Summer

Today is the first day of summer and it is the first day that I can finally say that I am better. I would say that I am about 95% better. I still cough a little when I try to laugh and I still have a dull pain in my left side. Oh hey, did I ever talk about that pain. I don't think I did. One night around week 3 I was laying on the couch with my left arm above my head and I coughed. When I did I got this pain. It's sort of like under my left breast. Anyway, it is a pulled muscle from coughing. You know you're coughing hard when you pull a muscle. A few days after, it hurt so much that it was like being stabbed with a knife every time I coughed or even sniffed. It is much better now, but still hasn't completely gone away. I have my sense of taste back, but I still haven't fully regained my sense of smell.

I've been filling in at the daycare recently. Once last week and Monday & today. They also have me coming tomorrow. It is nice feeling needed, especially right now since my hubby is away from home frequently for work. However, it is exhausting. I'm talking 10 hour days with sometimes 30+ children, Ages 12 mos. to 11 years old. Believe me, they should be paying us more than they do. But, I love them anyway.

Adoption update: Kmom is having a lot of trouble with this pregnancy, but Peanut is doing good. We are visiting with Kmom again on Friday @ 1:00.

The Evolution of This Sick

I decided to just put sick because I wasn't sure what else to call it. Yes, I'm still sick. I've been through a lot of misery with this bout of illness. It's been like an evolution of sickness. At first it was just a little scratchy throat and cough. Then the cough turned into a very congested hack. I carried on like that for some time. About two weeks into it, I started to get a stuffy nose. By the third week I had nasal congestion, chest congestion, and ear congestion. I began to have what appeared to be hot flashes every evening - no fever. It was between the second and third week I started coughing up mucus. By the time I ended up in the E.R. kicking off the fourth week, I was congested all over, wheezing, all of the above, and tooth pain. Last Monday is when the gagging started, due to drainage. I will cough and it will turn into a full on gag session which then causes me to break out in a cold sweat and stomach churn. Three nights ago I started loosing sleep due to the drainage. It feels like a foul ooze is constantly pouring down my throat. Yes, I taste it and smell it. Oh, that reminds me - I lost my ability to taste and smell anything else about week 3. I can now taste some things, smelling is still out. Hearing is muffled. Yesterday began the sinus pressure and pain. Also, the throbbing sound in my ears. Thankfully, that is only happening when I'm vertical. So, if I am sitting or laying I'm ok. Today the drainage issue got so bad that I threw up. I have a strong stomach and almost no gag reflex. So, it is really disgusting. On top of everything else I have become fairly depressed and lost some of my appetite. I'm almost constantly praying for strength and healing. The nose congestion has improved almost totally and the cough is more due to the drainage than the urge to do it. So, I suppose that there has been some improvement. However, I really need total relief soon. I have a new empathy for those people who deal with real chronic illness like m.s. or something. I don't know how they keep from going off the deep end. I will be finished with my second round of antibiotics on Monday. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if I'm still enduring all this.

Peanut Is Still In There

We had some excitement on Friday. Our social worker "N" called and said that Kmom was having regular contractions. My first reaction was fear because Peanut was so early. However, our next news was that Kmom was further along than previously thought. Kmom is said to now be 32 weeks along and Peanut is weighing in at 5 lbs. I was told that they were going to probably try to stop labor. Since, we haven't heard anything else since Friday I'm guessing that they were successful. People seemed to be appalled at the fact that we aren't totally up to date on everything going on, but all I can do is wait to be informed. This baby is not mine yet. Kmom can tell me as much or as little as she wants. I am thrilled that Peanut is still baking!

Meanwhile, I am still sick. Yesterday I gave in and went to the E.R. I really had had enough. After waiting for 4 hours they told me that it was a sinus infection. Chest X-ray was clear. I'm guessing that I got the sinus infection on top of the bronchitis. Anyway, I'm taking a stronger antibiotic. I took my first pill today, so we shall see. You know, when you get sick and you are feeling really miserable there is always a little comfort in knowing that the symptoms will pass in a few hours or days. I've been sick for around 4 weeks now and I'm having a hard time seeing the end of this tunnel at this point. The mucus continues.

Cough.. Cough... Wheez... Wheez

It started about three weeks ago. In fact I had the cough when I went to the doctor's appointment. I have really bad allergies so it is not uncommon for me to be sneezing and snotting most of the time. But, this cough showed up. Last week I started coughing stuff up. Sorry if that is gross, but like I said I'm used to mucus. I sound like a pack-a-day smoker (and I'm not - don't smoke at all). Sunday it really started to get me down. I slept most of the day. Well, slept when I wasn't coughing anyway. Also I came up with a congested nose and ears. I don't recall having all of these at once since I had the H1N1 in 2009, and then I also had a fever. I was really hoping that it would resolve on it's own because we don't have health insurance yet. I haven't had health insurance since last October and I survived daycare germs. But, this just wasn't going away. I finally broke down and called my doctor yesterday morning. By then I was thinking the worst. I figured that she would probably suspect pneumonia and want chest x-rays. I was adding up the dollar signs between the office visit, the hospital, and the radiologist. Not to mention the medication. If it was real bad already, and I could hear myself coughing clear from my toes, I might end up with a hospital stay. Thankfully she said she thought it was Bronchitis. I still had to shell out over $50 for antibiotics and steroids, but it was better than the thousands that I was preparing for. Here I sit now, popping pills and coughing, wheezing, and blowing my nose. I guess I needed a little down time. Thank goodness for Internet and the Food Network.