Disease of the Month

And I do mean of the month.

And I'm not talking about cancer; this is Not a Cancer™ post.

I have had bronchitis (well, other viruses that have morphed excitingly into bronchitis) for a month. Twenty-nine days, to be exact, which is a month, at least this year.

That's ridiculous.

But February 10th I went in for what turned out to be "a flu-like virus" (which means that it's not the flu but it mimics the flu. 'kay).

On the 21st I ended up in the E.R. with a complication of said virus (or maybe a new one; there's no test) because neither the urgent care clinic nor my own doctor's office is open at 7AM on a Sunday.

They tested everydamnthing, because 40-something obese woman walks in and says the dreaded phrase, "shortness of breath." You will all be glad to know that at that time, it was still just viral bronchitis. See? Treat the symptoms, here's a refill for your inhaler.

Last Friday (March 4th) I still had major coughing and shortness of breath. Back into my own doc. She looks at me and shakes her head and says, "I know you hate it, but it's Prednisone time. Breathing trumps sleeping." (And apparently also the munchies, hot flashes, and the shudder I get here lately when I hear the word "trump.") Also she gave me a capsule-based cough suppressant, which makes me dizzy. Hooray.

Today (March 7th) I had a heckuva flare-up at work. Can't breathe, overuse of inhaler, can't stop coughing. Thank goodness for good medical insurance and a decent time-off policy (and that Laston's used up our deductible already), because off I go again.

The urgent care doc takes one look at me, one look at my chart and says that given it's been a month, if I don't have something bacterial going on in there yet, I will soon. Take Zithromax, and for the love of all you hold holy, take some codeine, at least at bedtime. You're already sleeping lightly from the Prednisone, you need your rest, take the dang cough syrup.

But why? I've had asthma for a couple of decades, we've had wet winters (even for Seattle) before, I get bronchitis on average once a year. It never lasts a month.

Stress, perchance?

My mom thinks so, doncha, Mom? The doctors think so; stress wears you down and makes you more susceptible, both to disease and to complications. Heck, the QA manager at my work has been gently bullying me into taking some time to just de-stress!

Maybe they have a point.

So, aside from cookie sales tonight (I can lean on things, and there's little walking around involved; the kids do most of the work and I'm there in a supervisory capacity), I'm just... done for the day.

Please come buy cookies at the Thrasher's Corner Safeway (south door) between 6-8 tonight. The Girl Scouts of Western Washington thank you.

And it'll make it worth my going back out.