a surprise given how dehydrated I was--the fluid had drained into me, the anti-nausea medicine had taken hold, I'd read a fair amount, and I was up to feeling like a truck had side-swiped me--which was a big improvement from my previous state, in which the truck was driving back and forth over my gut.

He gave me two prescriptions--one for a flash two strong doses of Cipro, the other for more anti-nausea medicine, which I am to take as I need it--and told me to pick up some probiotic pills as well. I drove to the pharmacy, made the purchases, and am now very glad to be home.

In a beautiful bit of irony, the anti-nausea medicine, which is candy-flavored, predictably causes me to gag while I wait for it to dissolve under my tongue. Once it does, though, it helps.

I am to eat only clear liquids today, with maybe some toast and soup for the Cipro. The next two to three days, I am to stick to the BRAT (Bananas Rice Apple[sauce] Toast) diet. That's all fine, as long as I heal quickly, but I have to attend parties Wednesday and Thursday nights, and Friday morning, I fly to Vegas.

All I can say is this: Heal, body, heal!

Fever redux

My friend the bed-soaking night fever came to visit last night. I'm pretty clearly not over this mess yet. A night of frequent wake-ups and frenzied fever frolics, combined with a lot of personal bathroom time, left me lighter than I entered Thanksgiving Day, but that's about the only good thing I can say about last night.

I very much hope to be better soon. I am tired of bathroom body and slow brain.

A few nights ago, Sarah and I were playing each other songs. With the release of the recent remaster and boxed set of the album containing this song, I had to spin it for her. The audio isn't ideal, but give it a watch; we can all stand to remember these lessons.

On the mend

I'm going to keep this short, partly because I'm not yet feeling all that great, and partly because most of today has been about sleep. My fever broke in the night, so new sheets were in order after I soaked the original set. Now, though, my temperature appears to be holding at or slightly above normal, and I am continuing to rest. More tomorrow.

My illness is dull and tedious to me, so I can only imagine how boring it must be to you, but it's pretty much what I've got right now.