Brassieres and Reading Glasses

It seems an odd combination, no?

But here's the thing. I am prone to chronic allergic sinusitis, as anyone who has ever read this blog in February or March is aware (although two years ago it was actual flu). Allergic sinusitis leads to fear. Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Well, the suffering anyway, if not the things in between. Allergic sinusitis comes with sinus pain and pressure (that's where the reading glasses come in; they were painful to put on this morning), as well as often leading (in my case) to viral or bacterial sinusitis, otitis media, bronchitis, and on at least one occasion, actual pneumonia (the last two of which is where the brassiere comes into the narrative; tight bras are uncomfy with bronchitis, et al).

I don't want pneumonia (or any of these things) again, so I stayed the heck away from the doctor's office in this year when the flu is kinda deadly. I have friends in the hospital, friends toughing it out at home refusing to acknowledge that it's flu, and everyone in between. It's my general policy (last year notwithstanding) to treat the symptoms of allergic sinusitis, until and unless I get an earache, wheezing, or fever, and I was damn well going to stick with my herbal teas (I decaffeinated about a week ago) and NyQuil unless I absolutely had to go in. (Yes, I know I was going to the doctor all the time in the year following Laston's death; I was easily panicked. That was an aberration.)

This morning I woke with all three. Not a high fever, thank Google, but sinuses, ears, lungs, dizziness. Called to make an appointment with my doctor. They said, yes, please, do come in; we have masks and hand sanitizer. So I did (though I brought my own mask; I already have them here, so why not?).

This is the first time I've been sick enough to go to the doctor since leaving AT&T, and isn't that interesting? So I discovered  when I got there that when I switched to the Washington State's ACA brand of my insurance company (because I'm no longer on AT&T insurance), they don't cover my regular doctor's office.

Well, expletive.

I have to give serious kudos to the nice woman at the Canyon Park PacMed office, who not only found the information I needed, she wrote it all down for me, including the phone number for the department I need to contact to switch my coverage to one that PacMed can take.

In the meantime, this insurance does cover urgent care and emergency rooms, so off I go to urgent care, where I was seen, well, urgently. They have my chart, because this urgent care is connected to the hospital bracketing our lives; Lee and Lizzy were born there and Laston died there. The doctor comes in, looks at my chart, and smiles at me. "This is not your first rodeo, I see. What can you tell me?" (honestly, I think he was so glad it wasn't flu he just wanted to stick around a bit!)

"Um, well, if I were allowed to prescribe, I'd say that I need antibiotics and prednisone, as much as I hate the side effects..." (the former upsets my stomach and the latter makes me alternately spacey and wired, gives me the munchies, and causes hot flashes). He smiled again and started the exam. Nose, eyes, ears, throat, back, chest, with lots of "mmm," and, "yes." Sticks the Giant Q-Tip of Doom in my nose for a culture.

"Hard to say whether it's actually bacterial until the culture comes back, but your history (he thumbs through the chart) indicate that's a common complication for you. You don't want cough syrup?"

"Nah, cough's not that bad; I can NyQuil it if I need to."

I think this last won him over; he could see I wasn't out to get narcotics, and I do actually know what I'm talking about here. He wrote an Rx for augmentin, one for the thingy so the augmentin doesn't tear up my stomach, and the prednisone.

Oh, and all you coffee or tea lovers? He said in this case, the caffeine (one serving a day, preferably in the morning) might actually help with the sinusitis, because it does to a lesser extent what the prednisone does; it's a vasodilator so it will make me feel less stuffed up. He did suggest I stick with tea until I'm off the antibiotics though, because coffee upsets my stomach.

So, as the wired part of prednisone wears off, I'll wind up here. Besides, I would like to remove my reading glasses now. Tomorrow, except for carting kids to Studio East, I plan on staying home, contacting the insurance folks, and resting up. I clearly need it.