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Well, that sucked.

As anyone who follows my twitter feed knows, I’ve been sick for a week. It started off as the typical viral bronchitis-type thing I’ve had before. I had a bout of it last year for my yearly sick. But this time, it got way out of control. After 5 days of tylenol, advil, aleve, mucinex and cough suppressant, it was clear that this was not going away. Yesterday, after another sleepless night, I got up early and asked Nick to call the Dr for an appointment. They took me immediately.

You know it’s serious when I choose to go to a Dr. You know it’s REALLY serious when I go to the Dr w/out a stitch of makeup or even my contacts in. o.O It was that bad.

She looked me over and prescribed pretty much everything possible for bronchitis: albuterol inhaler, medrol prednisone pack, Z Pack antibiotics and codeine cough syrup. I’ve never taken this many meds at once in my life! Welcome to old age. Harumph.

Luckily we got some prescription discount cards in the mail (randomly!) and the plan did indeed seem to bring down the cost of the meds. All that stuff cost a little over $100, which seems cheap to me. Last time we got a Z Pack it was $80-90. If Nick will find me the receipt, I’ll post the exact savings from the card. So with the Dr visit, it cost me about $150. Beats the SHIT out of $800/mo for shitty insurance IMO.

I consider this whole thing to be warning #2 from my body to STOP SMOKING. All the way, not just when it suits me. Until last year’s bout of bronchitis (warning #1), I’d never had lung issues. Now I do. I must stop, so I shall. The ecig will just have to do. With my body type leaning strongly towards my father’s side of the family, I need to heed the warnings. My father, his sister and his mother all suffer(ed) with emphysema/COPD and I will, too if I don’t stop smoking. I’m very healthy in general, but clearly my weak spot is my lungs.

I’m not better yet, but I tell ya, I feel FABULOUS compared to the previous six days. I plan to watch football and movies today and resist the urge to jump up and start cleaning things. I’m going to try to keep myself on restriction for a week. Rob’s got paperwork for me, which will fit the bill nicely.

Now I’m off to walk (gently) around the yard and enjoy this lovely day. :)

Posted on

Oh Well

It’s been a long, shitty week. The privet allergy became bronchitis, so I’ve been coughing up a lung all week. Hearing weird whistling noises from your lungs is WEIRD, man. I also had partial laryngitis due to all the coughing. Nick schlepped me to the Dr on Thursday (on day 4 of the odyssey), which was a totally futile mission. I got the NP, who immediately suggested ZPak (antibiotics) for the cough. WTF? Gee, overprescribe antis much? I flatly refused, because, um, I DO NOT HAVE AN INFECTION. Duh. Then she went out (presumably to look this up in her PDR) and came back with scrips for Zyrtec D and Tessalon (decongestant and cough suppressant, respectively). I wanted something for the cough that was keeping me awake, so I figured the Tessalon might help with that. But Zyrtec? Really? What a fucking MORON. I got the Tessalon and it was crap. It actually made the snot worse.

Friday morning, I do some more reading on bronchitis and see that what is really needed is guaifinesen (expectorant, which I’d been using, but it was weak stuff that didn’t make a dent) and that’s it. Something for headache if you got one. I tell Nick to pick me up some Mucinex D on the way home from work Friday.

Lo and behold, after two solid days of Mucinex D and ibuprofen, I have had two nights of sleep and I feel MUCH better today (Sunday). Fucking Drs. Why waste your time? Just do the research yourself, find out what’s indicated and go ask for it. THIS is why I absolutely REFUSE to pay for insurance. My Dr is a crazy Indian lady (NOT the NP I saw this week) who will pretty much do what I ask her to do. Works for me. I should have done more research before going in on Thursday, but I felt like shit and just wanted to be told: HERE, take THIS. Nope. Never gonna happen in this broke ass, subpar healthcare system we’ve got. You’re on your own, kids, just do the research yourself and then ask for what you need. It’s the only way.

Needless to say, I’ve been cranky this week with all the sickness and I’ve had lots of time to mull over (brood) on things. I’ve decided that, in the immortal words of Nick’s coworker Todd:

I like all of you some and none of you much. -Toddism

Words to live by. Ignorant, drama laden, immature people are just not worth the effort. I’m a short timer, kids, so WHAT THE FUCK EVER. I cannot WAIT to be rid of GA and start fresh.

But don’t ask me what I think of you
I might not give the answer
That you want me to
– “Oh Well”, Fleetwood Mac

Pretty much. I just might tell you what I think. I’ve been doing a LOT of tongue biting lately and we all know what that means: I’ll bust out with what I think at random times. You’ve been warned. There’s one person in particular that will get an earful if the opportunity presents itself. And this person will NOT like it. Not one little bit. Self righteous assholes rarely think anyone will call them on it.

We also missed Trek Trax, at which we had a fucking TABLE, paid for. AWESOME. Nick has a head cold, so he couldn’t do it alone and I definitely can’t, so we had to bail. I posted a note to their wall and asked that they give it to another vendor, our compliments, and I hope they did that. I know how much it sucks to have an open table in your vendor room and I feel shitty for bailing, but we honestly could not manage it. I hope they had a good con.

It’s been about 12 hrs since my last dose of Mucinex D. That shit works great, but when time’s up, BAM, time’s UP motherfucker and you’d best be re-upping in a hurry. I’m trying to wait and see how bad the cough is today w/out meds so I’ll wait a bit longer before taking more. So far, I’m coughing, but not NEARLY as bad as yesterday or the day before. The chest congestion feels like it’s much less deep than it was. So yay me for being a better Dr than the one I paid $45 to on Thursday.

I hope this crap is on the way out. I’ve laid around for a week and I’m going stir crazy. I’ve read two novels and started a third. I really want to mow the yard but I know better than to push it. I went out and filled feeders, etc. yesterday and practically passed out. So, I will resist the urge to do too much and try to entertain myself with books and quiet indoor things. I feel well enough to perhaps make some jewelry today.

Happy Earth Day!