Swine Flu?

A couple of weeks ago I had the worst cold of my life. Now I'm thinking maybe I had this strain of Swine Flu. I had all the symptoms. Usually when I get a cold it lasts no more than three days. This cold was going on ten days and I was sinking fast. I had no appetite at all. I was sleeping all day and all night and still getting up exhausted. I couldn't eat. Not even a bowl of cereal. The third day of my cold I tried to eat my usual breakfast of corn chex and a banana. It ended up in the garbage disposal.

Finally, when I realized I couldn't eat and I was getting weaker, I decided to take the Big Step and go to the doctor. Never in my life have I gone to a doctor for a cold before. What really scared me was that I had trouble breathing. I felt like I was suffocating. I couldn't get a deep breath.

So I called the doctor's office, which is just down the road from where I live. Of course the weather outside was cold, windy and rain. Just the kind of weather conducive to making a cold even worse. I arrived at the doctor's office. Almost on cue, I coughed up a hunk of greenish, black phlegm. She said "This is serious." She examined me and suspected that I had pneumonia in my left lung. She told me to go to the nearest medical center to have an x-ray. She also commended me for "walking into the doctor's office instead of waiting to be transported to the emergency room on a stretcher." I understood exactly what she was saying. I felt like I was sinking fast.

I got the chest x-ray. I didn't have pneumonia but close to it. I was given a prescription for an anti-biotic. When I got home I took the first of the two daily pills. Then I went to bed.....again. The next day I woke up I felt like I was going to live. I was still very sick but I felt like I had rounded the bend. I would survive. It took me another whole week to completely get to the point where I am now where I can take a deep breath. I felt like I had a close call.

Every year warnings we are reminded to get flu shots, especially for senior citizens (of which I am one now.) I got my flu shot earlier this year but apparently it didn't prevent my cold. I read that this Swine Flu virus strain isn't susceptible to the standard flu shot. That's why I think I had the Swine Flu.

I hope I never get anything like this again. It was very scary. I felt like I was sinking in quicksand. I was getting weaker and weaker everyday. The really frightening part about it was that part of my just wanted to go to sleep to get away from all the coughing, congestion and sinus pressure. The only thing I can equate it to is stories that I've heard of people freezing to death. Even though they're in a great deal of pain and discomfort, they just want to go to sleep to end it. That's the way I felt. Very scary.

Well, I'm back again with all my strength. I'm working today from 12 to 3. This evening Bill and I are having over our good friend Bob C. for dinner. I made my special buttermilk chocolate cake this morning for the event. I have the Pinot Noir chilling in the refrigerator. The crock pot is cooking the mushroom beef stew in Chablis wine. Now I have to make the icing for the cake. Yes, it is good to be among the living again. Have a great day!

Brush with Pneumonia

Thursday, April 9th is when the symptoms of my first major cold since 2001 began showing up. The usual suspects; chest congestion, clogged sinuses, coughing, runny nose, and body aches all over. Ironically just days before I was bragging I never get colds. Well, I can no longer make that brag. This time I got the worst cold I ever had in my life. In fact, it was so bad that, for the first time in my life, I went to the doctor.

After four days of trying to sleep the cold off and only seeing it get progressively worse, I called my doctor and made an emergency appointment. Of course the day I decided to go out it is cold, windy and rainy. Then I go to my doctor’s office, which is called The Clinic by the Sea and I find it has moved. Thus I had to wander around in the wind, rain and cold trying to figure out how to get in her new office. I find her office and await the good doctor.

She asked me my symptoms. Then, as if on cue, I cough up a hunk of green phlegm. She looks on with horror at the ugly mucus and says “You’re seriously ill. I commend you for walking into my office instead of waiting to go to the emergency room.” She examines me and suspects that I have pneumonia in my left lung. She writes out a prescription for Levaquin 500 mg tablets, which is an antibiotic for pneumonia. She then tells me to get a chest x-ray to determine if, in fact, I do have pneumonia.

I go back out in the wind, rain and cold. Thank goodness Bill was driving. I could not have driven myself. I was too lightheaded (more so than usual.) Bill takes me to the Beebe Medical Campus off of Rt. 24. They take several chest x-ray pictures. I then go to Wal-Mart to fill my prescription. The Wal-Mart in Rehoboth doesn’t have a pharmacy department. Only the super Wal-Marts have a pharmacy. I forgot I do live in Lower Slower. Back out in the wind, rain, and cold. I stumble over to Eckerd’s to get my prescription filled. The doctor had warned me that it would be expensive. For 10 tablets, the cost would be $154.75. Okay. That’s expensive. I normally get my prescriptions filled through the Wilmington Veterans Administration but there was no way I could wait three days while my prescription request traveled through that bureaucratic maze.

I called my doctor for a less expensive alternative. She said that the Beebe Medical campus had called and said that I didn’t have pneumonia……yet. Thus I wouldn’t need the Levaquin. The doctor instead prescribed Augmentin. For 10 tablets, the cost was $41.98. I purchased the Augmentin and was on my way.

When I got home I took the first of my two tablets a day. Before I went to bed last night I took my second tablet. Last night about 2:30 am I woke up in a cold sweat. My T-shirt was soaked. But, this was good. For the first time in a week I felt normal. I could breath. I had an appetite. My head didn’t feel like I was walking underwater. I was going to live another day to stir the Pot of Life. I changed T-shirts and went back to bed, thankful that I had my health back.

Since I’ve been sick I haven’t been on my computer. That’s how you know I am really sick when I’m not on my computer. This morning I got on for the first time in two days. I updated my Face book account, checked my e-mails, and checked my on line banking. Ironically, I noticed that the Census Bureau has made the deposit for my one week’s employment with them to my checking account. This made me think of what a mess I would have been in if I had continued to work for the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau told us that we were not to let bad weather deter us from working. What with the rain, wind and cold of the past two weeks and my march towards pneumonia I’m just thankful that this story appears to have a happy ending. My only concern now is that I think I’ve used up the last of my nine lives.