handwritten yesterday; posted today
Read my first newspaper since Nov. 25th.
Ate first real food since breakfast on Thanksgiving. (green curry chicken from Krungthai; heavenly!)
First day of my temperature not rising above 100 since Thanksgiving.
First day of using the computer since the 25th.
After enduring the worst illness of my life (yeah, I’m relatively lucky), today is the first day that I actually believe that this too shall pass.
A Week of Horrors
Starting Thanksgiving morning with achiness and general discomfort I rapidly declined over the next 2-3 days with a severe sinus condition accompanied by temps in the 101-103 range. I had extreme insomnia, getting only 20 minutes of sleep at a time the first 4 days as well.
Daily consults with the advice nurse kept indicating the flu, but on Tuesday, after almost a week of this, I went to see the doctor for a thorough exam where I was diagnosed with pneumonia. Prognosis is excellent and a full recovery is expected.
Drugs that Worked
Ocean brand saline nasal spray for cleaning my sinuses. The two nights of sinus pain were amongst the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life; it felt like hot glowing metal sticks were being inserted in my head.
After trying sudafed and nyquil I soon turned to a regimen of tylenol every 6 hours along with benadryl at night to help me sleep. I’m taking something for the pneumonia, and trying to drink as much water as possible.
The good news is that I didn’t have the runny nose, sore throat, all-over body ache flu; I think the sinus pain made up for that.
I had Help
Credit goes to Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara, both on the phone and in person, for their most excellent advice and in particular for my doctor’s caring bedside manner. Say what you will about Kaiser, but I’ve always been happy with the care they’ve given me.
The biggest thanks, though, without any question, has to go to my family, both for their loving care and patience in dealing with me. My wife Sheryl is a saint, and though I knew that already, it was reaffirmed in uncountable ways this week. Thank you with all my love.
And mom, you’re never far from my thoughts; I hope you have finally achieved the peace you deserve.
Quite a “bug” you had there, hope you are feeling better though. Perhaps now that you have been sick you can sail through the holiday season without any more problems.
WHAT UP SICK GUY HOWS EVERYONE DOING THERE. WE JUST HAD TWO DAYS OF SNOW AND ENDED UP TO TOTAL ABOUT 10 INCHES HEARD THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SICK. IT SUCKS HUH EVERYONE HAS BEEN SICK HERE TOO.
HEY I WANT TO KNOW HOW TO GET TO THE FAMILY AFFAIRS PART I TRIED TO SIGNUP AND IT WOULD NOT LET ME, SO IF YOU COULD PLEASE EMAIL ME AND LET ME NO THAT WOULD BE GREAT. SO HOWS LISA AND MONEKA, THE KIDS AND ANGIE ARE DOING GOOD BREANNA AND KELSEY WHERE JUST ASKING TODAY ABOUT IF YOU GUYS WHERE COMING DOWN THIS YEAR WELL TALK TO YA LATER LOVE YA ALL JOSH