My Weblog

sick, sicker

I won't go into detail. Suffice it to say that if I were having a colonoscopy, I am convinced they could dispense with the Fleets. 

I have taken Immodium in the past, but my experience is that while it is effective on the problem of the moment, with my body, it makes miserable for 2-3 days thereafter. Normally a Pepto will handle the situation, but that is NOT true today. 

I am trying to work on tax returns, but I am so miserable, I'm not accomplishing much. And, so, I'm about to try to go to sleep. We'll see if that makes ANY difference. 

Home early, of course.........

Well, yes, I DID go to work. I only lasted 3 hours. I am okay with that. I gave up when, on top of the soreness in my core from coughing, the act of coughing itself and the fact that not wearing the oxygen mask was pushing my heart rate up and I could not get it down, I then came down with a case of diarrhea. Yup, 3 times in the last hour and a half I was there. It was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak........

I have no idea what could have caused my body to add that little surprise to my enjoyment of the day. It can't have been anything I ate as I just haven't eaten anything in days. Wednesday I ate two pieces of string cheese. Yesterday I ate an energy bar. Today I ate some more string cheese. Since cheese is known to have the opposite effect, I just dunno. 

I came home and started up the oxygen and my heart rate dropped about 18 bpm. It's now down about another 8 bpm. 

You could have had your choice of weather today. North of me was a blanket of white clouds mixed with blue sky and sunshine. West and South of me the sky was full of dark clouds. Of course, the wind was whipping like crazy up the hill at work. I did take a dust mask with me and you'd better believe I was diligent to wear it! 

Sometime yesterday in the middle of all the wild windstorm we had, there must have been some rain that fell. The van is just covered in dust and you can see spots where a few raindrops hit it. 

So, I think I have kind of made up my mind that I will not be working outside any more. I ended up being out in the wind and chilly temperatures and pollen on Tuesday for 2 hours. So far, that has cost me a good 16 hours on the clock. I want very much to do my part. I don't want to ask for special favors. However, how often can I make a lousy bargain like that? I'm so sad to have lost that much $$$$. 

So, this afternoon, I'm coughing quite a lot. It's a wet cough, but not very productive. And it hurts. I'm ready for this stuff to go away now!

So, if you're praying for me, please continue. This has been hard and I am still scheduled to work Saturday and Sunday. I NEED to work those hours!

 

Let's try this again...........

I'm awake. I'm mobile. We'll see what happens next.

I am SO sore. Sore from below the waist up, up, up over the rib cage. Both front and back. I think it's the coughing. These muscles have had quite the workout. But, the soreness adds to the "great joy" of coughing. 

I did sleep 7 hours last night. My body tried a muscle spasm in the upper back, along the ribs, but that never quite worked. It hurt for a while, but then it went away on its own. 

So, I am going to try to go to work today. I will go armed with an inhaler, muscle relaxers, ibuprofen, and whatever else I can think of. I spent about 3 minutes in the garage last night and came up with some dust masks. I will be wearing one of those anytime I set foot outside the store.

The "severe weather warning" has been reduced to a "weather advisory" but in the middle of all that, the warning remains for high winds through around 11PM tonight. Apparently there will be blowing dust, but they don't seem to expect blowing objects today. 

I am scheduled to work 7 hours, not including a 1 hour lunch. I have no idea if I can actually do that. But I'll try. Maybe the effort will be valued........ IF I have to leave early, I may go ahead and go to Urgent Care. I know they can do a chest X-ray and determine whether or not I have pneumonia. If I do, they're likely to prescribe an antibiotic. Hopefully, it will be the one I've used before which I know works and doesn't reduce me to blubbering mass of used-to-be human. 

Anyway, that's it for now. YOU be BLESSED today and please pray for me.........

end of the day........

I'm giving up. I have spent a good bit of today in bed. The discovery that I could actually sleep if I used two pillows was a welcome one! I'm still coughing, but it's mostly a dry cough now. 

I don't have a clue what to do about tomorrow. It's supposed to be windy again though less so than today. I found some dust masks and I may try to go to work wearing one of those. Obviously, I can't use a dust mask while I'm working, but I can wear one anytime I need to go out of the building. And, believe me when I tell you that I WILL NOT be going to Outside Lawn & Garden!

I feel like a slug. I have accomplished very little today. I wish I could have done more, but, it is what it is. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I will have more meds in me so maybe.

I feel like caca........

I'm not coughing as much. That's a very good thing. However I have a headache that is overwhelming. It is blowing a LOT out there. I doubt we've made it 60 miles per hour, but It's REALLY blowing. I am so glad I am in the house. I'd like to open the door to air the place out but there is NO way I'm going to do that! I hate taking ibuprofen for the headache because I'm already doing 2 different inhalers. I hate taking more of anything.

