Under the Weather

I’ve got bronchitis. This is nothing new; according to my doctor, I’ve had bronchitis for over a month now. Back in February I came down with a cold, or maybe a type-B flu, either way, I dutifully waited seven days before going to a walk-in clinic for some antibiotics, because there’s no sense in wasting drugs on a rhinovirus or a type-B flu (though one could have wished that they’d done a better job with the 2007-2008 version of the vaccine.) The clinic doctor confirmed what I suspected: I’d had a cold, or maybe a type-B flu, but it was sinking into my chest and going bacterial. He gave me ten days’ worth of cheap (actually FREE) antibiotics and told me to check in with my regular doctor if I didn’t start feeling better.

I started feeling better by the time I’d taken two of the antibiotic pills and, though I dutifully took all thirty of them, I didn’t check in with my regular doctor. In retrospect, I have to admit, yes: I was feeling better, but no: I didn’t feel great. I’d stopped feeling sick, but my proverbial “git up an’ go” had “got up an’ went.” On the other hand (in my defense) it’s the height of allergy season around here. My normally forest green car is more of a pea green, thanks to the regular (and thick) dusting of pollen it recieves from the local oaks, cedars, and cypress. I’ve been known to run a fever during the spring allergy season, so I wasn’t all that surprised that I was feeling draggy.

Then last Friday I made a major deposit into my karma account: Sandy, a friend of a friend for whom I’ve been doing airport runs for the last year or so, was finally ready to move closer to her daughter. Frankly, this is something that she should have done last summer after she had an automobile accident. The accident wasn’t serious, but it was an undeniable signal that the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune had gotten to be too much for her. Of course, trying to sell one place and buy another is a bit of a challenge right now (the selling moreso than the buying) and several months were lost on that account; and then her son, who’d been going to come down from Atlanta to help her through the final phases of the move suffered a cancer relapse and is going through a grueling round of chemo.

I could tell there were too many moving parts on the board for Sandy to handle comfortably, so I told her that I’d be glad to drive her car from Leesburg to Ft. Myers and she seemed quite relieved. A date was set, I made return flight reservations, Sandy’s original moving company surprised her with $1000 in extra charges when they dropped off the boxes, so a new moving company had to be found. The new company couldn’t come on Thursday, but they swore they’d be at Sandy’s by 7:30AM on Friday, have her packed out by 10:30AM, which would still give me enough time (barely) to drive the car to Ft. Myers and make my flight back to Orlando.

Which I did, barely, but I was exhausted by the time I got home. Saturday, I felt lousy and Sunday I felt worse…and was croaking like a frog. I should have stayed home, but it was my Embroiderers’ Guild board meeting and I had reports to make, so I showed the flag and then went to my parents for our usual Sunday-dinner pizza (though by then I knew I was going down at the stern and was careful stay at arm’s length.

Sunday night my temp. shot up to 101 and stayed there until yesterday morning when my mom drove me to see my doctor who didn’t even need her stethoscope to diagnose bronchitis…and to offer her opinion that I’d been incubating it since mid-February. No cheap antibiotics for me this time but something called Biaxin which, even in its generic form, weighed in a $101 for 20 pills. To get a jump start on the healing process, my doctor added some steriods too the list and, to give me some rest from the hacking, a cough suppressant that has got to be made with precious metals.

I went to bed after my first round of meds and pretty much stayed there for 24 hours. When I got up this morning, my fever was down (and so was my weight — by three pounds, YEAH! — it’s an ill wind that blows no good, right?) but I’m hardly myself. Simply taking a shower left me woozy and leaning for several minutes and it still feels and sounds as though I’ve got a Geiger Counter buried somewhere in my throat.

I’m disgusted with myself for letting my health get out of hand, though I truly did think that I’d thrown February’s cold and was dealing with nothing more serious than allergies. I’ve really got no choice but to take it easy for a few days…I don’t have the energy for anything more exciting.

All for now…