The Health Report, July 2016

bronchitisAt the end of the school year in late June, the Daughter was very lethargic. It wasn’t some sort of short-timer’s syndrome, but rather some unidentified malady. One Friday evening, the three of us went to the Urgent Care place.

The Daughter was going to get tested for strep throat, which she understandably hates; the gag reflex is a powerful reaction. Now, I’d been having a scratchy throat for a couple of weeks, but I was otherwise asymptomatic. Still, I became a patient too.

Well, the Daughter did NOT have strep throat. But I DID. She took some odd pleasure in this finding. I did the ten-day antibiotic regimen that ended shortly before our vacation. I felt reasonably well on the trip, though sleeping in unfamiliar beds sometimes makes it difficult to sleep through the night.

I get back from vacation, actually on the last leg of the trip, from Auburn to Albany, and my throat’s scratchy, maybe from too much air conditioning. But going back to work on Wednesday and Thursday, I also developed an uncontrollable cough. And I just felt washed out.

I stayed home sick from Friday with a fever of around 100F, and alternatingly feeling chills and overly warm. (One hates to take sick time right after vacation.) And after a particularly awful Friday night waking to a coughing jag every two hours – so I’m now EXHAUSTED, as well – The Wife drags me to the Urgent Care place for the second time in a month.

Good news – I don’t have strep throat again. The bad news is that I have – well, let’s check in with JEOPARDY from Monday, July 11, the last episode I watched before I became so loopy that I lost the DVR remote for days.

The category is THAT’S B_S!, where each correct response will begin with a “B” and end with an “S”: “This inflammation of the air passages in the lungs causes an increase of mucus production.”

Can you say, What is bronchitis?

The Wife took the Daughter swimming so that I could rest Saturday afternoon. I missed church Sunday plus a production of Chicago at the Mac-Haydn Theatre. I want to see some movie, notably Ghostbusters, but don’t want to hack my way through a film disturbing the audience.

Grr. I get back to town and I have no energy; this was really aggravating.

My throat is constantly sore, as though someone’s fist is there. I’ve decided that there are foods that are easier to consume:
Scrambled eggs: GOOD!
Yogurt: GOOD!
Toast: BAD!
Strawberry milkshake, Good, but that real strawberry that went through the straw I better chew about 30 times.

Bedtime is the WORST, because the coughing hackathon tends to start in the evening, after a busy day of sitting on the sofa, lying on the sofa, getting dressed (maybe), eating cautiously, drinking a lot (non-alcoholic, alas), watching other people’s Facebook fights.

I want to blog and have plenty to write about. I’m burning through my pre-posted stuff rapidly. If my July 31 post – which looks at things others have written – is unusually short, you’ll know why.

But I’m in a fog, mostly out of sheer exhaustion. I said to The Wife on Saturday, “If I feel better, maybe I’ll go to the movies on Monday,” one minute after she said, “That movie theater is closed on Mondays,” which I knew in my right mind anyway.

So if I haven’t commented on your blog, ABC Wednesday people, and others, I will eventually. If I haven’t commented on your Facebook, and you didn’t tag me, it’s more likely than not that I didn’t see it, going back to the beginning of vacation on July 10.

I think I’ll take a nap now. Then again, probably not: too tired to nap.

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