Friday, April 19, 2013

Happy spring!

How's it going out there in internet land?

I had a rough March but things are settled now, so update time!  At the beginning of March I caught a cold.  I felt pretty crappy for a few days but it wasn't too bad, I thought.  It seemed like I never quite recovered.  I was really tired all the time and my back hurt terribly.  To top it off I was getting ready to move at the end of the month.  Since I wasn't feeling well though I just couldn't get much done toward that.

Around the 20th of the month I started feeling even worse.  I was having night sweats so bad that I was dehydrated and dizzy.  My BF brought me some Power Aid to get my electolites balanced out and that helped a little.  A few days later though I woke up very early in the morning, took a sip of Power Aid and instantly knew I was going to throw up.  I managed to make it to the bathroom though.  I crawled back in bed with an ice pack on my back and managed a few more hours of sleep. 

When I woke up again I had a sore throat.  That combined with the aches, and fever made me think I might have the flu.  I put in a call to my CF clinic and waited to hear back from them.  It was only about 20 minutes later though that I decided I couldn't wait.  I got in touch with my good friend N who works near my (now former) apartment and he came and took me to the ER. 

Every one in the ER treated me under the assumption that I had the flu, my symptoms were classic.  I was given fluids, which I needed badly, and Tamiflu before heading off for a chest xray.  When the xray came back my CF doctor came in to tell  me that I had a pretty bad pneumonia in my left lung.  It was the same lobe that collapsed almost 4 years ago and has never been right since.  It turns out I was on the verge of it collapsing again.  I think the virus I had a couple of week prior got the pneumonia started which is why I never really recovered.  In the ER they took cultures to check for the flu and RSV.  I asked to be admitted because I was in no shape to take care of myself at home alone.  The doc agreed to that.

N was nice enough to go back to my apartment and pick up my cat Savage and take him back home with him.  I was moving in with N and my other friend B at the end of the month anyway so it was the perfect place for him to go and I wouldn't have to worry about him.

The cultures came back negative for flu and RSV so I just had a cold on top of the pneumonia.  The combination of the two made it look and feel like the flu though.  So that was good news.  Once I got started on IV antibiotics I started feeling better very quickly.  I stayed in the hospital for 5 days and went home on IVs. 

I went to CF clinic about two and a half weeks after my admission.  My chest xray looked WAY better.  I saw the before and after and it was amazing.  Even the doctor was shocked at how much better it looked in such a short time.  Usually a pneumonia that severe takes a long time to clear up.  Even the one that collapsed my long took about 2 months to resolve.  I decided to continue IVs for another week because I still wasn't feeling quite back to baseline.

Now I'm feeling pretty good.  I'm not so tired but I am still coughing up a lot of junk so I know the pneumonia is hanging on a little but breaking up nicely. 

A week after I was admitted for the pneumonia I managed to sprain my ankle.  Uhg.  Just like me!  Luckily my BF was there when it happened and was able to take me in to the ER again.  I didn't think it was broken but I had badly sprained that ankle before so I wanted to make sure.  It wasn't broken but I did spend several days in a boot, then moved on to an air cast.  Its feeling pretty good now but I need to start some excersises to strengthen it.

My move was kind of hectic since I hadn't been able to prep as much as I wanted.  Thanks to my awesome friends though it got done and I am mostly settled in to my new place.  Savage was stressed until I got here but he has calmed down now.  There is another cat here only a little older than him and they act like brothers.  They love to play tag and wrestle.  They both sleep with me at night.

So, over all things are going great right now!  I hope the same is true for you.