However, the headache is a royal pain. 

The guy who has been working on taking down trees showed up unexpectedly at my door. I'm not sure exactly what brought that on. I think it was that his wife gave him a packet of tax info for me. I was not fully dressed when he showed up but I've gone ahead and gotten dressed. It's embarrassing not to be able to open the door all the way...... However, he keeps knocking on the door and I have to go and open it. I am NOT stepping outside, but I am still breathing the crap that is in the air while the door is open. I wish he'd just come on in!

I just walked into the kitchen. You may know that theoretically this house has dual pane windows. However, they are old and many of the seals are broken. Case in point: the wind is gusting so hard outside that it knocked two plants off the windowsill in the kitchen. My friend who is doing all this work on those trees says that there is flying debris. I can see that there's tar paper in the front yard and he said a wind turbine came off of someone's house and hit his truck!

I have been dealing with a really high heart rate. I took an extra diltiazem, which usually takes care of it. Looks like it just now kicked in, though I took it hours ago.........

Well, that's it for now. 

 

 

Early Thursday morning..........

I woke up so I got up. I did set the alarm as though I was going to work. However, that "high wind warning" is still in effect. In fact, it's now been expanded to cover part of Friday in the form of a "high wind watch". Apparently the "watch" is the lesser of the two..........

So, I just don't see how I can go to work. I want to. I was set to earn a really good paycheck with this week's hours. Well, the Lord knows my needs. And He knew this was going to happen. I really feel like I am letting down the folks at work. If I don't go to work, everyone who does will have to work harder. But, I can't risk a trip to the hospital because of that.

I re-examined my stash of antibiotics. It is NOT a full subscription. In fact, it is just enough for 4 days, not the 10 days that were originally prescribed. I'm taking what I have. It's more a precautionary measure. Right now I don't think I have pneumonia. However, if this doesn't clear up by Monday, I have the day off and I can head to Urgent Care and get a new prescription. In the meantime, by taking what I have, at least progress may be occurring.

So, I have no intention of sticking my nose outside. None! Not today...........

I am pretty sure that's a decision entirely lacking in faith. But, there's such a thing as wisdom too. And I think that wisdom is pretty important. Not only is the blowing dust and pollen a consideration, but also there are warnings about flying objects and reduced visibility as well as the added risk of being in a "high profile" vehicle. I'm going to pray about it and try to figure out what the Lord has in mind for today.......

If I stay home, I will be mostly sitting. If I tackle anything that involves moving around, it will be approached and carried out VERY cautiously. So, do not picture me climbing ladders to scrub walls or anything like that. I'd love to vacuum, but I may well not have the wind to push that vacuum around. I just got new inhalers Tuesday night. I will wait and see what they can accomplish given more than a day. I know one thing: a puff or two on those and I breathe easier! 

I'm grateful that I am able to sleep with the help of the inhalers and being propped up on two pillows. It wreaks havoc with my neck, but that's a small price to pay as compared to hacking and coughing all night............

So that's it for now. 

 

Day's done..........

Well, as of now, there is no sign of high winds! It would be grand if that held true through tomorrow. 

I don't feel like I accomplished much today, but I've been feeling pretty bad, so we might just let that slide. What DID I do? 

Well, I washed up the dishes that were sitting around or loaded them into the dishwasher.

I decided to wash the wubbie. As far as I know, I am not allergic to dog dander, but I figured it should be washed just in case.

I moved the two trash cans back behind the gate. There, they are pretty well shielded from the wind--side of the garage on the right, gate in front, block wall on the left. So, hopefully they won't go sailing if the wind does kick up!

I finally got all of those darned stock transactions entered on my client's return. Holy Toledo! I deserve a gold star for that one.

I called another client and arranged for pick up of that return. 

I fielded a call from another client. It was ostensibly to schedule an appointment, but it ended up being more about when I was available. Kinda confusing, but it was the guy who has been working on taking down those trees so HE can get away with almost anything, LOL.

I printed one return and e-mailed the client with the results. That one has to be mailed out of state within the next couple of days.........

I dug in my medicine drawer and found almost a full bottle of generic Bactrim. Hooray! 

I think that's it. Maybe it's not too bad for a sick day. I am headed to bed the moment the wubbie is dry, about 15 minutes. I'd love to believe tomorrow will be a better day.

Keeping a constant eye on things.........

Well, the high wind warning has been moved to 3:21 MST today to 8AM tomorrow. I've lived here long enough to know that things that are predicted don't always happen. So, I'll keep watching to see what happens. Right now, it is dead calm out there...........

