My "best laid plan", to borrow the quote, was to start writing a blog again right before Christmas. Since you are not reading this until mid-January or after, you are seeing just how well those plans worked out. That’s my life in a nutshell.
This year it was the flu or something like it. I’m not sure if what I had is classified as the flu or just an “upper respiratory infection”. That’s what the second doctor who saw me called it. Yes, I said second doctor, as in I saw two different doctors within 4 days.
Here is the timeline:
December 28th we had our family Christmas. It didn’t go as planned as some of the grand-kids were ill but we did our best. You can read all about it in Christmas Part 1 and Part 2. I had also made several trips into town earlier that week gathering food and wrappings to celebrate our Christmas. A lot of people in town were hacking and coughing around me and I did my best not to breathe in their germs. Apparently, I failed.
December 30th, I became ill. Upper respiratory coughing, hard to breathe, stuffed up sinuses. I began chugging water (I am NOT a water drinker by choice, so this was a challenge) and resting a LOT! (I excel in resting!)
January 2nd was my 63rd birthday! My “best laid plans” were that I was going to go to town to the movie theater and watch 4 movies! It was a Tuesday which meant it was $5 movie day! I had planned to start with the new Star Wars movie in the new dream lounger seat theater, then see Jumanji, Finding Our Father, and finishing up with Downsizing. I thought that seemed like a fun day at the movies for only $20. Somewhere in there I would leave and grab some chicken bites nearby and return for more movies. I love movies!
None of this happened. I was down and out sick on my birthday. I was achy, had no energy, no appetite, just felt rotten. Surprisingly I rarely run a fever, which when I did go in to both doctors, my temperature was normal. It makes it hard because they often look at me like I’m not really sick. Apparently having a fever is a sign.
The next day, January 3rd, my right ear became painful and since I’ve been plagued with earaches since childhood I knew this was not going to end well. I decided to drive into town and visit the local urgent care. The first one I drove up to appeared to be closed, so I drove a few blocks over and went to the other one in town.
I only had to wait a few minutes which I thought odd, usually those places are very busy this time of year. I was led back into a room by a nurse. She took my temperature, normal, and left the room. I thought it odd she did not take my blood pressure, but I’m not a nurse, so what did I know.
A youngish male doctor came into the room, looked into my right ear and said yes, I had fluid behind my eardrum. He looked at my throat, jotted down a few notes and told me to go buy some NyQuil and Flonase. I had thought he would prescribe an antibiotic because of my earache, but again, I’m not a medical professional.
I stopped at my local drugstore and got the NyQuil but passed on the sinus spray as it usually just makes my sinuses more irritated. In case you are wondering, I got the cherry flavored one.
That night I woke up about 2 a.m. and was in a lot of pain with my right ear. It kept me awake for hours! The next morning, I called the urgent care place and let them know that my ear was more painful and also draining some, so a full blown ear infection. I also told them the antibiotic I know I can use as I am allergic to several. The nurse said they would call one in to my drug store.
I sent my husband off to the drug store and he returned with a $75 prescription of an antibiotic I’d never heard of or used.
Now, in the world of "normal" people this probably is not an issue, but in my world of high anxiety issues and probable PTSD it’s a HUGE problem.
For two days I tried to talk myself into just taking the medicine and could not. I was terrified I may be allergic to it. So of course, my symptoms got worse and spread into my right eye, then my left ear, then my left eye. In just a couple of days I looked like a two-year-old with a bad cold, goo coming out of my eyes, nose and ears. It was not a pretty sight.
I decided I needed to get MY antibiotics, the one I know I’m not allergic to. I went back into town to the first urgent care place I was going to stop at but thought they were closed that first day. This time I walked up to the door and saw a sign posted on it saying they had moved their office into a new building further down the street. Best laid plans once again rearing its ugly head. Why me?
I drove further down the street to this wonderful new medical building. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot which in an odd way gave me comfort. I walked in and filled out the electronic pad with all my information and went and sat in the first waiting area. A very nice young lady called my name and I went and gave her all the details and she directed me to another waiting area. It didn’t take long, and I was called back into a room.
The nurse took my temperature, again normal and my blood pressure, very high! She was concerned and I explained to her that I have very high anxiety with anything medical so if she would like to wait a bit and take it again it usually settles down. She did, and it did. She looked like she was very relieved.
The doctor came in a few minutes after she left the room and told me I looked like crap. I instantly liked him. He was probably in his fifty’s and was very nice the entire time. I told him what had been going on and he confirmed all my symptoms. He assured me he would call in the antibiotic of my choice as it did the same exact thing as the unknown one that had been prescribed to me. I left feeling reassured in the medical system and made a mental note that this was now my favorite urgent care center.
My next big surprise was my drug store. After getting my antibiotic, which is only $20, I told the pharmacist what had happened with the first antibiotic which I had brought along to show him. He said he could take the other prescription and would destroy it for me as they can’t return prescriptions, which makes absolute sense. What surprised me however was that he refunded my husband’s card for the amount! In other words, they just took a loss of $75. In today’s world it is rare to find any place that is willing to lose any money in the name of customer satisfaction, let alone that much. I was shocked and pleased! All I can say is "God bless Walgreens".
The medicine helped. I’ll assume the mass quantities of water and rest helped as well and finally by the end of January, four weeks later, I started to feel better.
January 29th, I finally got to go see the new Star Wars movie. It was no longer in the nice dream lounger seat theater, but I was the only person in there at 10:00 a.m. It was worth the wait.
January 30th, I got to see the Jumanji movie with a friend of mine, also well worth the wait. I’m secretly in love with Dwayne Johnson as my children all know. Dwayne, if you are reading this, call me.
The month of January turned out to be a whole month of "the best laid plans" going awry. Lets see what February holds, there’s always hope.
Until next time….Toni