Yesterday I woke up with a nasty case of the hives! All I could think about are the warnings on over the counter drugs that say "if you have a rash you should see a Dr. immediately as you could have a serious illness". To put it mildly I freaked! Daniel and I carpooled, so the whole drive to SLO I was obsessing. I took Benedryl so eventually the rash went away, but I knew it was time to bite the bullet, face my biggest fear and see the dreaded Dr. (and yes I cried when I found out my mom couldn't go with me- yes I am a big baby!!!)
Up until this point I just thought I had bronchitis, cuz I was coughing something major but didn't have a congested nose or sinuses and wasn't coughing up colored mucus. Due to my crazy coughing my stomach muscles hurt and my voice was nearly gone, and when I did have it I sounded like an 80 year old crispy smoker from Florida. Needless to say my husband did not find it sexy and said I sounded like a robot on the phone. Not good. The worst I would have to say was coughing so hard I started to dry heave. That happened a few times and wasn't so fabulous.
So anyway, the universe stepped in for me yesterday and provided me with a 2 hour cancellation so I could see the Dr. I got to the office, filled out all of the paperwork and waited. So of course my rash was long gone and I wasn't feeling too bad at that point but stayed put.
I finally saw the Dr. after having my vitals taken and proceeded to spill every detail I could think of regarding my illness. After a thorough examination where the words, "I don't want this to turn into a girlie show" were uttered by the Dr., I was diagnosed with Pneumonia and Bronchitis! Lucky me!! I also got to have chest xrays, which was a first for me. Let me say how very strange it is to see your own organs (and to see what pneumonia looks like- it looks like white plant roots growing in you lungs)!
After he addressed the pneumonia, then he addressed the hives. So apparently I'm having an allergic reaction to the actual illness. Crazy. He said it might be an allergic reaction to the over the counter meds, but that seems unlikely as they are all things I've taken in the past with no problems. So basically I'm allergic to myself- or so I like to say. I have regular and chronic eczema for an unknown reason all my adult life and now I break out in hives when I get sick- just wonderful!
So here I am hopped up on drugs and doing my best to get better. I have also found out that I have side effects from the inhaler I was given. I am to take 2-4 puffs ("Like you're taking a hit"- oh yes, I have a Californian Dr.) Well I did 4 puffs yesterday which was probably 2 too many. About 6 pm last night while I was still working my eyesight started to get funky. I was experiencing black and white squiggles that flashed. At one point I looked at my client in the mirror and it looked like she only had one eye because I couldn't see her other eye, my vision was that messed up (and thank goodness I was just blowdrying and not cutting because that would have been impossible at that point!!). I knew it had to be the inhaler, as I hadn't taken anything else, and I had just had my eyes examined at the Dr.'s and they were fine. So I'm trying to lay off the inhaler- though I did use it today but only 2 puffs and so far no vision problems.
So here I am 11 days after I started to get sick, with pneumonia, bronchitis, bronchospasm, an allergy to myself (ha ha!) and a newfound addiction to "The View". That is what 3 days off of work, a computer and hulu will do to you!!!
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