In the meantime, I took an extra diltiazem which is slowly bringing the heart rate down. The oxygen level is holding pretty well. Just so no one has a knee jerk reaction, I was authorized by the previous doctor to take 2 diltiazem a day when I was experiencing heart rates like this after use of the nebulizer. So, I'm not doing anything too scary. If the oxygen level drops significantly or the heart rate starts going back up, I'm prepared to go to Urgent Care if necessary........ I need to check my stash and see if I have any antibiotics and I need to take my temperature. I'm REALLY hot at the moment. Probably just another pesky hot flash but I need to check...........

I also took some ibuprofen for the headache which was blindingly painful. It's getting a bit better. I also ran the massager over my face which normally results in multiple sneezing which helps to clear up blocked sinuses. Still nasty looking stuff coming out of there!

I did go outside and grab one of the trash cans and put it behind the gate. I'm going to do that with the other trash can momentarily. Then I'm done outside for the day, no matter what.

 

I went to work this morning

and an hour later I asked to come home. I had coughed and coughed. It was embarrassing in front of customers. I felt as though I needed to continually reassure them that it wasn't anything catching, "just" allergies and asthma. Many of them said they were experiencing the same thing in their families. I came home and went to bed, propped up on two pillows. The Lord let me sleep, but about 2 hours later, I woke up and I'm coughing again. At least this time it is a "wet" cough. I'm coughing out some of the nasty stuff that's accumulated in my lungs. THIS has to be good. I didn't like to ask to go home, but EVERYONE heard me coughing. I think they all knew I was unwell, not faking it for the sake of a day off. 

At this point, I am not at all sure what I am going to do about tomorrow. I'm scheduled for another 6 hours on the clock. And now, both The Weather Channel and the National Weather Service are calling for a "severe weather warning". This is upgraded from a "severe weather watch". We could, it says, have winds gusting up to 60 to 70 mph. They are warning of limited visibility when driving and also of risk to high profile vehicles (such as vans)! They're also advising to tie down everything possible so that nothing becomes a flying missile....... Doesn't this sound like fun? I am concerned if I try to go to work I'll have problems just walking from the van to the store because of blowing dust, debris, and pollen. And who knows if they will try to send me outside again......

I was shocked that my initial reading on the oximeter was 91. Honestly, I thought it would be lower than that. Now, with oxygen, it's a stellar 99. The worst of it is my heart rate and we probably don't want to talk about that..........

And that high heart rate is without albuterol which raises it even more! 

So, I laid down and slept for a couple of hours. I knew I would NOT be able to sleep if I used only one pillow so I used two. Now, my head hurts! Geez! So, I'm not planning on moving around much for the rest of the day. I MIGHT go snag the trash bins and put them behind the gate. That way, I have a chance of still owning them tomorrow. I've no clue what to do with regard to the dirt in the garden. It is possible it will blow all over everywhere. I guess I'd better pray about that one and see if God pops any inspiration into my head.........

Over and out for now! YOU be BLESSED today!

Now I'm mad!

I have coughed myself silly with the allergy/asthma crap. I couldn't stand it anymore so I called the pharmacy and they said the scripts for the new inhalers were ready. So, off I went to collect them. And my wonderful insurance brought the cost for the 2 of them "down" to $94. According to the pharmacist, one of the inhalers IS the generic and the other has NO generic. Lovely. So, though I arrived home tired and worn and I worked hard all day, I did not earn enough in an entire day at work to pay for just 2 prescriptions! Now, ain't that a kick in the pants? It seems to me I'm going to have to give up on the anger and just thank the Lord that the meds exist and that I had enough sense to ask for them yesterday at the doc's office and that at least my day's work will defray some part of the out-of-pocket costs I've incurred by being there..........

He prescribed an inhaler that is to be taken daily. I've done that. I haven't resorted to the other one yet. It's stronger and I'm fairly sure it contains albuterol which I know from experience hikes my heart rate to heights unknown. I remember seeing 114 beats per minute when I was using the nebulizer and that's one reason I am trying hard to hold off from using it.

To make matters even more interesting, there's a "severe weather alert" posted for this area. High winds through Thursday at 11PM with gusts up to 65mph. People with high profile vehicles are being advised to be extremely careful when driving. I'm pretty sure the van qualifies as a "high profile" vehicle........... Doesn't that sound like fun????

I don't think there's any question as to whether or not I should go to OSL&G if they want to send me. I think, unless I am feeling a LOT better, the answer has to be "NO".

To add to my frustration, a while ago, I counted the number of short-term stock transactions that client of mine had in 2016. There are 50 of them! Each has to be entered individually and there are a good 6 or 7 entries for each stock sale. I haven't had the guts to look at the long-term transactions yet! I'm not liking this much!

Gotta run and enter more stock sales. My head is hurting again and I'm coughing and my lungs are sore and I'm afraid I'm having a hard time living in "the joy of the Lord" tonight. I could use your prayers.