On Tuesday around noon I felt something coming on. By 8 p.m. I had a horrible repeating cough. The next morning, around 4 a.m., I woke up due to having vomited a tinch in my mouth. It was orange juicy, but otherwise not at all pleasant. I managed to get in to work and held on until shortly after lunch. I just couldn’t concentrate at all. I figured I would go home, take some cough medicine and sleep it out. When I got home I was barely under the blankets before I was shivering with severe chills and sweating like a huge sweaty thing.
My doctor isn’t open on Wednesday and even if he was I hate going since it nearly always turns out to be something that I just have to wait out and I feel like I’ve wasted my money.
That night I had a fever of 102.2 degrees. I really felt like I was going to die and I couldn’t sleep for more than an hour or two at a time. The fever broke around 11 p.m. and I felt as though everything was going to be fine.
It didn’t feel so fine when it came time to get ready for work. When I was finished with my shower I’d decided I would go to the doctor after all. Heather drove me.
After the doctor heard my symptoms and checked me out he said that it seemed as though I had bronchitis and he prescribed a z-pac, however he felt some of my symptoms made it sound like I might have a respiratory flu so he wanted me to take a lab order to a company called LabCorp that was about a block away and have a flu swab done. He said they might not do it, in which case I would have to go to a hospital to have it done.
They didn’t do it.
I went to the hospital.
I felt like utter Hell by this point; all the walking around was doing me in. After what seemed like a half hour in the hospital’s waiting area I was taken into the lab and was given the pleasure of having a feathery swab stuck up my nose about as far back as it could go and wiggled around a bunch. Once in each nostril. In case the flu was hiding or something. I swear my brain gleeked. Then Heather and I went to Walgreens to have my prescription filled. The lady said it would be an hour wait. Bah to that. We went home and I laid down for a half hour.
I started the z-pac and hoped that would be that. This morning I got up, still felt a bit like Hell, but I also felt I really needed to make an effort to go to work. Yes, I’m that dumb. Heather drove me to work so that I wouldn’t crash during a coughing fit or just pass out on the highway. Fortunately she stuck around to talk with Derek because everyone, including my supervisor, felt I should go home. They weren’t at all busy which surprised me and would rather I not be around all oozy and coughing and such. Heather drove me home. She’s been so patient through this all. I do love her so!
At about 11 a.m. I got a call from the doctor’s office. The test result was in. I’m the dismayed father of a lung shredding baby flu! Cigars all around. He wanted me to stop the z-pac and start on some new med that they phoned in to Walgreens for me. It’s a twice a day thing so unless I wanted to get up at 1 a.m. for the next five days I had to hold off taking the first dose until 7. Which is in about 7 minutes.
Oh and the kids? The wee girl had to have a tooth pulled on Monday; a baby tooth, thankfully. And she has been on antibiotics since due to an infection that had set in. The not-so-wee boy went to the doctor on Tuesday (or maybe Monday) for his cough and his doctor determined that he has croup, then again on Thursday because of ear infections and he is now on antibiotics as well. Ho ho ho. Merry Christmas to all, and to all some germ warfare.
I hope everyone else has had a better week and has a wonderful Christmas weekend, whether you celebrate or not.
